POMONA, Calif., (Feb. 11, 2008) – Yesterday at the season-opening event of the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing Series, the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif. ), Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, started her quest for the 2008 POWERade points championship with a quarter-final appearance in final eliminations.
In the opening round Sunday, Will, the No. 5 qualifier (4.521 seconds, 334.65 mph) rolled to the starting line to race against No. 12 qualifier J. R. Todd. Both 8,000-horspower race cars had problems with maintaining traction on the famed Pomona drag strip, but Will was able to get her rail to recover before Todd to get her first round-win of the new season, 5.992 sec., 168.89 mph to 7.014 sec., 175.73 mph.
Will then had to race Morgan Lucas in the quarterfinals. Both race cars made almost flawless trips down the race track, but Lucas’ 4.564-sec., 322.73-mph pass was just enough to turn back Will’s 4.594-sec., 325.85-mph lap to get the win.
In a qualifying run Saturday, Will became the fastest female driver in the history of NHRA drag racing with the fifth fastest (tie) lap down the quarter-mile for any gender with an amazing speed of 334.65 mph. The booming speed was also the fastest of the event at the Winternationals.
“That’s a great accomplishment, but all the credit goes to my KB Racing, LLC team,” Will, a 27-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. “I hope that the record will inspire other young women who want to race to work hard and pursue their dreams and try to take that record away from me.”
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. She finished the season in tenth place in Top Fuel championship points in ‘06.
The CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals was the 1st of 24 national events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
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