Shirley Muldowney

Shirley Muldowney (born June 19 1940, maiden name "Roque", Schenectady, New York), the "First Lady of Drag Racing" was the first woman to receive a licence to drive a top fuel dragster by the NHRA. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980 and 1982.

After a crash in 1984 she was sidelined for a long period but returned to the circuit in the late 1980s. 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. Recent activities include the authoring of a Mongolian hot pot cookbook.

Awards

*In 2004, she was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
*She was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990.
*Ranked No.5 on the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000.
* In 2008, ESPN ranked her 21st on their top drivers of all-time, citing her record as the first woman to win a major racing championship. [cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/columns/story?columnist=blount_terry&id=3400774 |title=Kinser, Mansell, Garlits, Lauda, and Muldowney set high standards |accessdate=2008-05-19 |publisher=ESPN |accessdate=2008-05-19]

Legacy

Muldowney's success came in the face of enormous opposition from those who felt drag racing (or any form of motorsport, for that matter) was no place for women. Don Garlits, the "Big Daddy" of drag racing, 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." [ [http://www.zoomster.com/big2.html zoomster.com] ] Muldowney was described by longtime drag racer Fred Farndon as the "best 'natural' driver (top fuel or funny car), no question". [ [http://www.metalshapers.org/nitrogeezers/Farndon%20Interview.htm metalshapers.org] ] She currently is mentoring Top Fuel driver Hillary Will.

She was nicknamed "Cha-Cha" - a name chosen by car owner and then boyfriend Connie Kalitta. She later dropped the moniker, stating: "There is no room for bimboism in drag racing."

Shirley was married twice; first to mechanic Jack Muldowney (who died in 2007), with one son John. A second marriage to Rahn Tobler, who was her crew chief, ended in divorce in 2006. After Muldowney's retirement, Tobler became crew chief for the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster of Doug Kalitta, Connie Kalitta's nephew and cousin to the late Scott Kalitta. John Muldowney now works with former NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon.

Muldowney was portrayed by actress Bonnie Bedelia in the 1983 film, "Heart Like a Wheel".

Trivia

L7, an all-female punk band, featured Muldowney in their 1994 track "Shirley", on their fourth album, "Hungry for Stink".

References

External links

* [http://www.sportspublishingllc.com/book.cfm?id=661 "Shirley Muldowney's Tales from the Track" by Shirley Muldowney with Bill Stephens, published by Sports Publishing L.L.C., 2005]
* [http://www.muldowney.com/ official site]