MILLINGTON, Tenn. – With only 16 elimination rounds remaining in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Hillary Will, driver of the 8,000-horsepower KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, finds herself just shy of eight rounds, 154 points, away from the POWERade championship points lead as she and her team enter this weekend’s, Sept. 26-28, annual running of the O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn., just a few miles north of the Memphis city limits.
Will, the world’s fastest female, is currently in 5th place in points. With only four events remaining this season, she knows that this weekend’s trip to the Volunteer State will be critical to her team’s hopes in the NHRA Countdown to 1 postseason of this year’s Countdown to the Championship.
“The Countdown is so exciting, not just for the fans, but for all the drivers, too,” Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. “The pressure is on and we need to take advantage of every chance we get to make points. That doesn’t just mean winning rounds. Qualifying better means we get more points so we’ve got to go for the throat on every single lap and get everything we can. It all just makes the most exciting racing in the world even that much more captivating. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
Will qualified in the No. 3 position and raced her KB Racing, LLC machine to a quarter-final finish at the previous event in Dallas last weekend.
Will is currently the only female driver competing in the Top Fuel class.
Beginning with the 13th event in Denver, the NHRA instituted a new racing distance for the nitro-fueled classes of Funny Car and Top Fuel dragster to 1,000 ft., as opposed to the traditional distance of 1,320 ft., or a quarter of a mile, as a temporary safety solution to help the drivers of the world’s quickest and fastest racing safely bring their cars to a stop more efficiently. The unprecedented action, which will be observed for the remainder of the 2008 season, is in response to the tragic death of Kalitta Motorsports’ Scott Kalitta, who died in a high-speed Funny Car qualifying accident in Englishtown, N.J., June 21.
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, Calif. In Charlotte, Will became the fastest female in the NHRA’s 1,000-ft. era by crossing the track timers at 315.12 mph.
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 later that year. She finished the season in 10th place in Top Fuel championship points in ‘06. Will picked up an emotional first NHRA national event title in Topeka, Kan., June 1, 2008.
Qualifying for the O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals begins Friday for the Nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 4:00 p. m. (CT) and 6:30 p. m. Two more qualifying sessions take place Saturday at noon and 3:00 p. m. The top 16 qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a. m.
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