Sonoma: Tim Wilkerson Friday report

No. 8 WILK ANCHORS FRIDAY'S TOP HALF

Tim Wilkerson made a solid pass during his first Friday qualifying session, posting a 4.188 in the middle of a gorgeous Northern California afternoon to land in the No. 5 spot after one attempt. After the second session was pushed further and further into the night thanks to numerous delays in various classes, the bottom fell out of the thermometer and many tune-ups were rendered nearly useless in the cool night air. The conditions simply got "too good" in many respects and Wilkerson was one of many who smoked the tires as the clock ticked toward a firm 10:00 p.m. curfew.

"Well, first of all it's too bad for the fans that things got late and we actually ended up not even being able to run the second session of Top Fuel," Wilkerson said. "We just barely got Funny Car done, and we were part of that last pair with our Ford partner Bob Tasca, but I figured by then that the conditions were so different from what we planned on, it wasn't a good bet that we'd make it. Bobby ran a nice 4.13 next to us, and were were right there with him until about half-track, and then it busted loose.

"It's not like we've never raced here and are unaware that when the sun goes down the temperature drops off a cliff, but the way today worked out we went from pretty hot down to almost cold just while we were in the staging lanes. You can only do so much to the car after it's bolted together and you're in line to run, so we were a little limited as to what knobs we cold turn or dials we could spin. I guess, all things considered, we're probably pretty lucky to come out of today still in the 8th spot, because there was a chance for a lot of big hitters to hit some home runs there, and they whiffed just like we did."

-source: twr