Shirley Muldowney

Born Shirley Ann Roque in Burlington, Vermont, Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York, having dropped out of school in favor of hot-rodding. At 16 she married 19-year-old Jack Muldowney, who built her first dragster and served as her mechanic in the early years of her career. She made her dragstrip debut at Fonda Speedway in 1958 and obtained her NHRA pro license in 1965.

Muldowney competed in the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Nationals in a twin-engined dragster in the Top Gas class. When Top Gas declined in popularity, she transitioned to Funny Car, purchasing her first car from Connie Kalitta. She won her first major event, the IHRA Southern Nationals, in 1971. Her marriage to Jack Muldowney ended in divorce in 1972 though the two remained on friendly terms until his death in 2007.

Muldowney stepped up to Top Fuel in 1973, earning her license — the first woman to do so — with Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo, and Connie Kalitta signing the required application. From 1973 to 1977 she teamed with Kalitta as the Bounty Huntress and Bounty Hunter in a series of match races, racing Ford Mustangs with a Buttera-chassied car for Muldowney.

Her ascent in Top Fuel was met with considerable institutional opposition, with the NHRA and many in the racing community resistant to a woman competing at the sport's highest level. Despite this, her results were undeniable. In Columbus, Ohio in 1976, she dominated the Top Fuel field: she qualified first, set low elapsed time and top speed of the meet, ran the lowest elapsed time in every round, and broke her own top speed record in the final to win the event.

Three NHRA Top Fuel World Championships followed: 1977, 1980, and 1982. Each title was a historical first — first woman to win the championship, first to win it twice, and first person of any kind to win it three times. Don Garlits later said of her: "She went against all odds. They didn't want her to race Top Fuel, the association, the racers, nobody...just Shirley."

A crash in 1984 left Muldowney with severe injuries to her hands, pelvis, and legs, requiring approximately six operations and 18 months of rehabilitation. She returned to competition in the late 1980s, primarily through IHRA events and match-racing appearances, and later raced select NHRA events before retiring at the end of 2003.

Muldowney was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2004, and the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005. The NHRA ranked her fifth on its Top 50 Drivers list for 1951–2000, and ESPN ranked her 21st on its list of the top 25 drivers of all time. Her story was depicted in the 1983 biopic Heart Like a Wheel, starring Bonnie Bedelia. She also established the charitable organization Shirley's Kids, supporting children in communities where drag racing is part of local culture.