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Muldowney offers Force some advice

ATLANTA — When Ashley Force stood in the Winner's Circle at Atlanta Dragway, it was a historic moment because she was the first woman in NHRA history to win a professional Funny Car event.

But she was far from being the first woman to win at the track.

That honor goes to drag racing legend Shirley Muldowney, who won the track's first NHRA Top Fuel race in 1981, beating Canadian Terry Capp in the final. Since then, there have been eight others — besides Force — to score wins at Atlanta.

Bob Frey, the NHRA's traveling announcer and a historian of the sport, has witnessed them all. Lucille Lee, a secretary-turned-racer, won Top Fuel honors in '82, then Lori Johns was victorious in 1990. Angelle Sampay scored four Pro Stock Motorcycle victories, in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004, and Karen Stoffer was the bike winner last year.

Four women — Shelly Anderson, Amy Faulk, Donna Hughes and Kathy Woeber — have Sportsman wins. Frey said he knows of no other track that has seen as many female winners.

But Force's win is different because of the publicity that has accompanied it. Not since Muldowney, a three-time Top Fuel champion and 18-race winner, was in her prime has drag racing been so abuzz over a woman driver. And the fact that Force's win came a week after Danica Patrick's breakthrough Indy Car win has only ratcheted up the interest.

Muldowney, now retired and living in Michigan, said she's not envious of the attention Patrick and Force are getting. But she points out that racing has changed dramatically since the days when she first worked her way up to the top levels of the sport and went wheel to wheel with male competitors who didn't like a woman racer, especially one who outran them on a regular basis.

"Now, they show up with their helmets, and that's all they need," Muldowney said. "I did it the hard way. They don't have to bear the brunt of anyone's jokes. They don't have to put up with that."

Muldowney said she expects Force to raise the profile of her sport, if for no other reason than she has her father, drag-racing icon John Force, and his PR organization — as well as Ford Motor Co. — behind her.

"John's got the money, and he's push, push, push," Muldowney said.

But Muldowney points out that while Ms. Force is friendly with fans, fellow drivers and the media, there's much more to being a successful racer. She said she put a call in to Ms. Force this week to offer some friendly advice.

"It's OK to be the sweetest, nicest little lady out there that everybody loves, but it doesn't have to be that way on race day," Muldowney said. "On race day, when you get in that car and pull up to the starting line, you don't have to like that guy in the other lane."

Muldowney said one thing she would do immediately is have Force's team cut off the pre-race two-way radio communication so the driver could focus on being faster off the starting line.

"She's a very nice young lady, and that's fine and dandy, but they're using her up on the starting line, and that's not going to win races," she said. "Leave her alone. Take the radio out of her ear. Let her go to the starting line and do what she does best."

Rick Minter writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.