Though it is still very early in the season, 2008 is quickly becoming the year of the woman. Following historic wins by Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel, Hillary Will added her name to the short list of female Professional winners when she defeated Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka. Will is the 11th woman to win in the Pro categories.
While Will celebrated her first, Funny Car legend John Force hoisted Wally No. 126 after taking out points leader Tim Wilkerson to win his first national event since his crash in
Dallas in September. Ron Krisher picked up the sixth Pro Stock win of his career when he bested Larry Morgan in that final.
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Hillary Will |
In her third season behind the wheel of Ken Black’s Top Fueler, Will broke through for her first Professional, and second overall, national event win. Will, who had one previous Top Fuel final-round appearance, in
Memphis in 2006, had a solid outing, running consistently 4.80 or better throughout the day. After running her best pass of the day, a 4.633, to defeat Doug Herbert in the first round, she put an end to Morgan Lucas and Cory McClenathan’s day. Will then paired a strong .038 light with a 4.744 to defeat No. 1 qualifier
Dixon. The win helped lift Will to fourth in the points.
“I’m thankful for all the women drivers who’ve paved the way and shown that women can drive a race car and drive a race car well,” said Will. “I’m proud of Melanie [Troxel], and I’m proud of Ashley [Force], and I’m proud of other women in motorsports. Honestly, we just want to be racers. I do hope that other women who want to succeed in male-dominated fields, whether it be politics or business, can see what I do and I hope that inspires them because it’s not only in racing where women can succeed in a male-dominated field.“There’s so many emotions for me right now because there were times when I thought, ‘I can’t do this. Maybe I shouldn’t be racing. Maybe I don’t belong in this fuel car,’ but this is what I love to do, and through everything, you can just never, never, never give up. My team never gave up on me. I still have a lot of the guys working on the team that I did when we started, and they never gave up on me. Our team owner, Ken Black, has been nothing but supportive. I’m thankful that everybody just stood by me.”
Dixon, who was also the runner-up at the previous event in
Bristol, carried his strong performance over from qualifying. On his competition single in the first round,
Dixon carded a 4.630. He then clocked 4.691 and 4.787 passes in respective wins over Brandon Bernstein and Antron Brown to advance to the 81st overall and fourth
Topeka final of his career.Though he lost some of his lead after exiting in the second round, Tony Schumacher remains atop the Top Fuel points with 779 markers. Brown and
Dixon hold the second and third spots.
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John Force |
Force’s comeback from his crash in
Dallas last September can officially be considered complete after he notched his first win since it. Following some drama when the team had to swap motors between the semi’s and then experienced multiple problems during the warm-up, Force’s Castrol GTX Mustang made a nearly-clean 4.996 run to defeat Wilkerson. This win for Force now means that he has won at least one NHRA national event in each of the last 22 seasons, which ties the record held by Pro Stock ace Warren Johnson.“This is my best race win, here in
Topeka, because I get to race for a championship,” said Force. “I may not win it, but I get to race, and that’s all I care about. At the end of the day, winning’s what it’s all about. Every driver says that, but when you’ve won like me, you get to take it for granted, but then I got slapped, and I don’t take it for granted anymore. To go all these rounds was a great feeling for me. I didn’t want to go winless, not after that wreck.“We swapped motors in the pits after the semifinals, and then we fired it up again and it backfired, we fired it up again and it backfired, we changed the mags and fired it up again and it backfired. The cam was wrong in it, the timers were all screwed up, and I was telling the guys, ‘You go to work, and I’m starting to pray to Eric [Medlen],’ because that’s what you’ve got to do. Eric Medlen gets my heart right.”
The pre-final problems capped what could easily be characterized as a highly-dramatic day for 13-time POWERade world champ Force. In the opening round, Force was paired with daughter Ashley, and in a reverse of the
Atlanta final, he was able to get around her, winning on a 4.890 to 4.880 holeshot. He then bested former teammate Gary Densham and frequent championship foe Ron Capps.Starting from the 14th spot, Wilkerson continued what is easily the best season of his career. He used a .072 to .113 lead at the Tree to get by Frank Hawley in the opening round, then defeated Jerry Toliver and Gary Scelzi to advance to his 16th career final.
With Ashley Force’s loss in the first round, Wilkerson was able to add to his points lead, and he’s now 81 markers ahead of her. John Force’s win propelled him from fifth to third, 123 points out of the lead.
