KB Racing LLC: Will advances to semifinals
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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
19TH ANNUAL NHRA FRAM AUTOLITE NATIONALS
INFINEON RACEWAY - SONOMA, CALIFORNIA
JULY 28-30, 2006
Qualified: # 7 (4.597 seconds at 322.27 mph)
Eliminations:
Round 1: Will (4.976/236.13) def. Melanie Troxel (6.637/127.26)
Round 2: Will (4.725/301.67) def. Larry Dixon (4.959/268.49)
Round 3 (semifinals): Will (4.673/317.49) lost to J.R. Todd (4.678/308.92)
Will advances to the semifinals
Moves to ninth in points
SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2006) - For the second time this season,
Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta
Motorsports-managed Top Fuel Dragster, advanced to the semifinal this
time at the NHRA FRAM Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in the wine
country of Sonoma County.
Against Melanie Troxel in the opening round, Will was away first at the
green light and took the win light at the finish line. Will left .056
of a second before Troxel, then cover the Infineon Raceway track in
4.976 seconds. Troxel covered the quarter-mile in 6.637 seconds. In
between the start and finish lines, there was tire smoke from both drivers.
Next up for Will was Larry Dixon. In a match up that had point
implications for the rookie driver, Will used the tune-up of crew chief
Jim Oberhofer to pull away from Dixon on the top end of the track. This
moved Will, who is from Fortuna, Calif., about four hours north of
Infineon Raceway, into ninth in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point
standings. The win moved Will into the semifinals against another
rookie J. R. Todd.
It was a battle of the two top contenders for the Auto Club of Southern
California Road to the Future Award (Rookie of the Year) - and a battle
it was. In a side by side all the way down the entire length of the
quarter-mile track, Will came up 49 ten thousandths of a second short at
the finish line.
Will tripped the finish line timers in 4.673 seconds at 317.49 mph, just
a tick behind Todd, who recorded a time of 4.678 seconds. The
difference was the slight advantage (.009 of a second) that Todd gained
at the start.
"Heartbreaker is the best way to describe it," said Will following her
close loss to J. R. Todd. "We lost by four thousandths. My team gave
me a great car all weekend. We had our best run of the day against
Todd. That makes it kind of tough but we did make it to the semis.
"I've seen a lot of familiar faces this weekend. A lot of people from
home have come by to say hi to me. It's really cool to see everybody.
I'm glad we did as well as we did. My team deserves to be in the
winner's circle. It's coming."
ESPN2 will air same-day television coverage of eliminations for the 19th
annual NHRA FRAM Autolite Nationals from 8 until 11 p.m. (Sunday, July
30). The elimination show repeats early Monday morning (July 31) from
3-4:30 a.m. Television times are Eastern Time (ET) and subject to
change at anytime. Check local listings.
With eight races left on the 2006 schedule, the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series moves to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" - Brainerd
International Raceway, in Brainerd Minn., for the NHRA Lucas Oil
Nationals, which will be contested August 10-13.
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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