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Pomona, Calif. - A major trait of successful race car drivers is confidence, especially in the face of adversity such as the violent crash that Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster, experienced this past Saturday in a testing accident at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Will described the experience in her blog on NHRA.com: "I remember everything very clearly," she said. "The entire thing actually felt like it lasted forever. My eyes were wide-open through the entire ordeal. I felt like I was on a decent run. When I was between half track and the finish line, the car started to move around a little bit so I tightened my arms and had to work a little to keep it in the groove, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Then in an instant, it just took a hard turn to the right and the car felt weightless.
"I remember thinking, 'Oh no, here we go; so this is what this feels like.' I've seen so many replays of dragster crashes. I was going head-on into the white retaining wall on the right side of the track and I thought I was going straight into it. For some reason, I never hit it. I saw blue sky as my cockpit tipped backward and I lost track of where I was, which was up. I remember feeling like I needed to do something. I couldn't just close my eyes. Auto-pilot kicked in and I reached up and tried to pull the chutes which I didn't know were already out. Then I grabbed the brake handle and gripped the steering wheel hard. It wasn't doing any good but I felt I needed to do something. Pieces were flying everywhere coming at me. Some object came into the cockpit toward my eyes, but the Simpson visor deflected it.
"Next thing I know, I was upright and gently broadsided the left wall. Then I skidded along the left wall for what seemed like forever. I didn't think it was ever going to stop. I was pulling the brake handle as hard as I could but it wasn't doing anything. I had no idea that the back half of the car had detached and was hundreds of feet from me. If you saw pictures of the incident, it's pretty obvious that there's nothing left of the car. "
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway safety personnel reached Will quickly. Will never lost consciousness and sustained only a bruised arm. She was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas as a precaution and later was released and returned to the track.
Following the accident, her KB Racing/Kalitta Motorsports team immediate began preparing a new car, which was completed and tested on Monday and pronounced ready for Pomona by crew chief Jim Oberhofer.
"My team has been working relentlessly. We now have another dragster that is just as good, if not better, than the previous one," said Will.
Will never lost her confidence during or since the incident and now turns her attention to this weekend's 47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals on the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona quarter-mile.
"Our team has already overcome a lot of adversity this year and the season hasn't officially begun," Will said on the eve of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season-opening event. "A 300-mph crash may be a set back for some teams, but not for this KB Racing Top Fuel team. We are stronger, more determined, and hungrier than ever for a win.
"I am definitely more confident as a driver this year coming into the season-opener than I was last year," she said. "I took everything that has happened in the last year, learned from it, and used it to my benefit. I'm really looking forward to getting started. I think it's going to be a good season for our team."
Will's confidence high entering Pomona
Pomona, Calif. - A major trait of successful race car drivers is confidence, especially in the face of adversity such as the violent crash that Hillary Will, driver of the KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster, experienced this past Saturday in a testing accident at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Will described the experience in her blog on NHRA.com: "I remember everything very clearly," she said. "The entire thing actually felt like it lasted forever. My eyes were wide-open through the entire ordeal. I felt like I was on a decent run. When I was between half track and the finish line, the car started to move around a little bit so I tightened my arms and had to work a little to keep it in the groove, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Then in an instant, it just took a hard turn to the right and the car felt weightless.
"I remember thinking, 'Oh no, here we go; so this is what this feels like.' I've seen so many replays of dragster crashes. I was going head-on into the white retaining wall on the right side of the track and I thought I was going straight into it. For some reason, I never hit it. I saw blue sky as my cockpit tipped backward and I lost track of where I was, which was up. I remember feeling like I needed to do something. I couldn't just close my eyes. Auto-pilot kicked in and I reached up and tried to pull the chutes which I didn't know were already out. Then I grabbed the brake handle and gripped the steering wheel hard. It wasn't doing any good but I felt I needed to do something. Pieces were flying everywhere coming at me. Some object came into the cockpit toward my eyes, but the Simpson visor deflected it.
"Next thing I know, I was upright and gently broadsided the left wall. Then I skidded along the left wall for what seemed like forever. I didn't think it was ever going to stop. I was pulling the brake handle as hard as I could but it wasn't doing anything. I had no idea that the back half of the car had detached and was hundreds of feet from me. If you saw pictures of the incident, it's pretty obvious that there's nothing left of the car. "
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway safety personnel reached Will quickly. Will never lost consciousness and sustained only a bruised arm. She was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas as a precaution and later was released and returned to the track.
Following the accident, her KB Racing/Kalitta Motorsports team immediate began preparing a new car, which was completed and tested on Monday and pronounced ready for Pomona by crew chief Jim Oberhofer.
"My team has been working relentlessly. We now have another dragster that is just as good, if not better, than the previous one," said Will.
Will never lost her confidence during or since the incident and now turns her attention to this weekend's 47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals on the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona quarter-mile.
"Our team has already overcome a lot of adversity this year and the season hasn't officially begun," Will said on the eve of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season-opening event. "A 300-mph crash may be a set back for some teams, but not for this KB Racing Top Fuel team. We are stronger, more determined, and hungrier than ever for a win.
"I am definitely more confident as a driver this year coming into the season-opener than I was last year," she said. "I took everything that has happened in the last year, learned from it, and used it to my benefit. I'm really looking forward to getting started. I think it's going to be a good season for our team."
