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Will
Power
Kenny Bernstein wanted it. Dozens of others craved the opportunity to slip behind the butterfly wheel and strap into the new Top Fuel car being fielded as a joint venture by Connie Kalitta and Ken Black, but the ride was not to be theirs. It was awarded to Hillary Will, a standout West Coast-based Top Alcohol Dragster pilot, whose career is launching harder than Doug Kalitta’s rail to sixty feet.
She has just been named driver of the fourth Top Fuel entry from Team Kalitta and she is pumped about it. “This is pretty unbelievable - this whole thing has been crazy,” Will said in an exclusive interview with CompetitionPlus.com shortly after the announcement was made. “It’s a really big day and I’m going to need some time to absorb this.” Will now joins an elite group of female drivers who have made their mark in drag racing’s quickest and fastest category. Lori Johns, Cristen Powell, Shelly Anderson, Rhonda Hartman-Smith, Melanie Troxel and the legendary Shirley Muldowney have all been there, and now Will has a chance to be counted among their select number. Outside her sphere of influence in the NHRA’s Division 7 (Pacific) ranks, Hillary Will isn’t exactly a household name, so just who is she and how did she land the most salivated after job in professional drag racing? a d v e r t i s e m e n t
“I have been racing for eight years, with my dad and grandpa,”
Will said of her early days at the race track. “When we started
out it was just a hobby; a way to spend Sundays with my dad. I went to
college in Massachusetts and I moved home every summer so we could go
racing. When it all started the farthest thing from my mind was to go
top fuel racing. I had no real plans to be a professional racer, but I
knew I always wanted to drag race, even if it was just a hobby.” a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Will has made the most of her time in the Top Alcohol ranks, having already garnered divisional and national event victories in 2005. The man she credits with helping her and her team achieve success this season is alcohol racing standout Bucky Austin. The Tacoma, Washington-based Austin has built engines for Will and provided a lot of on-the-job training during her formative time in the rail job. “Running with Bucky was the best thing that happened to us,” she said. “He knows how to win and he is probably the best teacher there is when it comes to these alcohol cars. They really are different than anything else and it takes someone with a lot of experience to show you the right way to do things. Even if we end up as low qualifier, run top speed, low elapsed time or whatever, he manages to find something that we can do better. The only way to be successful in this sport is to never lose that eye for perfection.” Austin is justifiably enthusiastic about his student, saying “Hillary
is highly intelligent and this is what she wants to do. Those are probably
the most important things I can say about her. She is as hungry for this
as anyone else out there. The first time she took the car out she did
a half-track pass and then followed it up with a 5.58 at 264 mph. She
is not afraid of the car and she has never ever gotten into a situation
where we had to abort a run because it looked like the car was in danger
of an accident. She took to driving the car well after coming out of the
Super Comp car. These cars are so different than a bracket type of car.
Many times people struggle with them, but she really didn’t, she
learned quickly. If it hadn’t been for a little bad luck we could
have won five or six races thus far this season. She has really done a
lot with the limited amount of time she has had in the seat so far. She
is a good driver with good equipment and she will only get better with
more seat time.” a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
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In terms of what this will mean for the rest of the season with Austin, nothing really changes, as Will still plans to run the alcohol car at events that were on her schedule at the beginning of the year. There will be some additional dates penciled in now, however. “We are going to get started in the licensing process really soon and there is an outside chance that you may see us in Las Vegas at the end of the season.” When asked to elaborate on that, she responded by saying that she couldn’t really say if it would happen or not – everything depends on how quickly she can obtain her Top Fuel license. Suddenly Hillary Will is the topic of conversation among drag racing
fans. What happened to cause this bright 25-year-old to fly onto the sport’s
radar screen so quickly? “I had never even considered myself for
this ride,” Will say. “I had heard that Kenny Bernstein was
interested in it a while ago and I just knew that there were a lot of
other drivers who wanted the seat. I think that one of the things Mr.
Black and Mr. Kalitta saw in me is that I bring the same level of passion
to this as Kenny did. Obviously, I have a long way to go before I am driving
like Kenny Bernstein, but I know that I love this sport and that he loves
this sport as well.”
Will has already begun to experience the effects of having her star on the rise. “A year ago I didn’t really have any fans to speak of - now I can’t even keep up with the fan mail.” Needless to say, she hasn’t seen anything yet. First and foremost Will credits her dad for really allowing her to make this dream come true. “I left my job as a financial analyst because I knew how much I loved being at the races and I realized that I wanted to make a living doing this. My dad was so supportive of me. He told me that if this is what I wanted to do than to go for it and make it happen! I could never have gotten to this point without him. He has invested so much time, effort and money into my career that it is beyond words. My dad has always believed in me.”
a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
Apparently other people also believe in Will, as the announcement that she had been selected over a number of qualified candidates to work for the legendary Connie Kalitta would bear out. So how did this actually come to pass? Like so many things in life, a small decision had a lot to do with it. “I was setting up our awning in the pits at the Mission (British Columbia, Canada) race and I was just about to shut off my phone because it is so expensive to talk on it in Canada. Luckily I didn’t shut it off because it rang and [Kalitta co-crew chief] Jim Oberhofer was on the other end asking if I was interested in meeting with the group at Indy. I asked if I could meet with them at Brainerd because Indy was three weeks away and they agreed to that. I didn’t even have a hotel room booked - I just grabbed a flight and a rental car because I knew the most important thing was getting to that race track.” The weekend was not what she expected. “I figured that I would meet with them for a little while and that would be it, but I spent the entire weekend in the pits with them. I love the atmosphere, everyone has so much respect for one another and it seemed like a place where I would fit in very well with the team.” Obviously, the Black/Kalitta organization thought it went well also.
There will be no shortage of good teachers in the Kalitta camp, which
is a veritable mini-drag racing hall of fame. There is one member of the
team in particular that she is looking forward to learning from. “It
is such an honor to be working with Shirley Muldowney. Everyone says it,
but if it were not for her I would not be able to pursue this opportunity.
I think I was one of the first ten people to buy her book and I have read
it three times. She is an awesome woman and an icon in drag racing. There
is no one better to be around.” a
d v e r t i s e m e n t Expectations are high for Will and the new team as the Kalitta
Motorsports organization has solidified itself as a dominant force in
Top Fuel racing. Doug Kalitta currently leads the Powerade championship
points standings.
When asked what she brings to the table outside of her passion
for the sport, Will had this to say: “I let them know that I want
to be so much more than just a driver for this team. I want to work on
the PR and promotional end of the operation for our sponsors; I want to
promote NHRA drag racing to bring it more into the main stream. I am leaving
Southern California and moving to Michigan to be where the team is located.
I am fully 100% committed to making myself a part of this team.” |
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