Will looks forward to eliminations and birthday tomorrow
20th ANNUAL NHRA O'REILLY SPRING NATIONALS HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK -- BAYTOWN, TEXAS MARCH 30 - APRIL 1, 2007* Qualifying: Session 1 Friday: 4.712 seconds at 302.62 mph (#11) Session 2 Friday: 4.630 seconds at 310.41 mph (#8) Session 3 Saturday: canceled Session 4 Saturday: canceled Will qualifies No. 8 after rains cancel Saturday's qualifying at Houston Looks forward to eliminations and birthday tomorrow BAYTOWN, Texas (March 31, 2007) -- A frog-choking rain hit Houston Raceway Park on Saturday first causing havoc with the schedule for the 20th annual NHRA O'Reilly Spring Nationals today, then canceled the two professional qualifying sessions that were scheduled. That officially sets the field with only two of four qualifying sessions run. Hillary Will placed her KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster in the No. 8 position (4.630/310.41) on the final qualifying ladder for eliminations tomorrow. She will face Joe Hartley (4.631/312.42), who qualified No. 9. "The two qualifying passes that we got on Friday put me in both the left lane and the right lane and enabled me to get a feel for the track that should help me during eliminations," said Will on Saturday after NHRA called the day activities. "I'm ready for race day. "A whole lot of fans stayed around to the end today. We have a lot of diehard fans here in Houston. I think race day will make up for what they missed today. It should be exciting." Crew chief Jim Oberhofer said he would have liked to have the two sessions as he changed some things at the last race in Gainesville and would have liked to have the extra sessions to improve on the results they showed. But all in all he feels the KB Racing team is ready for eliminations. The only uncertainty is the weather. Sun and temperatures around 80 degrees are forecast, conditions the teams have not seen all weekend. "We feel confident on our runs from Friday that we are heading in the right direction," said Jim O. "Tomorrow's forecast is an unknown factor. If it's warm and sunny the race track will be hotter than anything we've seen on the two runs we did have. So it will make it more difficult." Drag racers are always into number and stats and this race is what many would call a numbers race for Will. The Houston race will be Will's 27th start as a professional driver in the NHRA POWERade drag racing series. Also, tomorrow, April 1, is her birthday and she will turn 27-years-old. Her younger twin brothers, Austin and Kevin, were born on the 27th day of the month. Happy Birthday Hillary, and hopefully, Sunday will be the first of more than 27 wins for the KB Racing team. ELIMINATIONS: Final eliminations for all teams begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Time is local Houston time (CT) and subject to change. TELEVISION: ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD will air same-day coverage of eliminations for the 20th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals on Sunday (April 1) from 4-7 p.m. The elimination show repeats early Friday morning (April 6), from 4-6 a.m. Also, NHRA Race Day is back providing the drag racing fan with the latest information about the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. The O'Reilly Spring Nationals installment of NHRA Race Day can be seen this Sunday (April 1) from 11-11:30 a.m. Television times are ET and subject to change without notice. Check your local listing. KB RACING LLC* is owned by Las Vegas businessmen Ken Black and his son Kenny Black. In the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, KB Racing LLC fields two Summit Racing Equipment Pro Stock Pontiac GTOs, one driven by Greg Anderson, a native of Duluth, Minn. who now lives in the Charlotte, N. C. area, and the other by Jason Line, a native of Wright, Minn. who now lives in the Charlotte, N. C. area, and a Top Fuel dragster, managed by Kalitta Motorsports, and driven by Hillary Will, a native of Fortuna, Calif. who now resides in Ypsilanti, Mich. Anderson won three consecutive POWERade Pro Stock Championships (2003-2005) and finished second in the point standings in 2006. Line, who finished second in points in his rookie season in 2004 and third in 2005, is the reigning 2006 POWERade Pro Stock Champion. Line was honored with the 2004 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, presented to the outstanding rookie in a professional category. Will finished No. 10 in her rookie season in Top Fuel in 2006 and was nominated for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award. The Pro Stock shop of Anderson and Line is in Mooresville, N. C. and the Kalitta Motorsports racing operation is in Ypsilanti, Mich. KALITTA MOTORSPORTS (www.kalittaracing.com), owned by the legendary drag racer and successful businessman Connie Kalitta, fields, in addition to Will's Top Fuel dragster, three additional nitro fuel cars -- two Top Fuel Dragsters and a Funny Car. -- in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Doug Kalitta, Connie's nephew, drives the Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster, Australian Dave Grubnic handles the driving duties on the Zantrex-3 Top Fuel Dragster and Scott Kalitta, Connie's son and Doug's cousin, is behind the wheel of the Kalitta Air Funny Car.