Shirley Muldowney Had a Birthday Yesterday

[Dibbons]

Born June 19, 1940. I did not realize she drove a 1972 Plymouth Satellite Funny Car at one time.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrd...y-interview/#hrdp_0904_15_z-shirley_muldowney

 

[BeatersRus]

her and her husband were very famous racers.
think most remember her for the amx.
what i remember most was how hard it was for her to break into the racers ranks.
they didnt want to issue her a license.
i think? it was big daddy don garlits who gave her her first break?
and she was a Helluva driver too.
its Amazing shes still with us,and i wish her the Best

what a great article/link that is as well.
really enjoyed that ty mr dibbons

 

[multimopes]

Happy belated birthday "Cha Cha"!

 

[Demonic]

Cool - I share a birthday with her!

 

[66383]

Met her at our local drag strip where I worked as a SFI tech guy. Nice lady. Gave me an autographed poster.

 

[Budnicks]

Happy belated Birthday Cha' Cha'

Connie Kalitta gave her, her 1st big break (among other things)
she got her 1st Pro. competition license in 1965
he & Don Garlits signed her 1st T/F comp. license too, in 1973

Her & Connie at one time did a series of match races all over the place
1971 Mustang F/C's Bounty Hunter & Bounty Huntress
she got burned bad in the Bounty Huntress in 1973, Ohio race
hence the saying in many circles in drag racing
"put that bitch in a F/C & let her burn"
(from he jealous/envious male counterparts & fans, a lot like Danica Patrick does)
got a Top Fuel license in a dragster in late 1973
making her the 1st women in a T/F car, Poncho Renden's dragster

she was treated really bad by most sanctioning bodies too
BUT;
IMO she brought a lot of it on herself by being in your face personality
& calling out many of her male counterparts,
during fluff interviews as her alter ego Cha' Cha', in hot pants no less
stunts to get her name out there
even went after Garlits & Connie later

Shirley 'Cha Cha' Muldowney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Muldowney

She drove hoped up street cars, starting in 1958
then her 1st real racecar was Top Gas & then a Jr. Dragsters 1st
Injected SBC with her 1st husband Jack

at one time she drove a twin engine dragster too
1969 & 1970 NHRA US Nationals

she won her 1st event in IHRA, Southern Nat.'s 1971
she also ran AHRA events

she was having an affair with Connie, is what broke her
& her 1st husband Jack Muldowney, they got divorced in 1972
Connie & her affair caused their breakup, they weren't a couple very long
a couple years maybe, it was the worst kept secret in the racing community
seemed that his wife was the only clueless one, for a while

there's an old movie about her, 1983 film 'Heart like a wheel'
a lot of the films depictions were including Connie & her son Ron (IIRC)

 

[Cranky]

From what I understand, Big and Connie both figured she would ever be a threat to them so they signed off on her license. Little did they know lol

 

[64BEL]

Happy Birthday to Shirley. She's great with the fans at the track. She was very friendly to my daughter the times we talked to her.

 

[Dipstick]

IMO she brought a lot of it on herself by being in your face personality
& calling out many of her male counterparts,

And that earned her the well-deserved nickname Thunderc**t.

 

[Wingfoot]

I have been associated with the Goodyear race tire program as contract labor through the Goodyear race tire distributors since 1977. At the 1984 NHRA State Capitol Dragway event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Shirley was in our tent talking to the head of the Goodyear Drag Tire Division, John "Slick" Slikkerveer. The 5 second Top Fuel class then was using Avon motorcycle tires as steering tires as the same as every dragster used since the 1950s.

As Shirley was talking to "Slick," a T/F qualifier was rolling past our tent with bare front wheels. Shirley told "Slick" Goodyear needed to give the dragsters a real steer tire. I remember Shirley explaining as the car runs down the track at 250 mph, the steer tires float as the engine and rear scoop drives all the weight of the car to the rear tires. Once the driver lifts the pedal, the front wing applies thousands of pounds of down force on the Avons and 99 times out of a hundred, the Avons that fly off the wheels during the down force fly away from the car. Tires that eject inwards get tangled with the steering causing more loss of control of stopping a speeding dragster. Dummies still using wire spoke front wheels on the slower classes use tubes in their Avons that wrap around the front axle as the tire is forced off the wheel into or away from the car. "Slick" was non-committal to Shirley about designing a dragster steer tire.

​

A month later, Shirley was qualifying in Montreal, Canada for the NHRA race when she lifted in the traps and an Avon tire got wrapped up in the steering. The crash result Shirley crushed her hands, pelvis, and legs, necessitating half a dozen operations and 18 months of therapy. Goodyear sponsored Shirley the vast majority of her career, so as Shirley laid in the hospital, "Slick" and his boss Leo Mel, made a visit. Leo asked Shirley if there was anything he could do to help her, and Shirley's immediate response was, "Give us a steer tire!" Leo turned to "Slick" and said, "Give her what she wants."

Well, "Slick's" engineering team released in 1984 an over-developed steer tire that remains on today's tire roster. I remember talking to race driver Kim Lahaie Richards about Goodyear's Top Fuel steer tires. Kim told me the down force scrubbing is so great after she lifts at the top end that the steer tire tread face smokes even while she gets interviewed by Garlits or whomever.

Another time after Shirley's 1984 crash, it was a NHRA Sunday and Shirley needed a fresh pair of drive tires for an elimination pass. One of my fellow Goodyear workers and I rolled the mounted new tires to Shirley's pit. The moment we arrived, Shirley's crew chief poked his head out of Shirley's gooseneck trailer, pointed to me wearing my Goodyear uniform, and said, "I need you to help us." The crew chief and two helpers had a fresh 500 cubic inch, aluminum long block Hemi, (oil pan, headers to blower manifold) on a roll out stand by the side door. The crew chief asked me to grab the header pipe on #1 cylinder and help them carry the Hemi to the dragster and get it set between the frame rails. All went well, but aluminum or not, that was a load for the 4 of us to carry. I was amazed to see 4 small hose clamps were used to successfully secure that 8,000 hp Hemi between the frame rails. I got an autographed t-shirt by Shirley for my efforts that still hangs in my closet today.

 

[64BEL]

Great story, Wingfoot! Now we know where your screen name comes from, too.

 

[Wingfoot]

Great story, Wingfoot! Now we know where your screen name comes from, too.

Greetings 64BEL! Thank You for the kudos!

I have never owned or driven a race car for competition in my life. Yet I have been involved with people from many sanctioned events my entire adult life. My wife, brothers and many other close to me have heard most of my stories involving all venues of racing. My brother sez I need to write a book. Mine would be a paperback with very few pictures. Truthfully, I know 50 other people or more who could write a novel of interesting stories involving racing. I can think of 3 who could do the novels full of pictures with sequels; East Coast Bobby Mash, West Coast Bobby Morrow and the Dude.

Dude (Dennis is his name) was employed full time with an east coast Goodyear race tire distributor over 40 years. Dennis was a chatterbox full of funny stories (we all called his stories Dude-isms), yet Dennis is kinda/sorta an odd character with a heavy southern drawl. Once at the NASCAR track, Dude was telling a story involving a bulldozer. Dennis kept calling it a bull-Nozer. Dale Earnhart Sr. was listening in and said to Dude, "Hey, call it what it is. It's Bull-Dozer!"

Let me end with this **** you can't make up. One day the tire mounting crew was in a Southern "Good Ole Boys" Bar and Grill when Dennis joined the group proudly wearing a fancy shirt he bought from a garage sale for 50¢. One of the guys in the group, "Flash," pointed out to Dennis it was a women's shirt he was wearing. Dennis got real indignant and called Flash a somabitch. Flash pointed out first no pockets, a tapered cut with the buttons on the left side and the button holes on the right side. Dennis quickly asked a beer maid if she thought he was wearing a man's shirt. She answered it was a women's shirt he was wearing. Just then the juke box loudly played the Aerosmith song, "Dude Looks Like a Lady!" Dennis instantly became "Dude;" a name he hated and everybody called him from then on............

 

[Wingfoot]

Met her at our local drag strip where I worked as a SFI tech guy. Nice lady. Gave me an autographed poster.

Greetings 66383! I've been to numerous tracks while Shirley raced. I was working the 1983 AHRA Spring Nationals for a Goodyear race tire dealer from St. Louis at the Tulsa Raceway Park, Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was a wet weekend, but there was an extended show for the Sunday race fans.

Shirley racing in 1983​

Shirley was a very serious competitor wherever she raced. As Shirley was picking up her mounted new drive tires at our Goodyear trailer for the weekend, I remember talking to Shirley about track conditions that Saturday. Track crews were using bath towels to soak up water seeping through the cracks in the asphalt close to the launch pad. Shirley said she just left a meeting with the race promoter discussing her concerns about not getting a dry track for qualifying. The promoter told Shirley he would lineup the stockers first as track dryers and work through the ranks to Top Fuel if need be to get the track dry. As I was talking to a very upset Shirley, Don Garlits walked up to Shirley and Donald talked her out of loading up her stuff and leaving.

 

[dadsbee]

NEAT stuff WINGFOOT! I'm on Lake Temagami in Ontario in the Summers, where the Goodyear Tire owners had "executive meetings" (read fishing trips) every year starting back in the VERY early 1900's. Their descendants are still here every summer from Ohio. We even have "Wing Foot" Island as a matter fact down in the hub of the lake that was the Canadian side of things retreat.