Compiled from team press releases by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis
Art Direction by Clifford Tunnell

It wasn’t only the clouds that hung low over Seattle’s Pacific Raceways at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. Mark Niver, 60, from Phoenix, was killed on Sunday, July 11, when his Top Alcohol Dragster crashed after running off the end of the track and into the sand.

It was a somber group of professional drivers who took to the track afterward.

FUNNY CAR

It was a day that began with some nervousness, a lot of low cloud cover, and a million question marks. Throughout this Sunday in Seattle, the moods swung so widely, and so radically, it was tough to put a finger on just what emotion should be felt at any given time. In the end, Tim Wilkerson advanced to his third consecutive final round, won his second race in a row, and completely solidified his spot in the Countdown playoffs by moving his record to 21-11 while moving up to the No. 5 spot in the Full Throttle standings.  

Rather than exhibiting an exultant Winner's Circle celebration, however, the team paid its respects to Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver, who succumbed to his injuries after a high-speed wreck during eliminations.

"When something happens like that, your first instinct is to just want to go home," Wilkerson said. "But we're racers, and Mark was a racer, and this is what we do. I raced with him and knew him well, and the best way to be respectful for all he's done was to go out there and win the darn thing. Our motivation wasn't for us, and it wasn't to have a big celebration. Our motivation was really just about representing our sport well, and all of the racers, officials, and fans who love it so much. We love drag racing, and we're here to do our best every time we race. In that regard, today was a very good day. Today went just about as good as it can go, when you're talking about the action on the track."

Wilkerson entered eliminations from the bottom half of the field, just as he had at the previous race in Norwalk. This time, he did a little "tweaking and trying some things" on Saturday, once a spot in the field seemed secured, and those attempts resulted in two tire smokers, making his crew a little nervous and the driver a bit more focused. If there is such a thing as momentum in this sport, it clearly wasn't on Wilk's side as he took to the track to face his alliance partner Bob Tasca in round one.

In that round, when the overcast still hung over the track like a leaden cloud, Wilk simply erased all memory of the two failed efforts on Saturday when he left first, led the whole way, and posted a strong 4.150 to take a big win. At this point in the season, with playoff positions at stake, every round seems bigger, and every point seems more important, and a certain Levi, Ray & Shoup team seems to be peaking at just the right time. The win light in the opener ran Wilk's first-round record to 11-4 on the season.

Round two brought with it a date with Cruz Pedregon, and this one wasn't as close. Wilk was a bit tardy off the line, but he made up the difference quickly and tore away to a 4.193 that was more than good enough to take out Pedregon's tire-smoking 4.997.

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