Bruce Wilkinson

Bruce Wilkinson is a former driver in the ARLA Elite Series and TM Lights. He raced full-time for Packer Carroll and Gravity Racing, Inc. before he tested positive at the 2011 Appleton Speedway Fright Nite. He was replaced by Zach Gott in ARLA, and Cameron Taylor in the TM Lights.

Early Life and Career
Bruce Wilkinson was born on May 18, 1971. He was introduced to racing at an early age by his father, and the two would watch races from open-wheel to stock car competition whenever they could. His father set Bruce up for a go-karting league when Bruce turned 13, which Bruce excelled at. As soon as Bruce got his driver's license, he signed up for a local Enduro league, which didn't benifit him as much as he would have liked.

During the late nineties, Bruce began to make appearances in open wheel events, such as the Indianapolis 500, which he attempted in 1998, 1999 and 2002, but DNQ'd all three times. On the circuit that he runs, he has two victories, twenty six podium finishes and five poles.

In late 2009, Bruce ended his long-lasting Enduro career at one title and 15 victories, to pursue a higher position in motorsport. He was an avid TM Master Cup fan, and had been a fan of Benny Dwyer since he was introduced to the series. Bruce knew in advance that if he'd wanted to get that far, he would have to work his way up there. His first attempt at doing that began with a late entry into the TM Junior series, which was denied, which left Bruce searching for a ride. A shuffle between teams gave Bruce a spot in his own car, which he ran for the rest of the season.

While this was happening, Bruce headed to Dwyer and then spoke to Packer Carroll about an ARLA Elite Series ride. Bruce did not know much about ARLA, but based on what and who he knew, Packer wound up being the first person he went to. In advance, Packer gave Bruce a development ride in the unsponsored #7 car.

ARLA and TM Canon Career
2010

Bruce's TM Junior Series career was short lived due to it's abrupt ending after the end of the 2010 season, and with that, it had nothing worth mentioning either. His best finish was third in the season finale at Decatur.

Bruce's early ARLA Elite Series career was extremely successful, despite the fact that Bruce was driving a development car. He was on the podium every race he attended, expect for Rockford, in part due to it's unique format compared to every other race Bruce started. While he seemed to be well in contention for a win, he did not do better than second, but he definitely proved he could race when he finished second in the Watkins Glen race, which was held in the rain.

Despite a dismal TM Junior season and a successful introduction to the ARLA Elite Series, Bruce only won once throughout the entire year, and it wasn't in either of those leagues. On account of a late caution, Bruce nosed Jacob Eicholtz to the stripe, and won the race under yellow.

2011

On account of Bruce's successful runs in ARLA, Packer gave Bruce a full-time deal in both ARLA, and the TM Lights.

Bruce kicked off his running in the ARLA Elite Series with the Rookie Shootout, drawing the 16th spot, putting him near the middle of the field. Early in the night, he'd just missed the back end of Libby Bell's car shooting across his nose, as a result of Bell hooking and turning around Holden Roberts. Other than that, he kept his nose clean all night, and finished fourth.

The early season seemed to be disastrous for him. He was caught up in an early wreck at Texas, which put scratches on both the race car's door-panels. Bruce was sent around after getting hooked by Leslie Riggs, but saved it off the wall, and benefited from a caution to manage a 7th place finish.

The next week, Bruce started the race at St. Petersburg, which was marred by rain. He led a portion of the race before having to come in for a pit stop, which led to a second place finish. Other than that the only other thing worth mentioning from that race was a minor shunt to the wall in the central stages of the race.

Bruce moved up and down the field at Talladega, but he did not have what he would've needed, and finished 20th.

The race at Las Vegas played host to Bruce's first DNF, when he was run over by Dan Mackay in an attempt to avoid the spinning car of Bigsby Foote. Bruce was very disappointed with both Dan Mackay and the driving displayed by the rest of the field. Bruce was caught up in another wreck the next week at Alberta, and didn't finish that race either.

The race at Mosport seemed to start off smoothly, with Bruce having a solid top ten run going early on. In the last half of the race, he was hooked and turned by Brenda Riggs coming out of the last corner, and sent into a spin. When Bruce was able to right himself, he pulled in front of and was run over by Allie Riggs in the #19, which left her furious. Bruce was very apologetic of the incident, and said he'd misjudged where Riggs was going to be.

At Buffalo Downs, Bruce was having one of his familiar podium runs; wheeling and dealing with the likes of Bigsby Foote and Michael Madrigal. Late in the race, Madrigal got the back end of Dale Underwood's already torn-up machine, and spun him on exit to Turn 2. Already in the mist of trying to deal with the lapped car of Doom-O, Bruce saw the astray car and dived low to miss him. When Bruce ran out of racetrack, he and Underwood collided, sending Bruce, who was running second, around. And of course, not to mention a shunt from Chuck Bloomers trying to recover.

Bruce expressed his rage with Madrigal, stating that he took him out of a podium run because of his agorrance towards the #03, and he promised to "kick his ass" next time he saw him. This engaged in a large brawl over Twitter between the drivers.

At Albuquerque, a quiet day was unexpectedly ended when he ran into the spinning car of Derek Dudding. He was noted as having an extended conversation with Dudding after Dudding went out of the race as well, but there is minor detail on what happened.

Going into Dwyer, Bruce finished fifth in the pre-qualifier despite an on-track run in with Billy Bob Childers, which Bruce was apologetic over. He was involved in a first lap incident in the main qualifier that put him out of contention to make the race, which Bruce was notably upset over.

He was injured in a run-in with Bigsby Foote at Watkins Glen for reason that are still unclear. It was assumed that the head and neck restraints may have not been secured properly.

His performance so far in the TM Lights hasn't had much to say about him, being that he was caught up in a wreck during a very chaotic race at the Las Vegas Autoring, which led to a DNF and a 34th place finish. He followed that up with a spectacular run at Road America, in which he finished sixth.

Drug Test Failure

In late 2011, Bruce Wilkinson was involved in a nasty open wheel crash at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, in which he suffered a fractured sternum and three broken rib bones. He was prescribed medication by doctors that was not approved for use in ARLA and TM Lights competition, which ultimately led to Bruce failing a drug test and being put on indefinite suspension. Bruce complied to the proper qualifications to make a return, and made his first comeback in 2013 as a one-off at Mosport, with a self-owned team. He finished tenth in his run, and is set to compete again at Pocono later in the season.