Maynard Family Racing
Round One Explosion Ends Tim Wilkerson’s Day at Nevada Nationals
LAS VAGAS – 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.
Tony Schumacher Finds Positives in Second-Round Finish at NHRA Nevada Nationals
LAS VEGAS – Multi-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher went into the second round of eliminations at the NHRA 
Nevada Nationals full of confidence. His SCAG Power Equipment dragster was one of the most consistent cars in qualifying, and he made a weekend-best pass in the opening round of Sunday eliminations at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but a dead cylinder at the hit of the throttle prevented Schumacher from moving past the quarterfinals.
Schumacher was ultra-consistent in qualifying. After a tire-smoking run in Friday’s first session, the eight-time world champion ran a trio of 3.72-second passes to qualify No. 9. That included a 3.729 E.T. at 330.63 MPH run in the second session on Friday and two 3.723-second passes on Saturday. He had the third-quickest E.T. of the third session to earn one bonus point.
That consistency in qualifying gave crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jon Schaffer the confidence to get aggressive for Sunday’s first round of eliminations against Shawn Langdon. Schumacher left the starting line just a thousandth of a second behind Langdon before charging down the track with a 3.697-second pass to finish ahead of Langdon’s 3.744 E.T. Schumacher had the starting line advantage in the second round against No. 1 qualifier Mike Salinas, but he slowed to a 3.867-second pass next to Salinas and his 3.688 E.T.
JUSTIN ASHLEY RUNNER-UP IN LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS – Justin Ashley and the Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel dragster powered by Phillips Connect came up just short of their bid for 
a seventh Top Fuel in this season today at the NHRA Nevada Nationals. Ashley, the No. 6 qualifier, outran Dan Mercier, Austin Prock and Steve Torrence before losing to Mike Salinas in the final round. The successful day kept Ashley in the championship conversation as the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series heads to Pomona, California for the season finale in two weeks.
“I feel really good about the way the day went today,” said Ashley. “It was critical for us to be in the championship hunt and give ourselves a realistic chance going into Pomona by the time this race was over. I think that we did a good job of accomplishing that. One more round would have made a big difference and we would have loved to have come away with the win. Anytime you go to a final round in a race like this, at such a crucial point in the season that is super important. We feel good and I am just looking forward to trying to take those next steps.”
Ashley faced Canadian drag racer Mercier in the opening round looking to kick start his championship hopes. As the No. 6 qualifier the Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel dragster powered by Phillips Connect had lane choice and Ashley took full advantage getting a starting line advantage and never trailing in the drag race. Ashley’s winning time of 3.736 seconds was enough to get the win over Mercier’s solid 3.752 second pass.
Nevada Nationals Chance for Justin Ashley to Make Championship Push
PLAINVIEW, NY – Coming down the homestretch of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Justin Ashley and the Leatherwood 
Distillery Top Fuel team powered by Phillips Connect are in familiar territory. Ashley, the 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year, is in the middle of a tight quartet of drivers trying to win the Top Fuel world championship. Last year Ashley was in an equally tight race with eventual champion Brittany Force and Steve Torrence. This year he needs to outpace Torrence, Leah Pruett and Doug Kalitta for the championship with only 108 points separating the four drivers.
Justin Ashley and the Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel dragster powered by Phillips Connect, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery
“We have been in this position before and I think we can lean on that experience,” said Ashley, a six-time Top Fuel winner in 2023. “Last year we were in and out of the points lead during the Countdown and there were always several teams grouped together trying to take the top spot. The field is more competitive than it’s ever been, and it’s shown throughout the first four races of the Countdown. If we can find success in Las Vegas I believe we’ll have an opportunity for the championship in Pomona.”
Three of the four top teams, including Ashley, are vying for their first championship. Kalitta has finished second six times in his career, most recently in 2020 and 2019. Pruett’s best finish in Top Fuel is fourth which she has accomplished three times in 2020, 2019 and 2018. Ashley has secured back-to-back fourth place finishes in 2021 and 2022. The opportunity to win his first championship after a stellar regular season is top of mind for Ashley and the Leatherwood Distillery Top Fuel team.
Tim Wilkerson Records Season-Best E.T. En Route to Semifinal Finish at Dallas
ENNIS, TX – Tim Wilkerson may have lost his semifinal match with Matt Hagan at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, 
but a season-best elapsed time in Sunday eliminations gave the driver/tuner of the SCAG Power Equipment/Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang a confidence boost. Knowing he has a Maynard Wilkerson Racing hot rod that can consistently run in the 3.80-second range, Wilkerson is already looking forward to the next race as the 2023 NHRA Camping World Series season starts to wrap up.
In qualifying, Wilkerson started the weekend with a strong baseline run in Friday’s first session before laying down a 3.884-second pass at 317.80 MPH to go into Saturday as the provisional No. 7 qualifier. He had to lift off the throttle in the third session on Saturday, but came back in the final session and recorded a 3.879 E.T. to qualify No. 9 in a nearly all-3-second field.
Wilkerson was one half of NHRA’s Funny Car marquee matchup with Alexis DeJoria. It was a nailbiter, as Wilkerson had the starting line advantage while DeJoria had traction issues, but Wilkerson encountered his own issues late in the run. He held on to get the win, but lost lane choice to Bob Tasca III in the second round. That didn’t matter, though, since Wilkerson used a season-best 3.866-second performance to power past Tasca and his 3.921 E.T. Wilkerson’s SCAG Power Equipment entry slowed a bit in the semifinals, dropping a side-by-side race with Matt Hagan.
Tony Schumacher Comes Up Short in Battle of ‘Texan vs Texan’ at Dallas Fall Nationals
ENNIS, TX – Top Fuel’s winningest driver has a long history of success at the Texas Motorplex located outside of Dallas, and he was looking 
for more Motorplex magic on Sunday at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals as he sought to pick up his first win of the year. Tony Schumacher has enjoyed a recent late-season performance boost, which saw him advance to the semifinals at two out of the first three playoff events. The Austin resident was hoping to take it one round further at the Ennis, Texas facility but traction issues during round one of eliminations ended Schumacher’s day early, preventing him from making a run at a seventh Dallas trophy.
Aboard the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster, Schumacher’s weekend began with a solid 3.739-second baseline run right out of the trailer on Friday afternoon. On Friday night, he clocked his best E.T. and speed of the season when he lit up the scoreboards with a 3.690 E.T. at 333.46 MPH. With the unseasonably cool temperatures, many of his competitors also took advantage of the favorable conditions and despite the good run, Schumacher found himself in 10th at the end of the session.
Tim Wilkerson Misses Out on Illinois Sweep with Early Loss at NHRA Midwest Nationals
Madison, IL – NHRA Funny Car veteran Tim Wilkerson was aiming for a second win in his home state of Illinois this season at the NHRA 
Midwest Nationals but fell short of his goal on race day. Wilkerson has had previous success at World Wide Technology Raceway, the home track for the Maynard Wilkerson Racing SCAG Power Equipment/Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang Funny Car team, including two runner-up finishes and a 2008 event win.
Wilkerson, who won the event in Joliet, Ill. near Chicago earlier this year, started the weekend off with a strong pass in the opening qualifying session when he posted a run of 3.982 seconds at 321.04-MPH on Friday night. He followed that on Saturday with a qualifying effort of 4.017 seconds at 317.27, which held up to be the best E.T. of the session, earning him three bonus points in the process. When qualifying concluded, the team was in the 10th position and matched with fellow championship contender Ron Capps in the first round.
In eliminations, Wilkerson was looking for a win light versus Capps, but his opponent’s quicker reaction time enabled him to cross the finish line beams first, with Capps’ 3.998 E.T. defeating Wilkerson’s quicker 3.977-second run.
JCM Racing to Introduce Leatherwood Distillery to NHRA Fans at St. Louis
CLARKSVILLE, TN – As the NHRA Countdown to the Championship intensifies, JCM Racing is proud to welcome a new associate 
marketing partner, Leatherwood Distillery, to its roster. Leatherwood Distillery branding will appear on Tony Schumacher’s SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster and Tim Wilkerson’s SCAG Power Equipment/Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Funny Car beginning with this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis.
“This new partnership brings together two of my favorite things – sipping Tennessee bourbon and watching the JCM Racing cars go down the track,” said Joe Maynard, team owner, JCM Racing. “I’m really excited about what Leatherwood Distillery is doing and what they represent. I couldn’t be prouder to introduce this brand to the NHRA community at St. Louis and beyond.”
Leatherwood Distillery, a Clarksville, Tenn.-based distiller of bourbon, rye, moonshine, rum, and other spirits, was founded by retired Green Beret Andrew Lang. While serving in Afghanistan, Lang built a homemade still that he would use to clean water for drinking. When he wasn’t purifying water, he would distill moonshine using locally sourced ingredients like corn, wheat, rolled oats and dried molasses. After retiring from the Green Berets, Lang started distilling craft spirits back home in Nashville. He then launched Leatherwood Distillery, where he distills spirits like 911 Apple Pie Moonshine, Check Point Rye Whiskey, Jalapeno Lemon Rum, and Vanilla Whip Moonshine.
Tim Wilkerson Hits Hot Track Too Hard at NHRA Carolina Nationals
CHARLOTTE, NC- After making one of the best passes in the first round of eliminations at the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX 
Dragway, Tim Wilkerson got a little too aggressive in his second-round match with Matt Hagan on Sunday afternoon. The hot track couldn’t hold Wilkerson’s SCAG Power Equipment/Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang Funny Car, marking the end of Wilkerson’s time at the second event of the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship.
Wilkerson, who is competing in his 15th Countdown, opened qualifying with a 3.900-second lap to end Friday as the provisional No. 4 qualifier. He improved to a 3.876 E.T. in the second session before driving into tire smoke nearly immediately in the third and final qualifying session, ending up No. 7 on the final qualifying order.
The first round of Funny Car eliminations on Sunday morning saw numerous higher qualified drivers bow out. Wilkerson emerged unscathed, though, as he left the line first against No. 10 qualifier Cruz Pedregon and laid down a 3.918-second pass at 329.91 MPH to beat Pedregon’s tire-smoking 4.822 E.T. He was the third-quickest driver of the round, but not quick enough to get lane choice over Matt Hagan in the second round. There, Wilkerson left first by .002 seconds and held an early lead before losing traction and lifting to a 4.543 E.T., while Hagan won with a 3.996-second pass.
Tony Schumacher Out Early, but Undeterred
CHARLOTTE, NC – After a get-healthy weekend in Reading, Pa, which saw Tony Schumacher advance three spots in the Top Fuel standings 
thanks to a strong qualifying performance and semifinal finish, the Mike Neff/Jon Schaffer-tuned SCAG Power Equipment team was looking to carry their newfound momentum down to Concord, N.C. for the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals.
At the second event of the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff series, Schumacher and the SCAG team continued to run strong. Right out of the trailer, they unloaded with a 3.700-second pass, their quickest of the season, in the opening session on Friday night. During the third and final qualifying round, the team backed up their Q1 run by once again resetting their season-best E.T. The SCAG dragster blasted down the track with header flames high through the 1,000-foot beams to post a 3.692 E.T., placing them sixth on the Top Fuel ladder.
Armed with the advantage of lane choice, Schumacher drew No. 9 qualifier Shawn Langdon as his first-round opponent on Sunday morning. The two Top Fuel world champions were the first pair to hit the track on race day and while they left close together and were dead-even by the time they approached the 330-foot marker, Schumacher’s machine started to lose traction near the eighth mile, opening up the door for his opponent to pull away for the win.
