Decades of Shirley
NHRA Royalty
“No one has changed the world of drag racing as much as Shirley Muldowney. She broke the gender barrier, withstood discrimination, hostility, and an almost-fatal bone-shattering 250 mph crash. Despite it all, Muldowney, competing in drag racing's ultimate category, Top Fuel, has achieved 18 National Championship wins and nine runner-up positions. She's reached the final round 27 times (or once in every five starts) and has led Top Fuel qualifying 13 times in her 18-year career.”
Biographical Summary
“The guys said, maybe this problem will go away. It didn't go away. It got worse. Nobody messes with me.”
Born Shirley Ann Roque in Burlington, Vermont, on June 19, 1940, 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. When she was 16, she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney, who built her first dragster.
In 1958, at the age of 18, 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. But, with Top Gas losing popularity, Muldowney switched to Funny Car, buying her first car from Connie Kalitta.
Muldowney won her first major event, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Southern Nationals, in 1971. In 1973, Shirley secured the signatures of Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo, and Connie Kalitta to become the first woman to get a license to race in Top Fuel. She drove Poncho Rendon’s dragster.
From 1973 to 1977, Shirley formed a racing partnership with Connie Kalitta, participating in match races under the monikers “Bounty Hunter” for Kalitta and “Bounty Huntress” for herself.
At Columbus, Ohio, in 1976, Muldowney dominated Top Fuel, qualifying number-one by 0.05 seconds, 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.
An unprecedented three NHRA Top Fuel Dragster world championships followed in 1977, 1980, and 1982.
In 1984, Shirley was involved in a severe accident. It was unclear if she would ever race again. However, in 1986, she made a remarkable comeback. Three years later in 1989, Shirley had regained her status as an elite racer, advancing to the finals in multiple events and triumphing in the NHRA Fall Nationals in Phoenix. She continued to set new records all the way until her retirement in 2004.
Today, Shirley remains a revered figure in automotive sports and keeps a busy schedule of attending racing events and managing her charity, Shirley’s Kids.