Video Description from YouTube:

#ShirleyMuldowney #NHRA #TopFuel #DragRacing #MotorsportsHistory #WomenInMotorsports #RacingLegend #ComebackStory #NHRAHistory #DragRacingLife

On June 29, 1984, at Sanair International Raceway, three time NHRA Top Fuel champion Shirley Muldowney hit 247 miles per hour and everything went wrong.

At the 1,000 foot mark, a catastrophic tire failure locked her steering. Her dragster left the racing surface with no guardrails to stop it. The car disintegrated. The engine flew 300 feet in one direction. The roll cage with Shirley still inside was thrown 300 feet the other way into a drainage ditch.

The NHRA Safety Safari couldn’t find her at first.

Doctors questioned whether she would keep her legs. Her injuries were devastating. Her recovery lasted nearly 19 months. Most people believed her career was over.

They were wrong.

This is the story of how Shirley Muldowney fought the NHRA establishment in the 1960s for the right to race, won three Top Fuel championships, survived one of the most violent crashes in drag racing history, and came back to qualify second at the 1986 Winternationals.

This is also the story of how that crash changed Top Fuel safety forever eliminating inner tubes, improving chassis construction, and raising guardrail standards across the sport.

From her rivalry with Don Garlits to the cultural impact that paved the way for champions like Brittany Force and Erica Enders, Shirley’s legacy isn’t symbolic.

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