Understand one thing about Tim Wilkerson. The veteran Funny Car driver only gets in a hurry from the time he leaves the starting line until he reaches the finish line.

In about 4.191 seconds, at 300.40 miles per hour, the Springfield, Ill.-based driver drove his Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car to the finish line to upend an upset-minded John Force in the finals of the NHRA Summit Nationals at Summit Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

But, that’s the only time he picked up the pace. He met the deadlines of a hurried race day, turnaround time reduced 10 minutes to 65, but his pace was nothing out of the unusual. Even with a notification from the NHRA.

Understand one thing about Tim Wilkerson. The veteran Funny Car driver only gets in a hurry from the time he leaves the starting line until he reaches the finish line.

In about 4.191 seconds, at 300.40 miles per hour, the Springfield, Ill.-based driver drove his Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car to the finish line to upend an upset-minded John Force in the finals of the NHRA Summit Nationals at Summit Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

But, that’s the only time he picked up the pace. He met the deadlines of a hurried race day, turnaround time reduced 10 minutes to 65, but his pace was nothing out of the unusual. Even with a notification from the NHRA.

“Chris Hill [NHRA staging director] came by and said, 'you're up at four o'clock' So, they tell me four o'clock, I'm not coming up at three fifty-nine, I can tell you that,” Wilkerson said with a smile. “We left the trailer at three fifty-eight and we hit the gas at four oh four, so I guess I was four minutes late. First thing I told Force was I thanked him for waiting on me.

"'We weren't going to start without you Wilk.' Force told me," said Wilkerson.

On a day when being the top dog in the pack was nothing more than an ego ride, Wilkerson worked his way through the field from the tenth qualifying position. Wilkerson drove to his 15th career victory on the strength of wins over Bob Tasca III, Jeff Arend, Del Worsham and lastly Force.

“It was great to have the win over John because he is so good,” said Wilkerson, who avenged a final round loss last week in Bristol. “He is coming into his own again after one bad year. He's making us all look like we don't know what we're doing, again. We're happy to have that win over John. Last weekend we let him off the hook.”

Wilkerson wasn’t even the least bit fazed with Force’s run to the finals from the 16th spot. He wasn’t the least concerned with any mojo Force might be brewing up for their match.

“You know that's a hoax right there,” dismissing Force’s favor from fate. “That was them guys sneaking into the show; you know how them guys are. That's the Force sandbagging technique, right? When he went .21 first round I went, 'whoa, there went that sandbagging deal right down the drain.'”

The victory vaulted Wilkerson into the seventh spot in the Funny Car standings, almost assuring him a spot in the Countdown to 1.

“Yea, but we can't go out there and hock-e-puck [a minor cough combination with hiccup],” warned Wilkerson. “We need to do our deal and keep going down the track run after run after run. There’s still four races left, so we have to keep on our game.”

Wilkerson’s game plan is to run quick when he has to and remain at the relaxed pace when he needs to.

STILL RUNNING HIS ENGINES – Tim Wilkerson understands he’s got a place in line when the Boss 500 parts get doled out from John Force Racing. Right now he’s pleased with the progress of the engine program he’s had dating back to his championship run in 2008.

“The problem I have is that I have so many nice parts. We bought them brand new this year. With my economic situation, I told John, I said 'I mean me switching over is kinda foolish today so we'll wean into if it's still available to me' and we'll continue that way,” Wilkerson admitted.

The bottom line is, Wilkerson feels, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But, there’s an overwhelming desire to be a full-fledged part of the Ford Racing team in every aspect.

“I just want to be part of the team, know what I mean part of the Ford group, and I think that I have that available to me,” Wilkerson said. “I'm telling you John has been nothing but a gentleman to me about all of that. He's been great to me. He said, 'you know as soon as we get ramped up to do this Wilkie, you're right in-line'. Do I think it's an immediate need? No. Do I want to be part of the family and the group? You betcha.”