Phoenix: Hillary Will final summary

Hillary Will turned back in good drag race at Firebird

CHANDLER, Ariz. (February 25, 2007) -- After making a race of her match up against Whit Bazemore, Hillary Will lost a close race to the former Funny Car turned Top Fuel driver at the 23rd annual NHRA Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals being run this weekend at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., just outside Phoenix.

Will gained a slight lead at the green light but the power of the Lee Beard-tuned dragster, driven by Bazemore, was too much this day for Will's KB Racing-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Attac-built dragster.

Will ran a respectable elapsed time of 4.589 seconds at 321.88, giving Bazemore all he could handle. Bazemore covered the quarter-mile track in 4.513 seconds at 326.95 mph.

"The KB Racing dragster was on a good run," said Will. "I didn't see him (Bazemore) the whole time, so it surprised me when his win light came on. The team is disappointed. Our season has not gone the way we had hoped."

The early season adversity -- an accident at Las Vegas and a mechanical problem at the season-opening race in Pomona -- is behind the team.

"Those misfortunes were behind us before we came to Phoenix," said Will. "We're going to stay here in Phoenix and test. My crew chief Jim O wanted us running in the 40s (4.40 second range). I know we can run those types of numbers and that we're going to be competitive at the next race."

-credit: kb racing