CONCORD — Last year, when the NHRA came to Concord for the Four-Wide Nationals, the organization was touting its most recent accomplishment: being the most diverse motorsports league in the world.
However, as is the case with just about any American sports league, it wasn’t always that way.
There have been many pioneers to break different boundaries within professional drag racing, but perhaps none more significant than Shirley Muldowney, the first woman to ever earn a license and race in a gas-powered dragster in the NHRA.
Muldowney did more than break a barrier, though; she made a career. After beginning in 1965, she raced for nearly 40 years until her retirement in 2003.
Myrtle is Girls Torque’s mascot who loves to go and visit motorsport people and events, and also write stories about the seriously great ladies out there doing great stuff in this sport. Some work, some volunteer, some race, some show and some build.