Economy a drag for NHRA drivers Rod Fuller, Hillary Will

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When the NHRA drag racing season opens a month from now in Pomona, two of the sport’s leading drivers in its elite top-fuel class -- Rod Fuller and Hillary Will -- likely won’t be competing due to the sour economy.

Fuller had driven for David Powers Motorsports and won last year’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals. But Powers said Wednesday that he parted ways with the car’s main sponsor, Caterpillar, and was selling the team’s assets to focus on his home-building business ‘during these difficult times.’

‘The season is about to start and here I don’t have a ride,’ Fuller said today, adding that it would be a ‘miracle’ if he could join another team before the NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona on Feb. 5-8.

Will, meanwhile, said today that ‘I will not be driving at Pomona’ because her dragster, owned by KB Racing and managed by Kalitta Motorsports, can’t find a primary sponsor. This, despite Will winning the O’Reilly Summer Nationals last year, finishing fourth in points and setting the sport’s fastest speed by a woman, 334.65 mph, a year ago at Pomona.

‘When the economy went real south toward the end of last year, all our [sponsorship] prospects seemed to go away,’ Will said.

-- Jim Peltz