THIS SITE IS NOT MAINTAINED BY SHIRLEY HERSELF. Shirley is pretty excited about sharing with everyone who has a dream, how she succeeded in achieving hers and how much fun it is to still be involved with the sport, which she will provide via blogs, awesome photos, great video clips and other insight into the really fast and furious sport of drag racing! How would you like to go 330MPH and have your eyeballs sucked into the back of your head at the starting line, then have them try to bug out the other way as the parachute opens? These cars generate more "G" force than the space shuttle on take off! What a ride and only a few "fortunate" souls have the guts, desire and ability to drive these beasts!
Muldowney, who was named No. 5 on NHRA's 50 Greatest Drivers List in 2001, pioneered the way for females in the auto racing world. The Burlington, Vt. native was the first female to obtain a Top Fuel license. In 1975, she became the first female to advance to a final round, scoring a runner-up finish at the Spring Nationals near Columbus, Ohio to Marvin Graham. A year later, Muldowney earned the first of her 18 career NHRA victories when she defeated Bob Edwards in the final round at the Columbus event.
In 1977, Muldowney made motorsports history, becoming the first female driver to win a major motorsports championship, winning three races en route to the 1977 NHRA Top Fuel championship. In 1980, the Michigan resident became the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win multiple championships. In 1982, she advanced to seven of the 12 final rounds at NHRA national events, winning four races, including the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, on the way to winning her final NHRA championship.
Also in 1982, Muldowney and Top Fuel driver Lucille Lee met in the first all-female final round in NHRA history, with Muldowney taking the win, 5.711 seconds at 233.16 mph to Lee's 6.052 at 207.85.
Muldowney went Hollywood in 1982 when her life story was chronicled in the film "Heart Like A Wheel". Actress Bonnie Bedelia portrayed Muldowney, while Beau Bridges played Muldowney's racing counterpart Connie Kalitta.
Muldowney suffered a near-fatal crash on June 29, 1984 during qualifying at Sanair Int'l Dragstrip in Canada, resulting in many surgical procedures to allow her to walk again. The rehabilitation process took 18 months before Muldowney returned to the drag strip in 1986.
In 1989, Muldowney became the first female member of the exclusive Cragar Four-Second Club when she clocked a run of 4.974 at 284 on Sept. 15 at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. Later that year at Firebird Raceway near Phoenix, she earned her final NHRA victory when she used a starting-line reaction to defeat Darrell Gwynn.
In January 2003, Muldowney announced that she would compete in six races during her 'Last Pass - 30 Years in Top Fuel - 1973-2003' tour. At Route 66 Raceway in September, Muldowney clocked a career-best performance when she blasted her signature pink dragster to a quarter-mile run of 4.579 at 327.66 during qualifying. Muldowney made the final start of her storied career on Sunday, Nov. 9 during the 2003 NHRA season-finale at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway.
