Tim Wilkerson’s weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended in spectacular fashion on Sunday morning when he suffered a massive explosion during round one of eliminations. At the second-to-last event of the 2023 NHRA season, Wilkerson used a 3.907-second pass, the second-quickest run of Saturday’s first session, to qualify the SCAG Power Equipment/Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang ninth on the NHRA Nevada Nationals Funny Car eliminations ladder.
Wilkerson went into race day armed with confidence after recording three solid runs during qualifying and faced No. 8 qualifier Alexis DeJoria for the second consecutive race weekend.
At the NHRA Fall Nationals near Dallas two weeks prior, Wilkerson defeated DeJoria in the first round and went on to advance to the semifinals aboard the Maynard Wilkerson Racing entry. The two-time winner in 2023 was looking to extend his round-win lead over DeJoria on Sunday in Las Vegas. Wilkerson moved first to capture the early lead but near the 500-foot mark, his machine started to lose traction before suffering an engine explosion which sent his burst panel airborne while DeJoria made a full pull in the opposite lane for the win.
“You know, when you see such good weather and a good track, you really want to get out there and get after it,“ said Wilkerson, who previously, only had one prior first-round loss in the 2023 NHRA Countdown. “I just threw a little bit too much at it and pushed the car way past the breaking point. My guys were working so hard and gave me a great car to race this weekend, so I’m mad at myself for blowing it up like I did and making a lot more work for them.
“Overall, we had a good weekend. We had SCAG dealers from all over the country out with us, and we got to show them a great time at The Strip. It’s always a blast to see SCAG dealers coming out for second or third events because we really get to know these folks and they always have a great time out here with us.”
Wilkerson will enter the final event of the series, the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif., ranked eighth in the Camping World Series Funny Car standings.
This story was originally published on October 31, 2023. 
