Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fueldragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles.[2][3] She won a total of 18 NHRA national events.
Born Shirley Ann Roque in Burlington, Vermont, on June 19, 1940,[4] Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York. "School had no appeal to me. All I wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod," declared Muldowney.[3] When she was 16, she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney,[5] who built her first dragster.
It was Jack Muldowney who first taught me how to drive a car. Jack was the mechanic. He was the guy who tuned the cars that let the girl beat all the boys. I was a kid from upstate New York with no guidance, no direction. I was headed for trouble, nothing going for me. Then I found the sport at a very young age and was able to make something out of it.[6]
In 1958, Muldowney made her debut on the dragstrip of the Fonda Speedway. She obtained her NHRA pro license in 1965. She competed in the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Nationals in a twin-engined dragster in Top Gas.[2][6] With Top Gas losing popularity, Muldowney switched to Funny Car, buying her first car from Connie Kalitta.[6]
Around this time, her husband and she drifted apart; they finally divorced in 1972. "He didn't want to go nitro racing and we parted, but we stayed friends all those years until he passed away [in 2007]," she later said.[6][7]
She stepped up to Top Fuel, getting her license in 1973[2][6] (making her the first woman to do it), behind the wheel of Poncho Rendon's digger; Don Garlits signed her application, one of three signatures she needed to make it official; the other two were Tommy Ivo and Connie Kalitta.[8] From 1973 to 1977, she teamed up with Kalitta as the Bounty Hunter and Bounty Huntress in match races, in a pair of Ford Mustangs, hers a Buttera chassis, and his a Logghe.[9] The Bounty Huntress Mustang caught fire at Dragway 42 in Ohio in 1973.[10]
In Columbus, Ohio, in 1976, Muldowney dominated Top Fuel, qualifying number-one by 0.05 second, setting low elapsed time (ET) and top speed of the meet, having the low ET in every round, breaking her own top speed record in the final, and winning the class.[11] An unprecedented three NHRA Top Fuel Dragster world championships followed, in 1977, 1980, and 1982.
Muldowney's 1986 dragster
Muldowney's success met enormous opposition from those who felt drag racing (or any form of motorsport, for that matter) was no place for women. Garlits has said about her:
Now, if you ask who do I have the most respect for, I'd say Shirley Muldowney. She went against all odds. They didn't want her to race Top Fuel, the association, the racers, nobody...just Shirley.[12]
Muldowney noted, "NHRA fought me every inch of the way, but when they saw how a girl could fill the stands; they saw I was good for the sport."[6]
A crash in 1984 crushed her hands, pelvis, and legs, necessitating half a dozen operations and 18 months of therapy.[3] Muldowney was sidelined for a long period, but returned to the circuit in the late 1980s. She appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on Feb. 21, 1986, walking with a cane. She continued to race, mostly without major sponsorship, throughout the 1990s in IHRA competition, as well as match-racing events. She returned to the NHRA towards the end of her career, running select events until her retirement at the end of 2003.[13]
Muldowney was described by longtime drag racer Fred Farndon as the "best 'natural' driver (top fuel or funny car), no question."
Her recent activities include the dictation of her memoirs, Shirley Muldowney's Tales from the Track, which Bill Stephens transcribed, and which Sports Publishing L.L.C. published in 2005.
Health issues
In March 2016, Muldowney disregarded a cancer scare to be the official starter of the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Having been given a diagnosis of lung cancer prior to the event, Muldowney was later given a diagnosis of histoplasmosis, a curable and nonmalignant fungal infection that can mimic cancer.[14]
Muldowney selling photographs to benefit her nonprofit, Shirley's Kids, at the 2023 DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals.
Shirley's Kids
Muldowney operates a charitable organization, Shirley's Kids, which helps children in need in cities where drag racing is part of the community.[15]
Film depiction
The 1983 biopicHeart Like a Wheel, about Muldowney's life and career, starred Bonnie Bedelia. Muldowney would rather have had Jamie Lee Curtis play her; she called Bedelia "a snot," and stated, "When she was promoting the movie on TV shows, she would tell interviewers she didn't even like racing. She got out of race car [sic] like she was getting up from the dinner table."[3] Muldowney had mixed feelings about the film itself, stating, "No, the movie did not capture my life very well at all, but more importantly, I thought the movie was very, very good for the sport."[6]
Awards and honors
In 1975, she was voted the first woman member of the 10-person Auto Racing All-American team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association.
In 1976, she was named Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year and voted to the Auto Racing All-American Team for the second time.
In 1977, she won the NHRA Winston world points championship, becoming the first woman to claim drag racing's most prestigious title. She was the recipient of "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the United States House of Representatives on October 14, 1977, and was named the Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year for the second straight season. Shirley also was named Car Craft magazine Person of the Year during the annual Car Craft Awards Banquet, Indianapolis, Indiana. She was the first Top Fuel driver to win three NHRA national events back-to-back.
She was the NHRA Winston world points championship for the second time in 1980.
The next year, she won the AHRA world championship and was voted to Auto Racing All-American team for the fifth time. Car Craft selected her to the All-Star Team, and Top Fuel Driver of the Year, for the second year in a row.
In 1982, she won the NHRA Winston points championship, becoming the first person to claim drag racing's most prestigious title three times. She was voted to the Auto Racing All-American Team for the fifth time.
In 1989, she was inducted into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame. www.mmshof.org
In 2008, ESPN ranked her 21st on its list of the Top 25 Drivers of All Time, citing her record as the first woman to win a major racing championship.[17]
In popular culture
Her name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre song "Hot Topic."[18] Samples from the movie made about Shirley are heard in the lyrics of the L7 song "Shirley" on the Hungry for Stink album. The song "Run, Run, Run" by Patti Scialfa is about Muldowney. Her name also appears in the 1987 Michael Cooper (of Con Funk Shun) song Quickness "with the Shirley Muldowney-es of Quickness"
Crypto Currency
On October 7, 2022 the NHRA Coin Shirley Muldowney Edition NFT[19] became available on the OpenSeaNFT Marketplace.
Related Research Articles
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world.
Donald Glenn Garlits is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava.
Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of 338 miles per hour (544.0 km/h) and finishing the 1,000 foot (304.8 m) runs in 3.62 seconds.
Kenneth Dale Bernstein is an American drag racer and former NASCAR and IndyCar team owner. He is nicknamed the "Bud King" for his success in the Budweiser King funny car and dragster. He has also been nicknamed the "King of Speed," because he was the first driver to break 300 miles per hour in the standing-start quarter mile. Bernstein owned King Racing, which he drove for in the NHRA and fielded various cars in other racing series such as IndyCar and NASCAR. Bernstein retired from full-time competition in 2002 and moved his son Brandon into the Bud King Top Fuel dragster, but returned to finish the season in place of his son after Brandon suffered a severe injury. With the exception of a brief return to Funny Car in 2007, Bernstein did not return to the car and instead continued to run his team until the end of the 2011 season when he left drag racing altogether.
Don Prudhomme, nicknamed "the Snake", is an American drag racer.
Conrad "Connie" Kalitta is an American businessman and former drag racing driver, nicknamed "The Bounty Hunter." Kalitta is the CEO of Kalitta Air and the owner of Kalitta Motorsports.
Heart Like a Wheel is a 1983 American biographical drama sports film directed by Jonathan Kaplan and based on the life of drag racing driver Shirley Muldowney. It stars Bonnie Bedelia as Shirley Muldowney and Beau Bridges as drag racing driver Connie Kalitta.
Eddie Hill is an American retired drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water. Hill had the first run in the four second range (4.990 seconds), which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing." His other nicknames include "The Thrill", "Holeshot Hill", and "Fast Eddie". In 1960, he set the NHRA record for the largest improvement in the elapsed time (e.t.) when he drove the quarter mile in 8.84 seconds to break the previous 9.40-second record.
Maple Grove Raceway is a quarter-mile dragstrip located near Mohnton, Pennsylvania, just outside Reading. It opened in 1962 as a 1/5-mile dragstrip. It was eventually lengthened to its current quarter-mile length in 1964. The track has been sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association for most of its existence. It has hosted an NHRA national event since 1985. The other key events include the American Drag Racing League, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Geezers Reunion at The Grove, the Super Chevy Show, Mopar Action, Fun Ford Weekend and the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.
Bruce Larson (1937) is an American retired drag racer from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He became nationally known for his match races. He quit funny Car racing in 1972 after a bad fire and raced in the Pro Stock class for 2 years. He then returned to the Funny Car class and match racing until 1987 where he fought his way to the NHRA Funny Car Championship in 1989. He led the points chase from start to finish collecting 6 National Event wins, 5 runner ups and the Car Craft Funny Car Driver of the Year award. That championship car is now one of only 2 drag race cars in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, the other being Don Garlits' rear engine dragster. He was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2006. Larson is remembered for his red, white, and blue USA-1 Chevrolet Camaros.
Summit Racing Equipment is an automotive parts retailer with four retail stores and distribution centers located in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; McDonough, Georgia; and Arlington, Texas. Summit Racing Equipment is also involved in motorsports and other events as a sponsor.
Chris Karamesines is an American drag racer and one of NHRA's early pioneers and nicknamed "The Golden Greek" or just simply "Greek". In 2009, he became the first driver in NHRA history to compete and become the fastest driver at over 78 years old at the final event of the 2009 season at Pomona driving in the Top Fuel category. But he would lose in the first round against Brandon Bernstein. The following year, he made an attempt at Firebird International Raceway in Arizona and made the field, but again lost in the first round. Karamesines would break his own record in 2018 at Brainerd Raceway, running a 305-mile per hour pass at 86 years old.
Detroit Dragway was a quarter mile long drag strip located in Brownstown Charter Township, Michigan on the corner of Sibley and Dix. It opened in 1959 by Gil Kohn and the track became sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association in 1959. The "Dirty D" as it was also known was the host of the 1959 and 1960 NHRA U.S. Nationals.
The March Meet is an independent drag race held at Famoso Raceway, a dragstrip located approximately ten miles north of Bakersfield, California. It began in 1959 under the sanction of the "Smokers Car Club" and was initially known as the "US Fuel & Gas Championships." The event became officially known by its nickname, the "March Meet," when the Smokers sold the rights to the name "US Fuel & Gas Championships."
The NHRA Winternationals are an annual drag racing event held by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, California.
Shirley Shahan is a pioneering American woman drag racer.
The Logghe Stamping Company is a dragster and funny car fabricator based in Detroit, Michigan.
Doug Thorley was an American Funny Car drag racer, hot rodder and businessman. In 1967, he won the NHRA Nationals' first Funny Car Eliminator title, and was given Car Craft's All-Star Drag Racing Team Funny Car Driver of the Year Award in 1968. Hot Rod magazine describes him as "one of drag racing's most famous early era drivers."
Steve Reyes is an American photographer and storyteller from Oakland, California. Reyes has been included in Don Garlits' International Drag Racing Hall of Fame (2002), NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion Honorees (2009), and the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame (2011).
↑ Burgess, Phil, National Dragster editor. "Danica who? What about Shirley ... and Shirley? And Judi. And Judy?", written 21 April 2008, at NHRA.com (retrieved 20 September 2018)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
