There was a day when Tim Wilkerson couldn’t win a coin toss. Sunday in St. Louis wasn’t it and for

Tim Wilkerson won his second national event victory of the season. (Roger Richards)

that matter, none of the events in 2008 have been either.

Wilkerson has discovered a well of performance and good fortunes and he’s drawing from the reservoir on a regular basis.

“You lose your handle on what's going on with those cars and it's
really hard to get it back,” Wilkerson said. “Just through tenacity and
a lot of help from a lot of people out here, I don't think there's one
crew chief in Top Fuel or Funny Car that hasn't helped me one time or
another with some stupid question I had, they're all probably upset
about that now.”

Layoff? What layoff?

Dave Connolly didn't drive like a man who'd missed the first five races of the season. (Roger Richards Photos)

Dave Connolly didn’t drive Sunday like he gave the rest of NHRA’s Pro
Stock category a five-race head start.  His drive to a runner-up finish
in his second 2008 outing did, however, remind all his rivals that he
is back.
 
After qualifying third for the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals before a lot
of visitors from his new sponsor, St. Louis-based Charter
Communications, Connolly showed why he won eight times last year,
including this race, and is one of the category’s top competitors.
 
He defeated Ron Krisher, Allen Johnson and Greg Anderson in workmanlike
fashion to reach his 30th career title round, but a clutch problem at
the starting line against Kurt Johnson foiled his chances of winning
his 18th race.
 
The result was an uncharacteristically slow reaction time of .144
seconds, leaving Johnson with an advantage that couldn’t be overcome. 
It did, however, produce Connolly’s quickest and fastest run of the
weekend in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt from Victor Cagnazzi
Racing.

The first round of Pro Stock eliminations during the NHRA Midwest
Nationals in St. Louis, had a balance of the good, the bad and the
ugly. For many, the ugly outweighed the expected performance.

The
first round of Pro Stock represented the good, the bad and the ugly.
Recent Atlanta champion Mike Edwards was a first round casualty.

The good was a 6.581 elapsed time by Kurt Johnson in stopping Todd
Hoerner in the first round. Greg Anderson (6.616), Jeg Coughlin
(6.619), and Allen Johnson (6.624) all recorded impressive and quick
victories.

The bad came when both Jason Line had a mechanical failure which
resulted in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac G6 bursting in flames
after leaving the starting line with a .007 reaction and opponent John
Nobile shook the tires and aborted the run. Nobile got back on the
throttle after Line’s plight and won his first round of competition
since returning from a tour of duty in IHRA Pro Stock.

Also falling under the bad category, through no fault of his, was when
Rickie Jones scored his first NHRA Pro Stock round win after a bout
with tire shake. He won with a 6.812 elapsed time at 205.85 miles per
hour while recent Atlanta winner Mike Edwards shook the tires and
lifted immediately.

Ever seen a horse fly? No, we’re not talking about the insect. A real life, thoroughbred horse – the four-legged can.

Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta has. In fact, the 30-time national event
winner facilitated the transportation for 14 horses to Louisville, Ky.,
for this weekend’s Kentucky Derby.

“I’ve got a contract with a gentleman who does all the race horse
movements,” Kalitta said. “We were kidding around, you know I think
with the horses if you end up not doing well you end up not getting the
jet ride home and ride home on the trailer instead.”

The winner “Big Brown” flew aboard the Kalitta Flying Services jet.

No one could forget the hot streak Hot Rod Fuller was on this time last year. This season

Hot Rod Fuller was forgotten in pre-race driver introductions.

has been a different story.

In fact, the pre-race emcee at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., forgot him during the traditional pre-race
introductions Sunday morning. Fuller ensured the announcer wouldn’t
forget him in the winner’s circle.

“It was weird,” Fuller said of the experience. “I was about to go
through the door and they stopped me and pulled me back. They told me
he forgot me. It was an honest mistake, so I figured the best way to
make them remember me was to win.”

Make no mistake, Fuller still has a chip on his shoulder after winning
five races during the first phase of the Countdown to the Championship
and then losing the points from them when the totals reset at
Indianapolis. He lost a substantial lead and despite battling back into
the lead during the final portion of the Chase, he lost the title
during the final run of the season.

Many questioned John Force’s motives last season when he proposed training former Don Schumacher Racing crew chief Mike Neff to become a driver for John Force Racing. Force simply said, “The kid’s got the look.”

Neff made Force look like a genius by reaching the final round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., and
taking out such notables as fellow Funny Car rookie Melanie Troxel,
Mike Ashley and teammate Robert Hight to earn a berth in the final
round against Wilkerson.

“We didn’t back our way into the final,” Neff said. “We made four good
runs and we lost on a squeaker. It was a good drag race we just came up
a little short,” said the former crew chief turned driver. “We aren’t
greedy it was a great day for us in the Old Spice Ford Mustang camp.”

Reigning JEGS ProMod Challenge champion Josh Hernandez had a strong
return to St. Louis, winning the race for the second year in a row and
qualifying No. 1 to regain solid footing in the 2008 title chase.

In a repeat of last year's final, Hernandez's AMS Staff Leasing Camaro
blew the doors off Tony Pontieri's Quality Plus Compressors '57 Chevy
to win with a 5.934 at 242.36 mph to Pontieri's 6.318 at 193.88 mph.

"It was exactly the same because those poor guys were over there
swapping motors again before the final round, just like last year,"
Hernandez said. "This time they managed to get up there and give us a
race and I was happy to see that. I told them we'd wait as long as we
could because we all know what an engine swap is like when you're under
the gun. Last year I had a single run, which is never as much fun.

"We had a little conflict last week and didn't get to race in Atlanta
so we really felt a lot of pressure to come in here and earn as many
points as possible. We did everything but set a national record and we
managed to move back to where we were before Atlanta so we're very
happy."

WILKERSON, FULLER, K. JOHNSON AND HINES WIN; FORCE EARNS 1,000TH ROUND WIN
 

Roger Richards Photos

Tim Wilkerson drove his way to a second 2008 win in Funny Car.

Tim Wilkerson denied John Force Racing's Mike Neff his first career win
on the same day Neff's boss made history at the 12th annual O'Reilly
NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol.
   
Wilkerson earned his first win at his hometown track, his second of the
season and seventh of his career when he drove his Levi, Ray &
Shoup Chevy Impala SS to a 4.874-second finish at 317.27 mph to Neff's
4.886 at 321.58 in his Old Spice Ford Mustang.

Final round-by-round results from the 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA
Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International
Raceway, the seventh of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Rod Fuller, 4.530, 328.06 def. Cory McClenathan,
10.845, 78.80; Alan Bradshaw, 4.561, 319.67 def. J.R. Todd, 4.542,
319.14; Antron Brown, 5.929, 194.30 def. Brandon Bernstein, 7.869,
139.73;
Hillary Will, 5.648, 217.98 def. Troy Buff, 11.511, 90.31; Tony
Schumacher, 4.531, 323.97 def. Morgan Lucas, 4.604, 313.95; David
Grubnic, 4.542, 321.19 def. Luigi Novelli, 13.386, 92.94; Doug Kalitta,
4.549, 315.64 def. Doug Herbert, 7.609, 97.81; Larry Dixon, 4.721, 311.70 def. Bob Vandergriff, 4.786, 243.72;

QUARTERFINALS -- Will, 4.629, 308.99 def. Dixon, 4.678, 309.42; Kalitta, 4.773, 283.07 def.
Brown, 10.922, 64.35; Fuller, 4.570, 325.45 def. Grubnic, 5.074, 209.69; Schumacher, 5.286, 250.74 def.
Bradshaw, 9.761, 93.25;

SEMIFINALS -- Schumacher, 4.575, 321.50 def. Will, 11.349, 75.82; Fuller, 4.591, 320.51 def. Kalitta, 6.202, 156.46;

FINAL -- Fuller, 4.525, 328.70 def. Schumacher, 4.583, 325.45.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at
Gateway International Raceway, the seventh of 24 events in the  NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 608; 2.  Antron Brown, 540; 3.  Larry Dixon, 469;
4.  Rod Fuller, 434; 5. Cory McClenathan, 418; 6.  Hillary Will, 381;
7. Brandon Bernstein, 353; 8.  Doug Kalitta, 328; 9. David Grubnic,
323; 10.  Doug Herbert, 310.