KB Racing LLC: Q&A WITH JIM =?windows-1252?Q?=93O=94?=

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 14, 2006

KB RACING LLC
NHRA POWERADE DRAG RACING SERIES

KB RACING LLC-owned, KALITTA MOTORSPORTS-managed TOP FUEL DRAGSTER
HILLARY WILL (www.hillarywillrace.com) -- DRIVER
JIM OBERHOFER (Jim O.) – CREW CHIEF

MEDIA CONTACT: Mickey Schultz
PHONE: 425-557-8899
E-MAIL: mschultz@bellsouth.net*
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*Q&A WITH JIM “O”
/Hillary Will at midpoint in 2006 season/
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*Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing-owned, Kalitta 
Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster, is rapidly approaching the 
mid-point of her rookie season.  Her crew chief, Jim Oberhofer, known to 
most as Jim “O”, took the time to answer questions regarding Will’s 
progress during the first half of her rookie season. 
*
Q1: You began testing with Hillary right after she was named driver of 
the KB Racing LLC-owned dragster, managed by Kalitta Motorsports.  Take 
us through that testing period.

Jim “O” 1: *After naming Hillary as driver of the car after Brainerd 
last season, we put her in Scott Kalitta’s dragster. We kind of 
retrofitted Scott’s car for Hillary, our goal being that we wanted to 
get her in the car, make some laps at the Indy test session before the 
Mac Tools U.S. Nationals and hopefully get her license. On her first 
full pass, she went 4.67 (seconds) at 321 (mph). From that point on we 
made a few more laps and she ended up getting her license at the Indy 
test session. 

After that we stayed after a few more races – Chicago, Dallas and Las 
Vegas – to give her more laps in the car.  During that period, every 
time she did another lap we would push the car a little bit harder to 
get her to feel the difference between a mid-4.60 and a mid-4.50 run. At 
Las Vegas, she ended up running a 4.56 at 326.        *

Q2: During that testing period (from Indy to the end of the year) was 
there anything that impressed you about your new driver?

Jim “O”: *Hillary handled herself very well in the car and it became 
apparent that she was going to become a very consistent driver as far as 
her routine. That’s one of the things that really sticks in my mind 
about her.  She repeats the same routine over and over again, whether 
it’s the length of her burnout, backing up, rolling in and staging, and 
so on.
*
Q3: What happened after the end of the season until Hillary pulled to 
the starting line at her debut race at the NHRA Winternationals in February?

Jim “O”: *Over the winter, we basically built a car around Hillary, 
utilizing her size. This gave us the ability to build a better working 
race car that we hoped would have an advantage on hot, slick race 
tracks. With that done we went out and started testing at Las Vegas in 
January.

We picked up where we left off last season. We began getting after it 
more and more. Hillary was up for the task. The car went in the 4.40s a 
few times. Some of the runs were over 280 (mph) at half-track. It told 
us that as a driver, Hillary could handle this car. We knew that we 
wanted to treat her and the car like it was any other Kalitta 
Motorsports driver – Doug Kalitta, David Grubnic, or Scott Kalitta – in 
the car. Hillary reacted well to everything we threw at her. Her runs 
were straight run after run after run. It was a pretty cool deal. I 
wasn’t worried about who was sitting in the seat and I didn’t need to 
back the car down just because we had a rookie driver in the seat. 
Hillary proved that she could drive this race car and she was ready for 
the Winternationals.
*
Q4:  Now that you have gone through testing last year and preseason 
testing this year, what now have you added to your list of things that 
impressed you about Hillary?

Jim “O”: *Other things that impress me about Hillary, both as a driver 
and as a person, is her determination and the focus that she has to 
accomplish goals. Also, as a driver Hillary has no ego, this makes it 
easy to talk to her. Hillary is also always asking questions to expand 
her learning curve. For example, during testing we had a problem with a 
break in the clutch linkage. It happened in the staging lanes, so we 
didn’t make the run. Hillary asked me what would have happened if that 
broke on the burnout. I use that one example, of the many sound 
questions that she’s asked, to point out that she’s always thinking 
ahead to learn and better her driving skills.
*
Q5: Testing is one thing, racing competitively is another.  How did she 
do as a driver in her first competitive national event -- the NHRA 
Winternationals?

Jim “O”: *I think she did very well.  Simply because there was a lot of 
media hype about her debut before and during the race. She was under a 
microscope. There were a lot of people wondering how she was going to 
handle herself in this racecar and considering how many directions she 
was being pulled by the media and other things at the track, she did 
excellent. During qualifying she made three consecutive runs of 4.51, 
including the run she found Pomona Beach.

Going in we knew that Pomona was a short race track. There was always 
the possibility that the car was going to wind up in the sand and it did 
during qualifying on the last run. It was a mistake and we as a team 
learned from it. Hillary learned from it. We laughed about it and went on.*

Q6: How has she progressed in the races since that debut race?

Jim “O”: *She’s done very well driving the car. The only thing that she 
is struggling with is her reaction times but I know that Hillary is 
working very hard to get better and I know she will. The one thing about 
Hillary is that she is so hard on herself and wants to be the very best 
that she may try too hard. Hillary has a tree set up here at the shop 
and she practices constantly. At Topeka, she made a step forward with 
her reaction times in qualifying. She is making small steps each race 
and once she figures it out, look out.

I think from the Winternationals until now Hillary has learned a lot. 
She still doesn’t have that many runs under her belt.  We try to test as 
much as we can after National events. We have made a lot of runs where 
we have not suffered tire smoke but when the car starts to lose 
traction, Hillary has been very quick to react and get off the throttle. 
I think down the road that’s really going to pay off, if we do get into 
a pedaling match. She’s an athlete having competed in gymnastics and 
diving, as well as her previous racing experience, so she is quick to 
react to situations. She is also starting to offer feedback to me and 
the team that is helpful toward tuning the car for the next run.*

Q7: Hillary had what some called a rookie mistake during qualifying at 
Columbus.  What is your take on that particular qualifying pass?  Has 
that run or any run during the nine races thus far in the season done 
anything to shake your confidence or your crew’s confidence in Hillary’s 
ability to drive a Top Fuel dragster?

Jim “O”: *The unfortunate thing is that when she does make a mistake 
it’s like she is the first and only person in drag racing history to 
ever make this mistake. 

On that particular run, the car made a hard move toward the centerline 
about half-track and Hillary tried to bring it back. Unfortunately after 
she lifted off the throttle the car darted over into the other lane. I 
think Hillary did a fantastic job of recovering and avoiding what might 
have been a disaster for both cars and drivers. She reacted very well to 
what happened and did a great job getting around (Bob) Vandergriff 
(Jr.). Not everybody would agree with where she should have driven the 
car, but under the circumstances, as a rookie driver she did a great job.

My team and I came back after the ‘incident’ and we didn’t give it two 
thoughts. Our whole team has 110 percent confidence in Hillary. Every 
person associated with this team agrees Hillary is the only driver for 
this car. 

Hillary is a team player and we are one team. Ken Black happens to be 
the owner of this team. Hillary happens to be the driver for this team. 
I happen to be the crew chief for this team and Troy Fasching happens to 
be the assistant crew chief.  Kent Carley, Jason Davis, Scott Finnis, 
Chris Glass, Chris Rose and Mac Savage complete the crew. Mickey Schultz 
handles the team’s public relations. She cares about each and every one 
of the persons I named and each and every one of the persons named cares 
about Hillary. 

I don’t know that we would want anybody else to drive this car. If they 
lined every Top Fuel driver up and said “pick one.” we would still pick 
Hillary just because we know what she’s all about. I, along with Ken 
Black, and our crew, knew going into this deal that mistakes were going 
to be made. No one on this team has complained about anything that has 
happened.*

Q8: What are your thoughts about the critics and their opinions 
following the Columbus incident?

Jim “O”: *Everyone is entitled to their opinion about Hillary and about 
this team and I try not to concern myself with what others say. Some of 
the people that I’m talking about, you respect their opinions and others 
you don’t. Some of the drivers that have made some pretty dumb mistakes 
in their career are among the critics and somehow seem to have forgotten 
those mistakes. One in particular feels he has the right to cast 
criticism on Hillary, all the while never once mentioning that in 2001, 
he too crossed over the center line and ran into the back of another 
driver past the finish line. At least Hillary had the skill and presence 
of mind to miss the car in the other lane. One of the things about 
Hillary is that she is honest and when she makes a mistake she doesn’t 
make up excuses like some of the other drivers do. Nobody out here is 
perfect and everyone has made mistakes in the past and will continue to 
make mistakes in the future. Hillary is among that group. Her job, my 
job and the job of everybody on this KB Racing LLC team is to minimize 
the mistakes and give her and this KB Racing LLC team the opportunity to 
win races, and in the future championships.

Rather than talk too much about the critics, I would rather thank the 
many people that have come by to support Hillary and this team. While I 
can’t name them all, I would like to mention team owners, Kenny 
Bernstein, John Force, and Don Prudhomme, crew chiefs like Ed McCulloch, 
Richard Hogan and racers like the driver in the other lane, Bob 
Vandergriff Jr., her teammates from the KB Racing side Greg Anderson and 
Jason Line, her Kalitta Motorsports teammates Dave Grubnic, Doug Kalitta 
and Scott Kalitta and NHRA’s Graham Light. On behalf of KB Racing and 
Kalitta Motorsports we want to thank all the named and unnamed 
individuals who have come by our camp to support Hillary and us, it 
means a lot.  *
  
Q9: Since the days of Shirley Muldowney, women have been welcome in ALL 
classes of NHRA drag racing.  What do you say to all the naysayers that 
have jumped on the bandwagon to say that females, in general, should NOT 
be driving in NHRA’s four professional classes?

Jim “O”: T*hose people are living in the Stone Age. Get a life. 
Obviously starting with Shirley, the female drivers in NHRA drag racing 
have proved they belong. I told many people that growing up “Big Daddy” 
Don Garlits was my hero in the drag racing world. Since I got to know 
Shirley Muldowney over the last few years, had I known then what I now 
know about Shirley, she would have replaced “Big Daddy,” as my hero, 
because that’s how much I think of her. The women that are driving on 
the pro circuit today – Hillary, Melanie Troxel, Erica Enders, Angelle 
Sampey , Karen Stoffer and soon to be Ashley Force – they all deserve to 
be out here.

I look at all of the stuff that Erica went through last year and what 
she’s doing this year. She’s doing a great job. She’s putting the 
pressure on the big boys, that’s for sure. Melanie leads the points. She 
a good driver and it shows in what she is accomplishing this season. 
Angelle’s record speaks for itself. All the female drivers belong out 
here because they’re drivers and are just as capable as the men. When I 
see Hillary in the car, I don’t think of her as a female or a male, 
she’s a racecar driver. So are Melanie, Erica, Angelle, Karen and 
Ashley. That’s what Shirley Muldowney was – a racecar driver, maybe the 
best ever. *

Q10: In closing, anything else you would like to add regarding your 
driver Hillary Will.

Jim “O”: *The bottom line is that we’re very happy with Hillary and 
everything she has done this year. I can tell you this, when Hillary 
wins her first race you will see a “mosh pit” like no other and wouldn’t 
it be fun if some of the “critics” were in the pit with us.  *

Team owner Ken Black added the following comments to Jim Oberhofer’s Q&A:

*“I back up 100 percent what Jim O has said in this Q&A. In fact for me 
you can boil it down to this:  We have built this team around Hillary. 
We hired Hillary because we felt she could drive a Top Fuel car and 
hired the highest quality crew chief and crew to give her the 
opportunity to do so. To date she has proved that she can drive a Top 
Fuel car and I will park this car before I will change drivers. Hillary 
has a great future as a Top Fuel driver and at KB Racing LLC.”
*
*/KB Racing LLC is owned by Las Vegas businessmen Ken Black and Kenny 
Black. KB Racing LLC fields the Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel 
dragster driven by rookie driver Hillary Will. Autolite Spark Plugs, 
Calico Coatings, Findlay Automotive, Mac Tools, Red Line Oil, Summit 
Racing Equipment and the Technicoat Companies are associate marketing 
partners for 2006.   In addition to Hillary Will’s Top Fuel Dragster, KB 
Racing LLC also fields two Summit Racing Equipment Pro Stock Pontiac 
GTOs, driven by Greg Anderson and Jason Line on the NHRA POWERade Drag 
Racing Series. Anderson has won three consecutive POWERade Pro Stock 
Championships (2003-2005).  Line finished third in the 2005 POWERade 
point standings and was honored with the 2004 Automobile Club of 
Southern California Road to the Future award, presented to the most 
outstanding rookie in a professional category. 

Kalitta Motorsports (www.kalittaracing.com), owned by the legendary drag 
racer and successful businessman Connie Kalitta, will field, in addition 
to Will’s dragster, three additional nitro fuel cars – two Top Fuel 
dragsters and a Funny Car – in 2006 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing 
Series.  Doug Kalitta will drive the Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster, David 
Grubnic will handle the driving duties on the StriVectin-SD Top Fuel 
Dragster and Scott Kalitta moves from Top Fuel to the Kalitta Air Funny 
Car for 2006. /*

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