Grew up down around the corner from her home town. Didn't see her until an event at the old Beeline dragway in Phoenix. She was bent over the A/A in a pair of hot pink short shorts and I tripped over myself. Great lady she was.
She raced pretty regular at Lebanon Valley back in the day; they always made a big fuss over her. I would not deny her competitive nature, but my folks wouldnt let me near her back then because she had a mouth on her that would embarass a sailor. I understand Mopar made her clean up her act after they picked her up following her recovery from the bad fire she had in Connies funny. Firece competitior, never much cared for her personally just from what I've seen over the years. Jamie Lee would have been a good choice for the movie though!
there;]'s still time. i don't think shes dead... ya know, i didn't like her all that much BUT at least she had a personality, unlike todays drivers. even force is getting boring...
I remember that movie,it was cool to watch. On a color television no less What ever happened to the First car that Jack built ?? Never see any pix of it
I picked up the same one at Wally World when it came out. I don't know if it was a special release or not.
I liked the movie a lot, especially because I was a spectator and participant during that time. A few years ago I saw Shirley at Goodguys, Indy and asked her if she would autograph my cap. When she saw Don's signature, she hesitated, then said, what the heck, and signed it. Now, If I could get Connie's autograph on it...
ya, great movie. could watch it over and over, the old lady say,s i must be crazy. she is right, but do not hold that against me. git up and go, cha cha. love ya! dermott.
Was involved in a nostalgia meet at Bristol in the fall and saw her there. my dragster is similiar to her first one, injected chevy.
Funny you should mention that---my ex brother in law was a young man in '63-'64, and raced his '61 Catalina at a few of the same NY dragstrips as Ms. Muldowney. He told me that she was the first woman he ever heard say "fuck" several times in one day!
That struck me as pretty lame too, especially when at the time of filming, you could still pick up a pair of early Cal Custom or M/T sbc covers at swap meets for $5-$10!
I believe Tommy Ivo mentioned he was the hired gun in that article about him in Hot Rod magazine a few months back (or maybe it was in the Rodder's Journal article, I know I saw it in one or the other.)
Back in 78 we were at a weekly meet at Norwalk Ohio with our lowly 12.80 car. we showed up late and the only pit area was next to hers(She and Jeb allen were there for a match race) We were amazed how nice she was to all of us. Shirley is a class act indeed.Pretty easy on the eyes as well.
I was Shirley's drug store delivery boy when I was in high school. She was always really sweet and always tipped me well. Got a few pieces autographed and got to see some of her memorabilia up close and got to hear some pretty cool stories straight from the source. She had claimed that the movie was fairly accurate, and was proud of the accolades it had received.
heres a question for ya? which one of our hambers on here is the nephew of the gentleman that gave shirley her ride to get her top fuel license ?
I remember she and Connie blistering the hide off each other at Englishtown, she wanted to go faster in qualifying and Connie wanted to be conservative and neither would back down - the air was BLUE to a teenager like me. Later I came to understand how different some people can get at the racetrack, and I give her the benefit of the doubt. I still wouldn't risk going up against her in an argument though.
i remember reading something about that movie and shirley saying it was fairly accurate except she never smoked in real life. ivo was one of the hired guns because i remember wathcing something about that on tv and how it hurt his back after he busted them vertabraes in the 4 motor car during an exhibition run.
i was lucky enuff to see them all at sacramento raceway when it was a NHRA track . lots of yrs ago ! ................ steve
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