Words by Mike Perry and Kay Burk
Photos by James Drew
8/29/06
Hillary Will first visited an IHRA eMax Drag Racing Series national event earlier this season in Milan, MI. She came to support teammate Doug Kalitta, who was driving cousin Scott Kalitta’s Nitro Funny Car at the Suzuki Motor City Nationals.
She had so much fun she decided to try her hand at IHRA racing as well, so when the series came to Norwalk, a couple of hours from her home in Ypsilanti, MI, Will went racing. At her first IHRA event, the Skull Shine World Nationals presented by ACDelco, Will took home her first national event victory in any series by knocking off Doug Foley in the Top Fuel final.
 Norwalk Raceway Park’s Bill Bader (left) with Hillary Will and tuner Jim Oberhofer. This turned out to be the last IHRA national event at the track, as it moves to an NHRA sanction next season, getting the Pontiac Performance Nationals previously held at Columbus, OH. |
Will ran a 4.624 at 314.75 mph in the final to become just the third woman in IHRA history to win an Ironman, joining Shirley Muldowney and Rhonda Hartman-Smith in the exclusive “girl’s only” club. The last time a woman won a Top Fuel Ironman was in 1998, when Muldowney defeated Luigi Novelli in the final at the Parts Pro Summer Nationals in Morocco, IN.
“I didn’t realize that,” Will said when she was told she was just the third woman to win a Top Fuel event on the IHRA side. “That makes me really proud…especially since I know that Shirley raced here.”
Muldowney, a legend and pioneer in the sport, is from Ypsilanti as well.
Toronto resident Ray Commisso has been racing in the Pro Modified class for over three seasons. Before the Skull Shine World Nationals he had never even qualified for an IHRA Pro Mod field event. At Norwalk Raceway Park not only did Comimisso qualify, he defeated Mike Janis in the final to capture an Ironman. Commisso posted a solid 6.126/232.35 in the final to defeat a tire-shaking Janis.
“IHRA Pro Mod, without a doubt, is the toughest Pro Mod field in the world,” Commisso said. “Just to come here and be beside all these guys I’ve looked up to my whole life, to race against them in qualifying and win the event is like a dream come true. I really don’t know what to say. I’m so overwhelmed we’re even here.”