Seattle: Hillary Will preview

For Will Pacific Raceways is a familiar track

KENT, Wash. (July 20, 2006) -- As a rookie there are many tracks that Hillary Will never raced at until the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule and its carnival of sights, sounds and senses rolls into town. Pacific Raceways, in Kent, Wash., near Seattle, is one of the exceptions.

This weekend, when qualifying begins for the 19th annual NHRA Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals, Will, who drives the KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel Dragster, will be on a track that the 26-year-old driver from Fortuna in Northern California, now living in Ypsilanti, Mich., is familiar with and a venue at which she previous raced.

"I have raced a lot at Pacific Raceways over the last couple of years for national and divisional events as well as match races," Will said. "I'm looking forward to being on a familiar track."

Last weekend at Denver, with the temperatures soaring to over 100 degrees plus throughout qualifying and eliminations, Will's dragster ran exceptionally well. She qualified in the top half of the field and was moving through eliminations when the parachute inadvertently deployed in the second round ending what was promising to be a good outing.

"We had a good race car all weekend and we had a good opportunity to beat J.R. (Todd) in the second round," recalled Will following eliminations at Denver. "We were gaining on him and for some unknown reason the cable came out and the parachute deployed way too early, causing us to fall short at the finish line."

The weather in Seattle is predicted to be a lot like Denver. "The weather forecast is calling for hot temperatures this weekend," added Will. "My team has proven that they can get the dragster down the track and put good numbers on the board under less than ideal conditions."

Will, who is No. 10 in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings, is one of the leading candidates for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award (Rookie of the Year).

Qualifying for Will and her KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed team begins with two nitro fuel sessions on Friday, July 21, scheduled for 3:30 and 6 p.m. and concludes with two additional nitro fuel sessions on Saturday, July 22, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Will begins her quest for the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals Top Fuel title on Sunday, July 23, with eliminations for all classes beginning at 11 a.m. All times are local Seattle time (PT) and subject to change at anytime.

-KB Racing