"Every cylinder head I've got came from him. They're all used parts off of his Funny Car (driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.) from last year," Wilkerson said. "And I spent all day [one] Friday and some of the day on Saturday at his shop in Indy, running clutches and blowers again on his dyno. Even at Las Vegas (where he beat Ashley Force in the final), some of the guys came over and helped us with an engine change before the finals. What a terrific deal that was. We hurt the motor against Ron (Capps) in the semis, and I don't know what we would've got done without them."
In general, he said, "there's probably once or twice a weekend that I'll walk over there with some question after staring at my data and going through my own mind what I think is right or wrong. I'll just go over there and bounce it off of those guys, and they'll tell me their opinion. Most of the time what they've got on the dragster does not apply, but Todd [Smith] worked on Gary Densham's Funny Car for a while, so he's got a pretty good grasp on what happens with Funny Cars. Sometimes after that I won't even make a decision for two or three races, and then I'll think that particular scenario might work in these conditions and might not be a bad idea so I'll try and apply it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
"But it has really has been a good situation," Wilkerson said. "I thought, 'Wow, I've never had that opportunity
before.' That kind of stuff is really going a long way.
Snake's really helping us out more than you know."
Through the years, the seven-time winner said, he has asked for advice from more than one smart and seasoned mechanic. He said his current success is "just from tenacity, and really a lot of help from a lot of people out here. I don't think there's one crew chief in Top Fuel or Funny Car who hasn't helped me at one time or another with some stupid question that I had."
Although he preaches hard work and certainly knows that from hard work come positive results, Wilkerson said he's dumbfounded by his achievements this year.
"There is no way I could ever dream this up, really. I’m confident in our car and the abilities of our crew, but I really didn’t think we could pull this off," he said. "We're just trying to do the best we can do."
So far his best has been plenty good.