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Tim Wilkerson - Ford interview HOLD

This Week in Ford Racing June 30, 2010 Last Sunday, Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car, took his second trip to the NHRA winner's circle this year after he defeated fellow Ford driver John Force in the ...

This Week in Ford Racing
June 30, 2010

Last Sunday, Tim Wilkerson, driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car, took his second trip to the NHRA winner's circle this year after he defeated fellow Ford driver John Force in the finals at Norwalk, Ohio. The victory was the 10th in 13 events this year for Ford Mustang. Wilkerson talks about getting the win and what it means for his team.

IT WAS A QUICK DAY ON SUNDAY. TALK ABOUT GETTING THAT WIN. "Well, Chris Hill came up and told me that I was up at four o'clock. They tell me four o'clock, so I'm not coming up until 3:59 pm. We left the trailer at 3:58 and we hit the gas at 4:04 pm, so I guess I was four minutes late. The first thing I told [John] Force was thanks for waiting for me. He said, 'We weren't going to start without you Wilk.' It's great to have the win over John because he's so good. He's coming into his own again now after one bad year. He's making us all look like we don't know what we're doing again. We're happy to have that win over John. Last weekend, we let him off the hook there in Bristol. As long as we got the Mustang in the finals, I don't know if you guys are counting, but Fords are taking over. We have them right where we want them."

JOHN QUALIFIED 16TH AND MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE FINALS. OBVIOUSLY HE HAD SOMETHING WORKING FOR HIM. "That's a hoax right there. That was just those guys sneaking into the show. That was the Force sandbagging technique, right? We're happy to get by John. Those guys are so tough. We were fortunate to get up there in time and make such a terrific run. We won that Full Throttle Award last week because everybody understands the short turnarounds and hopefully whoever gives that out is listening again. because I think they deserve it more this week than they did last because it was a tough day."

HOW DID ALL OF THE HURRYING MESS WITH YOU MENTALLY? "I don't get that wound up about that. We do everything we can do methodically and one step at a time. If we make it here, fine. If we don't, I guess you run without us. Most of the time we're right there doing our deal. Chris Hill told me at 4:00 pm so, I told my guys they had until ten minutes til 4 to cool your clutch and after that set it and we're leaving. We were on the ground at five minutes til and we didn't miss it by much. I'm pretty even keel. I don't get too wound up, but I was pretty wound up at the end of that round. I felt like I won the World Championship just beating old Johnny. He's got four wins under his belt now so that's a record I'm happy to overcome. You don't do that too much anymore."

EVERYBODY IS TALKING POINTS, BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING TO THE END OF THE REGULAR SEASON. YOU MOVED UP TWO SPOTS TODAY AND SOLIDIFIED YOURSELF IN THE TOP TEN. "We can't go out there and hucky-puck. We still need to go out there and keep going down the track run after run after run. We have to keep on our game. I've always said that this kind of stuff is a great equalizer. It keeps the heroes back a little bit and let's the guys like me with a little bit of experience and savvy have a better chance at winning the races. Those guys were going 4.0s like nothing, and here I go 13 like I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I have to figure out how to make my car go fast because when it gets down to the end of the year we need to know how to run 4.0s with the rest of them. I think I can do it but we ran 4.0s at Charlotte this year, and I was the biggest loser for that 4-wide. I got left on by two other guys. I haven't forgotten that, believe me. That's in the back in my head and I'm going to have something for them when I go back there."

WHAT IS A HUCKY-PUCK? "It's like a cough."

-source: ford racing

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