![]() The Bounty Huntress Mustang caught fire at Dragway 42 in Ohio in 1973. 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. She stepped up to Top Fuel, getting her license in 1973 (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. Muldowney won her first major event, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Southern Nationals, in 1971. "He didn't want to go nitro racing and we parted, but we stayed friends all those years until he passed away ," she later said. Īround this time, her husband and she drifted apart they finally divorced in 1972. With Top Gas losing popularity, Muldowney switched to Funny Car, buying her first car from Connie Kalitta. Nationals in a twin-engined dragster in Top Gas. She obtained her NHRA pro license in 1965. In 1958, Muldowney made her debut on the dragstrip of the Fonda Speedway. Then I found the sport at a very young age and was able to make something out of it. I was headed for trouble, nothing going for me. I was a kid from upstate New York with no guidance, no direction. He was the guy who tuned the cars that let the girl beat all the boys. It was Jack Muldowney who first taught me how to drive a car. When she was 16, she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney, who built her first dragster. All I wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod," declared Muldowney. She won a total of 18 NHRA national events.īorn Shirley Ann Roque in Burlington, Vermont, on June 19, 1940, Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fuel dragster. Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as " Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America NHRA Top 50 Drivers of 1951–2000 International Motor Sports Hall of Fame Their bikes are started before they get on top of them because of the violent nature of the 1,500-hp, fire-breathing machines.Shirley Muldowney signing autographs at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo CA, July 2017 These riders traverse the quarter-mile at breathtaking speeds of well more than 200 mph. ![]() Nitro-burning motorcycles that must retain features of the Harley-Davidson engine (a pushrod V-Twin). Competition is run heads-up, first one to the finish line wins in a true display of bragging rights for today's domestic factory hot rods Top Fuel Harley Showroom-ready Chevrolet Camaros, Ford Mustangs, and Dodge Challengers face off in heads-up battles quicker than eight seconds and faster than 170 mph. Pro Mod drivers compete at 10 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series events. The engine choices are equally as diverse competitors can use superchargers, turbochargers, or nitrous-oxide injection and can run into the high-five-second zone at speeds of more than 250 mph. The NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series features an eclectic mix of vehicles that range from ’41 Willys coupes to ’63 Corvettes to late-model Ford Mustangs and Dodge Vipers, and few classes offer as much diversity and excitement. ![]()
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