After Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson put his Chevy in the winner's
circle at the St. Louis race in May earlier this year, it was
the first
time in 13 race seasons the 47-year-old owner/driver had ever sat at
the top of the Funny Car points standings. 
Wilkerson still occupies
that same top spot as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series enters its
Countdown to 1 playoffs with the first of six races, the inaugural NHRA
Carolinas Nationals at the new state-of-the-art zMax Dragway @ Concord
(N.C.). The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS
finished the 18-race regular season with a class-leading four wins
(tied with fellow Chevy driver Tony Pedregon), a class-leading four No.
1 qualifiers, and a 137-point advantage over second-place Pedregon.
"It's just a group effort on the whole Levi Ray & Shoup team,"
Wilkerson said. "The car is running terrific and the guys are just
doing a great job. We've formed a technical alliance with Don
Prudhomme Racing this year, so it gives me some opportunity to have
access to some equipment that I never had access to before. In fact,
last year Don Schumacher allowed me to use some of his stuff from time
to time, and that really helped me towards the end of the year. I
think there was just a great group of people involved with my old car,
and we're very excited to be in the position we're in, and hopefully we
can continue with our ride.
"I really think it's a carry over from last year. At the Finals at
Pomona we were the fastest car down the track more than once and just
got beat in the semis by a little bit. At Reading (Pa.) we ran good,
at Richmond (Va.) we ran good, and at Dallas we were No. 1 qualifier
and ran good. So I just figured what I did wrong at those races and
how I could better prepare myself for each round."
playoff, as the
