Tim Wilkerson, owner/tuner/driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car, has announced the addition of Richard Hartman to the organization. Hartman is a highly respected veteran of the sport who has enjoyed a lengthy career that spans nearly all aspects of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing, from crew chief to driver, while he also mastered nearly every other position along the way. Born into a drag racing family, Hartman's career started at the age of eight, when he began helping his father Virgil Hartman on the family's dragsters. His sister Rhonda Hartman-Smith and her husband John "Bodie" Smith have both driven professionally as well.

As a driver, Hartman claimed spots in the NHRA Funny Car Top 10 during consecutive seasons (1990-1991) and he was the sixth Funny Car driver to earn a berth in the prestigious Castrol 4-Second Club, in 1996. Hartman began tuning in 1998, and has spent the last four seasons as crew chief for Top Fuel driver Terry McMillen.

Richard HartmanTim Wilkerson, owner/tuner/driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car, has announced the addition of Richard Hartman to the organization. Hartman is a highly respected veteran of the sport who has enjoyed a lengthy career that spans nearly all aspects of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing, from crew chief to driver, while he also mastered nearly every other position along the way. Born into a drag racing family, Hartman's career started at the age of eight, when he began helping his father Virgil Hartman on the family's dragsters. His sister Rhonda Hartman-Smith and her husband John "Bodie" Smith have both driven professionally as well.

As a driver, Hartman claimed spots in the NHRA Funny Car Top 10 during consecutive seasons (1990-1991) and he was the sixth Funny Car driver to earn a berth in the prestigious Castrol 4-Second Club, in 1996. Hartman began tuning in 1998, and has spent the last four seasons as crew chief for Top Fuel driver Terry McMillen.

"I'm thrilled to have Richard join our program, and I'm really excited about what he can bring to our race car," Tim Wilkerson said. "There's basically not a thing on a fuel car that Richard hasn't worked on, built, or analyzed from every direction, and he's one of those talented guys who has done just about anything you can do in drag racing, inside the cockpit and out.

"This sport is one where nothing stays the same for very long, and that includes the people you have on your team, so when a couple of our guys moved on to different opportunities, and Richard was available, I got him on the phone as fast as I could dial his number. He'll be a great addition as another set of eyes, both in terms of helping with the tune-up and with the assembly of the car, and he'll bring a lot of other positive traits with him on top of all that. He's going to be an important part of the LRS program as we move forward."

Hartman brings a vast wealth of race-car knowledge to Team Wilkerson, and he's equally as fired up to get the 2015 Mello Yello season underway.

"I am so excited to join Tim and the LRS team, I can hardly even put it into words," Hartman said. "Tim has been one of my go-to guys for many years and any time the race car would have me stumped in some way, he'd always take the time to talk with me and help me get it sorted out. On top of that, he's one of the all-around best people in this sport, and I'll be there to help in any way Tim wants.

"It's been a long time since I was this pumped up about starting a new season, and because we're going to have some new faces on the team, mine included, I'm really happy that Tim has committed to testing in Phoenix, two weeks before Pomona. We'll all have a chance to mesh a little as a team and get to know each other, and we'll see how much good we can do on the track. I know Tim hasn't tested much the last few years, because he saves his budget for the season, so hopefully we can get a little edge and a head-start before we kick off the real racing in February. I can't wait."

Although consistency has been a prized asset at Team Wilkerson over the years, it's not uncommon for any team in the professional ranks to add new crew members before any given season, and that's the case with Team Wilk for 2015.

"We're kind of like that low-budget franchise that does a pretty good job developing talent, but when they become free agents we have a hard time competing to keep them all here," Wilk said. "So, we lost a couple of guys and are shifting a few guys into new roles, but it's nothing we haven't gone through before and we have a good core in place. Having Richard on-board will be a big asset for us, as we try to gel a little and the guys get the chance to figure it out. I'm hopeful that having Richard with us might just get us over the hump a little bit, in terms of winning rounds and winning races. We're fired up."

Team Wilk will be testing in Phoenix, at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, during the weekend of January 24-25. The 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season will begin two weeks later, February 6-8 at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.