Well, it IS the Pacific Northwest after all.

Words compiled from team press releases by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis

Tim Wilkerson ended a yearlong winless drought by racing to his third consecutive O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals Funny Car victory Aug. 7 at Pacific Raceways outside Seattle, Wash. Del Worsham (Top Fuel) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also were winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

FUNNY CAR

What a Western Swing it has been for Tim Wilkerson. He entered the Denver race looking for improvement and any sort of improvement, stuck outside the Full Throttle Top 10 and hoping to find a way in. There on the mountain, he earned a fortuitous chance to race the No. 10 driver, Johnny Gray, in round one and when he crossed the finish line first he had sneaked ahead of Gray, into the Top 10, but only by a hair (19 points).

In Sonoma, he powered his way to the final round by winning three races the hard way, always running just well enough to take the stripe, and his points total began to build. In the final round, he made a stellar lap that came up just short, but the way his Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang was running, and the way his LRS team was finding ways to win rounds, gave him and his crew some much needed confidence and a serious morale boost. He also strengthened his grip on 10th place, leaving Wine Country 52 points up on Gray.

Finally, at the third stop on the Swing, in Seattle, he put it all together and simply did it the right way. He qualified No. 1, he won four straight rounds, and after just getting by a very game Brian Thiel in the opening round, he trailered three superstars by simply blowing away the competition. In round two it was Tony Pedregon, in the semifinal it was Robert Hight, and in the final round it was Jack Beckman. All big wins, all big points, and all won by the driver who was clearly the class of the field on this day in the Great Northwest.

And now, Wilkerson finds himself no longer on the outside looking in, and no longer clinging to a precarious spot in 10th place.  Instead, Wilk leaves here solidly in 9th, with a 46 point lead on Bob Tasca, and his gap over Gray in 11th has ballooned to 141.  In addition, he can now look up the list and clearly see 8th, as he leaves Seattle only 18 points behind Jeff Arend. What a difference a Western Swing makes.