Tim Wilkerson had one pesky contrary thought in his head as he embarked on a Sunday quest to get his special-edition LRS Big Website Makeover Ford to run a full lap on all eight cylinders, and that nagging worry was based on how the car would handle 12.5 percent more power down-track. As it turned out, he got the tune-up right and overshot the mark in round one, spinning the tires at nearly the spot he’d been dropping holes all weekend. Paul Lee’s .002 light didn’t help matters, and it was a disappointed but undaunted Wilk who came back to his pit to analyze the data.
“I was a little worried about that, to tell you the truth, because you just don’t know how the car is going to react to the track if it keeps all eight lit, especially right down there at half-track where all of a sudden you’re dealing with more power if all eight are firing,” Wilkerson said. “This track is tough enough, if you’re worried about spinning the tires, and a 130-degree surface just makes it really hard to stay stuck and keep all the cylinders lit. We got the combination right on that run, but sure enough I think it was that little extra power that drove us right into spin.
“To be honest, I thought he red-lit over there, because I heard him leave early, but with a .002 light we weren’t going to win anyway. We would’ve needed something like a 4.27 to beat him, and we weren’t set up to do that. We were trying to run about a 4.30 to a 4.32, and I cut my normal light, so it wasn’t in the cards. My guys are bummed out, because we made four good laps in qualifying, and then we come out here and get bit.”
To be precise, with Lee’s .002 and Wilk’s standard “everyday” .088 at the tree, it would’ve taken a 4.274 to defeat Lee’s 4.360-second time.
Wilk did, however, have a good race going until Sunday morning came around. On a blistering weekend in Phoenix, where track temps soared to nearly unheard of levels and tire spin was the common denominator, Wilk managed to string four consecutive solid laps together. He also earned two bonus points in the process, and landed in the top half of the field at a place where that seemed like a fortuitous accomplishment. He did, however, make portions of all four of those solid qualifying laps with only seven cylinders.
“It’s a shame, because our goal here was to get out of the 10th spot and we had the chance to do it right there,” Wilk said. “This just tells you how hard this deal can be. It’s never easy to tune a Funny Car, but it’s a ton harder when the conditions are like this, and all you had to do was watch what went on here to see that. I said yesterday that the secret here was that you had to tiptoe your way down this track, and I guess we got to jogging or running a little today and we slipped and fell. We’ll go on to Las Vegas and try to make up for it there, and my guys are in need of a good boost so I hope we can get one there.”
The Full Throttle tour will now take a week off before reconvening in Las Vegas during the final weekend in October.
On a sad note, it was later in the day when the Wilkerson team learned of the death of Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon, who was involved in a terrible crash during their race today. Everyone involved with Team Wilkerson sends heartfelt condolences to the Wheldon family and the Indy Car community.