TOPEKA, Kan.,– NHRA rising star Hillary Will, the fastest female in the history of professional drag racing and driver of the KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, is eager to climb back behind the wheel of her 334 plus-mph, nitro-fueled rail runner for this weekend’s, May 30-June 1, annual running of the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas.

Will, along with several other NHRA stars, spent this past Memorial Day weekend not only remembering those who have fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep the United States free, but also helping to promote the inaugural national event that will take place in Concord, N.C., just a few miles from Charlotte, in September.

“I can never get enough of racing, so for our weekend off, I went to the Coca-Cola 600 (NASCAR) at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte,” Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. “Being there made me miss the smell of nitro and the sound of an 8,000-horsepower race car. It also made me miss being in the driver’s seat. I was there watching those cars go around in circles, but I was actually thinking about driving our dragster down the quarter-mile.”

Due in part to consecutive semi-final showings at the previous two NHRA nationals events, Will enters the event in Topeka in 5th place in POWERade Top Fuel championship points, the highest points placement of her career so far. She is 271 points shy of the points leader.

“Even though we’ve only had one weekend off since the previous event in Bristol, it seems like it’s been too long. I can’t wait to get back in the race car, especially because our KB Racing, LLC dragster is running better than ever right now. I’m really glad we have back-to-back races coming up. I look forward to continuing our upward momentum.”

At the first two events of this season’s 24-event NHRA national event schedule, Will set the track record for speed, for either gender, at both of the quarter-miles at Phoenix Int’l Raceway (334.32 mph) and at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.) (334.56 mph). Will’s speedy blast in California established her as the fastest woman ever in drag racing. She and the KB Racing, LLC team were also the fastest of the racing weekend (tie) at the third event in Gainesville, Fla., with a 330.63-mph lap. They were again the fastest team of the fifth event in Las Vegas, 331.85 mph.

A former standout in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, Will moved up to the quickest and fastest NHRA professional class, Top Fuel, in 2006 behind the wheel of a newly formed team owned by Las Vegas businessman Ken Black and managed by Kalitta Motorsports, the multi-car team founded and owned by drag racing icon Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. She won her first Top Fuel event trophy in Norwalk (IHRA) in her rookie season and made her first NHRA final-round appearance in Memphis. She finished the season in tenth place in Top Fuel championship points in ‘06.

The O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals is the 9th of 24 national events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.