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The following year, the racing world knew she was on her way to the top when she returned to the Spring Nationals and blistered the field by qualifying number one (6.03), posting the lowest elapsed time of the race (5.96), running the top speed (243.90) and then becoming the first woman to win an NHRA Professional event on June 13, 1976, beating the late Bob Edwards in the final round.

She won her second race of the season at the NHRA World Final in Ontario, California on October 10, 1976, posting low elapsed time (5.77) and top speed (249mph) of the event (these were also the fastest runs of the entire season).  Despite only racing in four of the eight NHRA National Events, she finished 15th in the year-end publication standings.  She was also voted top Fuel Driver of the year by industry publication Drag News and was again chosen to be on the All American Team by the AAWRBA.

The team picked up just where it had left off when the 1977 racing season began at a PRO-backed event in Phoenix, Arizona where Muldowney become only the second driver to top 250 mph with a 250.69 speed on January 17, running 252 mph before the event concluded.  This was going to be her year.

During the first Winston World Series event (a points race) on May 7 in Irvine, California, she recorded the sports quickest-ever numbers, a 5.77 time at a thundering 253 mph speed.  She then moved on to the NHRA Spring Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, winning the race for the second straight year on June 12.  At the following race, she qualified number one, a feat she repeated three times that year, and garnered wins at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Englishtown, New Jersey on July 19, and the NHRA Molson Grand Nationals in Canada on August 7.  Two weeks later, she beat rival Don Garlits on her way to a runner-up finish at the Popular Hot Rodding Championships in Martin, Michigan on August 14.

These accomplishments in the national event and Winston World Series levels clinched the season long 1977 Winston World Championship in the top fuel division for the now respected driver.  In the course of that points-gathering effort, she became the first-ever driver to win three consecutive NHRA National events titles. Desiring no special treatment but a level playing field, Shirley Muldowney became the first woman (in any fuel class category) to take home an NHRA professional series crown.  So monumental were these achievements, the United States House of Representatives honored Muldowney with and "Outstanding Achievement Award" bestowed on October 14, 1977.  Drag News again proclaimed her Top Fuel Driver of the year, while Car Craft, a leading automotive magazine, honored her as  person of the Year on the prestigious Car Craft All-Star Racing Team.

Connie Kalitta left the team at the end of the year, and jealous rumors were rampant that he was the only reason she could have won the title.  However, with Rahn Tobler calling the shots with the cars tune-up, she proved her ability by beating the boys again in 1980 by winning the NHRA Top Fuel points crown.  Her trademark pink dragster thundered to victory in the Winter Nationals, Spring Nationals, Fall Nationals, and the World Finals, thus making her the first driver, male or female, to win two NHRA Top Fuel World Championships.  Moreover she also competed in Top Fuel on the AHRA circuit and finished in points there in 1980, nearly clinching two titles simultaneously!     During the next season (1981), Shirley concentrated on the AHRA title chase and succeeded in taking home that crown (giving her two Top Fuel titles in two seasons) while finishing in the top five for NHRA that same year.

Then, in 1982, she again set her sights back on the full NHRA circuit and scored big.  The result-Shirley Muldowney became the first professional driver in Top Fuel to earn three NHRA World Championships, winning four events in seven final round appearances.  This included her first ever U.S. National crown, beating Connie Kalitta in the final round to the great satisfaction of her fans.  She was voted to be on the Car Craft All Star Team as Top Fuel Driver of the year for the second consecutive season and named to the AARWBA top ten for the fifth time, receiving the greatest number of votes ever by a driver.

In 1983, Shirley finished fourth in the NHRA points with landmark wins at the Winter Nationals and the World Finals, while at Columbus, Ohio, one of her favorite tracks, she went to the finals for a record six times in eight years.  After devoting twenty five years of her life to drag racing, Shirley had for the most part seen and done it all, yet her toughest battle of all lie ahead.

On June 29th, 1984 tragedy struck during qualifying at an NHRA event in Montreal, Canada.  A front tire failure on her nitro fueled dragster caused a high speed crash at over 250 mph that nearly ended her life.  In addition to other injuries, her legs were so badly broken they required extensive and repeated surgeries simply to enable her to walk again.  For many months of grueling physical therapy and recovery, not to mention moral support from close friends and fans, Muldowney was strapping herself back into a race car.

That valiant effort garnered her recognition as the AARWBA's "Comeback Driver of the Year" for 1986, but Shirley didn't come back just to drive; she came back to win.  Through Tobler's tuning expertise and some sponsorship help, the team was back in the thick of the NHRA fuel wars by 1989, a year that she went to three final rounds, won the Fall Nationals, finished in the top 10 in points and became the first woman to enter the exclusive 16 position Cragar Four-Second Club with a run of4.974 at 284 mph.