Hillary Will, driving the special edition Kingdom of Bahrain KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, reached the semifinals for the fourth time in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Sunday at the inaugural running of the NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway @ Concord in Concord, N.C., just outside of Charlotte. By making the semifinals, Will jumps up two positions in POWERade championship points and in the Countdown to 1 NHRA postseason.
Will, the No. 4 qualifier (3.869 seconds, 315.12 mph), defeated No. 13 qualifier Bob Vandergriff, Jr., in the opening round of the 16-car eliminations, 3.945 sec., 310.55 mph to 4.054 sec., 289.88 mph. In the second round, Will vanquished Doug Herbert in a great side-by-side race, 3.944 sec., 311.20 mph to 3.974 sec., 303.91 mph.
In the semifinals, Will, for the seventh time this season, rolled to the starting line to race the Alan Johnson-tuned dragster driven by Tony Schumacher. Will’s dragster unexpectedly started losing traction almost immediately after the race began and that allowed Schumacher to race to the win, 9.666 sec., 77.39 mph to 3.909 sec., 307.72 mph.
“We’re not sure what happened in the semis,” Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. “We got back and looked at the computer and nothing was wrong with the car, so I guess it was just some quirky thing. These Top Fuel dragsters are extremely fickle, so it could have been any number of random things.
“We had a great weekend in Charlotte, though. We qualified great and our car went down the track smoothly and consistently every lap until that last one. It’s awesome that we moved up some in the points. There are only five races left in the Countdown now and every single point is very important.”
The NHRA Carolinas Nationals was the 19th of 24 events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
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