Hillary Will, driver of the Palm Beach Int’l Raceway/KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, finished her third season as a professional drag racer in fourth place in POWERade championship points Sunday during eliminations of the season-ending Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.).
Will and her team began the final day of racing in the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing Series in second place in points, but a first round loss to Troy Buff, 3.887 sec., 313.44 mph to 3.840 sec., 309.27 mph, slid the world’s fastest female back to No. 4 in the points tally.
“We really wanted to be No. 2 but we’re still ecstatic about our year,” Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. “We finished 13th last year so fourth is fantastic. My team is awesome and I’m so lucky to drive and compete with them.”
“We’re still hoping to get a primary marketing partner for next year and we’ve proven that we have a wonderful opportunity to be a part of our winning family, so hopefully something will come together and we can keep this great team going into 2009.”
Will’s team of mechanics, led by crew chief Jim Oberhofer, won the Full Throttle Pit Crew Award for qualifying excellence at the event.
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. Will became the fastest female in the NHRA’s new 1,000-ft. era by crossing the track timers at 315.49 mph at the event in Richmond, Va.
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