Daniel Wilkerson and his SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang Funny Car enter this weekend’s PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park looking to climb back up the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series points standings.
After three consecutive races of earning at least semifinal points, Wilkerson is coming off a first-round loss at Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. Wilkerson qualified No. 10 after his SCAG Funny Car suffered an engine explosion during qualifying. The SCAG team would pull out their back-up car and made their best run of the weekend and sixth quickest in the round of 16 but came up short to 16-time champion John Force. The result shifted Wilkerson from No. 6 to No. 8 in the points and left him eager to get to the next race.
“We got our crispy car from Bristol back into racing form and can’t wait to get to the pristine surface at Richmond,” said Wilkerson referencing the car that had the explosion during qualifying, “This is one of the places I have not driven at yet. I’ve worked on a couple cars here, but I’ve literally only seen this facility between the pits and the starting line, my wife and daughter have seen more of it than me. The weather appears to be right in Tim’s wheelhouse so our whole team is excited. This SCAG Power Equipment, Summit Ford Mustang team is hungry for a win and we feel like we have the car to do it.”
Wilkerson, who has only been behind the wheel part-time since getting his license in 2007, has filled the opening eight races of his first full Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series season with a slew of career bests. Wilkerson made his career best finish of runner-up at the Four Wide Nationals in Charlotte where he also recorded his career best speed (333.16 mph) and elapsed time (3.885 seconds) and at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H. he had his career best qualifying finish at No. 4. He’ll be looking for his first career Funny Car win this weekend.
Competition at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals begins Saturday with three rounds of qualifying at noon, 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eliminations will begin Sunday at noon. Television coverage of the event will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) beginning with qualifying shows Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET. Eliminations will air Sunday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published on June 20, 2024. 
