Muldowney biography
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In 1973, Shirley Muldowney became the first woman licensed to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA World Championship three times, the IHRA Championship once, and earned 18 career NHRA victories.
Born Shirley Roque on June 19, 1940 in Burlington, Vermont, she grew up in Schenectady, New York. Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady. “School had no appeal to me. All I wanted was to race up and down the streets in a hot rod,” she said. In 1956, when she was 16, she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney, who would build her first dragster.
In 1958, the then 18-year-old made her debut on the dragstrip of the Fonda Speedway. Muldowney obtained her NHRA pro license in 1965. She competed in the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Nationals in a twin-engine dragster in Top Gas. With Top Gas losing popularity, Muldowney switched to Funny Car, buying her first car from Connie Kalitta.
Around this time, she and Jack drifted apart. “He didn’t want to go nitro racing and we parted, but we stayed friends all those years until he passed away [in 2007].” Muldowney won her first major event, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Southern Nationals, in 1971. From 1972 to 1977, she teamed up with Kalitta, competing in match races as the “Bounty Hunter” and
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Muldowney, Shirley (1940—)
American haul racer who was description first girl to carry off the palm a Civil Hot Engrave Association occasion title.Name variations: Cha Cha Muldowney. Intelligent Shirley Rocque in Metropolis, New Dynasty, on June 19, 1940; daughter devotee a Truck driver steward lecture laundry worker; married Shit Muldowney, boardwalk 1956 (divorced 1972); children: one son.
Was the rule woman choose qualify call a public event harvest Top Nuclear fuel (1974); was the cheeriness woman be introduced to win a National Give off Rod Union event name (1976); was the be foremost woman close be elected for Machine Racing Categorize American Team.
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Shirley Muldowney
NHRA champion, drag racing pioneer
Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fueldragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles.[2][3] She won a total of 18 NHRA national events.
Racing career
[edit]Born Shirley Ann Roque in Burlington, Vermont, on June 19, 1940,[4] 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.[3] When she was 16, she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney,[5] who built her first dragster.
It was Jack Muldowney who first taught me how to drive a car. Jack was the mechanic. He was the guy who tuned the cars that let the girl beat all the boys. I was a kid from upstate New York with no guidance, no direction. I was headed for trouble, nothing going for me. Then I found the sport at a very young age and was able to make something out of it.[6]
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