In the glitzy stratosphere of the NHRA POWERade professional categories, Funny Car may be the one in which fame and fortune are most difficult to acquire. After all, 12-time champion John Force has made it exceedingly challenging for any other Funny Car racer to capture the spotlight for much longer than a fleeting moment.

And when Force isn't the object of everyone's attention, Tony Pedregon, his brothers Cruz or Frank, Whit Bazemore, Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., Del Worsham or a host of others are veritable matinee idols receiving the adulation that comes from driving for many of the sport's most high-visibility teams.

And for Tim Wilkerson, that's perfectly alright.

The 43-year-old Springfield, Ill., native, who moved from the sportsman ranks of alcohol Funny Cars to nitro fuel coupes in 1996, has never hungered for the notoriety and front page stardom that has become part and parcel of racing in the NHRA POWERade series. He is a true nose-to-the-grindstone drag racer who has bedeviled many of the higher ticket teams on the tour for the past seven years by competing step-for-step with them week after week without the promotional overkill which has become so commonplace.

On Sunday, Wilkerson won the rain-delayed 49th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park -- only his second career national event win -- but he did it with the now-familiar dogged determination and tireless work ethic he has come to embody. He is a working class hero, along with crew chief Fred Mandoline, and after dropping the 1997 Indy final to Whit Bazemore while driving for the JCIT team of John Costanza, Wilkerson was proud but humble after finally scoring the biggest win of his career.

"How about this?!" he said moments after receiving his trophy. "My team deserves the credit for this because if these guys didn't work as hard as they do, we wouldn't be here. I came up a bit short in '97 and it's taken a while to get back to the final round here and I told myself that this time I'd find a way to win and that's what happened."

Wilkerson's duties with his Levi, Ray, and Shoup team extend far beyond the cockpit. Between rounds, while most other F/C drivers relax in their transporters or sign autographs at their souvenir trailers, Wilkerson is working right alongside his team, tearing down the engine, replacing the rods, pistons, and bearings, setting the clutch, and putting it all back together. In fact, evidence of Wilkerson's hands-on workload was visible all day Sunday, as he wore a smudge of grease on his left cheek.

Wilkerson's performance throughout race day was as rock solid as his willingness to work, as his reaction times ranged from .059 (in the final against Johnny Gray) to .088 (in the second round vs. Scotty Cannon), and his elapsed times swung from a 4.82 in Round 1 to a 4.99 in Round 2. Maybe Force summed up the Tim Wilkerson story best.

"There's a guy over there who has a team who can hurt ya without all the bells and whistles. I should know -- he's done it to me a few times. I'm just glad I don't have to race him every week."

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.