Seattle: Hillary Will final report

Will on wrong end of close race

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2007) -- This weekend's 20th annual NHRA Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals has been plagued by rain, but today at Pacific Raceway eliminations got underway, albeit 50 minutes late.

In the opening round, Hillary Will, driver of the Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster owned by KB Racing LLC, came within several feet of winning her first round match up with Larry Dixon.

Unintentionally, when her visor fogged up, Will rolled in and lit both the pre-stage and stage light simultaneously. Dixon went about his staging methodically. At the green light, Dixon was away first. At the finish line, it was Dixon who turned on the win light, but it was close as Will was about six thousandths of a second behind.

Will recorded an elapsed time of 4.575 seconds; while, Dixon cover the quarter-mile in 4.588 seconds.

The second year pro and her KB Racing team now move to Infineon Raceway, the track she considers her home track. Will was born and raised in Fortuna, Calif.

-credit: kbr