NHRA
Dallas: Hillary Will preview
Hillary Will looking to continue consistency and momentum in Dallas ENNIS, Texas, (Sept. 18, 2008) -- Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, enters this weekend's, Sept. 18-21, annual running of the O'Reilly Super Start ...
Published: Sep 19, 2008, 2:58 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hillary Will looking to continue consistency and momentum in Dallas
ENNIS, Texas, (Sept. 18, 2008) -- Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, enters this weekend's, Sept. 18-21, annual running of the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, just a few miles south of Dallas, with one of the five best Nitro-fueled, 8,000-horsepower, 315-plus mph dragsters on the planet.
After a strong semi-final charge at the previous NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event in Charlotte, Will and her team moved up two positions in POWERade championship points and in the NHRA Countdown to 1 from 7th to 5th. Will is now only 117 points away from the points lead.
"The KB Racing, LLC dragster driver's seat is my favorite place on Earth," Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. "Our car has been running great and I see absolutely no reason for that to stop. My crew chief, Jim Oberhofer, has got our car out there running numbers that are capable of winning every time we get on the track. I'm really excited about these last five events of the season. I think we have a great chance of winning this weekend in Dallas and to keep moving up in the points."
Also in Charlotte, Will became the fastest female in the history of the NHRA to cross the 1,000-ft. track timers at a booming 315.12 mph.
Beginning with the 13th event in Denver, the NHRA instituted a new racing distance for the nitro-fueled classes of Funny Car and Top Fuel dragster to 1,000 ft., as opposed to the traditional distance of 1,320 ft., or a quarter of a mile, as a temporary safety solution to help the drivers of the world's quickest and fastest racing safely bring their cars to a stop more efficiently. The unprecedented action, which will be observed for the remainder of the 2008 season, is in response to the tragic death of Kalitta Motorsports' Scott Kalitta, who died in a high-speed Funny Car qualifying accident in Englishtown, N.J., June 21.
Will became the fastest woman in the history of NHRA drag racing when she posted a 334.65-mph lap down the quarter-mile race track at the first of event of the 2008 season in Pomona, Calif. She became the first driver of either gender to go over 300 mph at the new 1,000-ft. finish line in Denver with a 302.21-mph mark in qualifying.
Will is currently the only female driver competing in the Top Fuel class.
A former standout in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, Will moved up to the quickest and fastest NHRA professional class, Top Fuel, in 2006 behind the wheel of a newly formed team owned by Las Vegas businessman Ken Black and managed by Kalitta Motorsports, the multi-car team founded and owned by drag racing icon Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. She won her first Top Fuel event trophy in Norwalk (IHRA) in her rookie season and made her first NHRA final-round appearance in Memphis later that year. She finished the season in 10th place in Top Fuel championship points in '06. Will picked up an emotional first NHRA national event title in Topeka, Kan., June 1, 2008.
-credit: km
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dallas: Allen Johnson preview
Next article Charlotte: Valerie Thompson final report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Kalitta
Can John Force win his 17th championship without his veteran crew chief?
NHRA
NHRA
Las Vegas
Can John Force win his 17th championship without his veteran crew chief?
Crampton, Worsham and Johnson lead after first day of qualifying at NHRA Springnationals
NHRA
NHRA
Crampton, Worsham and Johnson lead after first day of qualifying at NHRA Springnationals
Massey, Edwards and Worsham claim top qualifying positions at Thunder Valley Nationals
NHRA
NHRA
Massey, Edwards and Worsham claim top qualifying positions at Thunder Valley Nationals
Latest news
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
3 h
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
General
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Japanese GP
6 h
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe