Is shirley muldowney still alive
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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
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Heart Like a Wheel (film)
1983 film by Jonathan Kaplan
Heart Like a Wheel is a 1983 American biographicaldramasports film directed by Jonathan Kaplan[2] and based on the life of drag racing driver Shirley Muldowney. It stars Bonnie Bedelia as Shirley Muldowney and Beau Bridges as drag racing driver Connie Kalitta.
The film garnered two award nominations: Bedelia for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, and William Theiss for an Oscar for Best Costume Design.
Plot
In 1956, Schenectady, New York, waitress Shirley Roque marries auto mechanic Jack Muldowney over the mild objections of her singer father Tex, who wants her to be self-sufficient rather than having to rely on a husband. Jack buys a gas station, Shirley becomes a housewife, and they have a son.
For fun, Jack races his hot rod against others on deserted stretches of road late at night. One time, Shirley talks him into letting her drive. She wins and continues winning. A chance encounter with professional driver "Big Daddy" Don Garlits inspires her to look for sponsor
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If you are a race fan, you probably know the name Shirley Muldowney. Even non-race fans know of Muldowney, the first lady of drag racing. Many will remember her by her nickname "Cha Cha."
The documentary "Shirley" premieres Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on FS1 and the FOX Sports app. It details her story of fighting discrimination and tussling with many of the biggest names in drag racing on her way to stardom that began in the 1970s.
We'll let the documentary tell the riveting and inspirational story of the three-time top fuel champion.
But here's the story, as told in the documentary, of how she got that infamous nickname.
From the 83-year-old Muldowney:
"We went to Sanford, Maine, and the tech people putting class numbers on windows with shoe polish — when it was my turn, here I come up with the big dark hair and the gold, always gold earrings. and for some reason, I think he thought I might have been Hispanic or something. I don't know ... but he
said, ‘Cha Cha' and he wrote it with the shoe polish on the window of the car."
Another drag racer told her that could be her nic
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