Shirley Shahan (nicknamed the "Drag-On Lady") is a pioneering American woman

drag racer Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most ...

. Shahan in 1965 became the first woman to win an NHRA pro event.Taylor, p.16. Her husband, H. L., prepared the cars she drove. She became a member of the

International Motorsports Hall of Fame The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) is a hall of fame located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway (formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway) located in Talladega County, east central Alabama. It enshrines those who have co ...

and the

Drag Racing Hall of Fame Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street ad ...

in 1997.

Background

Shahan was born and raised in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

, daughter of a racing driver.Burgess, Phil, ''National Dragster'' editor. "The Drag-on Lady: Racer, pioneer, mom", written 30 April 2008, a
NHRA.com
(retrieved 25 September 2018) The eldest of four children, she learned to drive at 10, and served as mechanic for her father when he went racing. Before she began racing, she was a passionate player of fastpitch softball, with an ability to throw to home plate from center field. Like many early racers, including

Shirley Muldowney Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a ...

, Shahan got started by

street racing Street racing is typically an unsanctioned and illegal form of auto racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles ...

, beating local boys in her father's

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

pickup. At 17, she married H. L. Shahan.

Racing career

Shahan first became involved in drag racing in high school, when she assisted her father in working on his racer.Taylor, p.17. Her ability to beat the men frequently created friction. She, like Carol Cox, drew several protests after her victories; at the time, it cost just US$50 to file one. Her husband, H. L., prepared the cars she drove. (H. L. Shahan worked for Ronnie Broadhead in Junior Stock and Butch Leal in Top Fuel .) Shahan began racing in the 1950s. She and her husband (who served as flagman for the Visalia drag strip on weekends) owned and raced two Chevrolets, one a 1955, later a daily-driven 1956 with a (then-new)

small-block The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of gasoline-powered, V-8 automobile engines, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors between 1954 and 2003, using the same basic engine block. Referred to as a "small-block" for its size ...

V8. Both raced, at first; Shahan (like Muldowney) proved the better driver. She entered events at all the local tracks, including those in Bakersfield, Fremont, Madera, Santa Maria, and

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the un ...

. In 1959, Shahan won the first March Meet (at Bakersfield) in her Super Stock 1958 Chevrolet, beating forty men, among them professionals "Dyno Don" Nicholson, Hayden Proffitt, Tom Sturm, and Arlen Vanke. The couple purchased a

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...

with the RPO Z11

big-block A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and use ...

in 1963. At the time, H.L. tuned for Butch Leal and Ronnie Broadhead. In 1964, Shahan was approached by Chrysler, and switched to a hemi Plymouth, as part of a team with Leal, working out of the Shahan shop in

Tulare, California Tulare ( ) is a city in Tulare County, California. The population was 68,875 at the 2020 census. It is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, eight miles south of Visalia and sixty miles north of Bakersfield. The city is named for t ...

. The Chrysler deal forced her to learn to drive an

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

for the 1965 season, over her objections; previously, she had always driven a stick shift. Nor did Chrysler pay her a salary, providing only the car and parts. At the time, she was working for SoCal Gas, and already had three children. Shahan quickly learned to use the

tachometer A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated analo ...

and the automatic transmission, and soon began winning at Division 7 events from Oregon and Washington to Utah and Nevada. She reached the Top Stock final at the 1965 ''Hot Rod'' Championship in Riverside. It was while with the Chrysler factory team she followed her ''Hot Rod'' Championship win in 1966 with a final round finish at the AHRA Winter Nationals and earned a historic win, becoming the first woman to win a pro class at a national event, at the Winternationals, defeating Ken Heinemann. (The win put her on the cover of ''

National Dragster The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsp ...

''.) She had been preceded by the likes of Roberta Leighton, Bunny Burkett, and the first woman to win at an NHRA national event, Carol Cox, who won in Stock in 1962. On 15 April 1966, she quit her day job to concentrate on Super Stock racing, continuing all summer,

match racing A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consi ...

all over the U.S., into Mexico, and as far away as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, winning more often than she lost; The H.L. switched the Impala from carburetors to fuel injection, as well as moving the rear axle forward, precursor to the technique used by Funny Cars. She raced full-time until 1968. In that time, she also entered

Mobil Economy Run Mobil Economy Run was an annual event that took place from 1936 to 1968, except during World War II. It was designed to provide real fuel efficiency numbers during a coast-to-coast test on public roads and with regular traffic and weather conditi ...

s for Chrysler in that period, placing second, fourth, and (in 1968) first, even defeating Chrysler factory driver Scott Harvey. Shahan went to

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

in 1968, driving a Super Stock AMX (which was also run sometimes in Pro Stock), while also serving as spokesman off-track. In addition, she was paid a salary and a given personal car. This also enabled her to remain closer to home. The AMX also returned her to a stick shift. She qualified #8 at the 1969 AHRA Winter Nationals, but was eliminated in the semi-final by #11 qualifier Ed Terry. The AMX gave her a class win at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals, and allowed her to set low e.t. and top speed records for the class over the course of the season. While Shahan did qualify for the 1970 U.S. Nationals, she was disallowed due to a technical infraction. Shahan qualified #22 for the 1971 Supernationals, being eliminated in round one by the 1971 Plymouth Barracuda of #6 qualifier (& ultimate event winner) Ronnie Sox. She reached the semi-final at the 1971 AHRA Gateway Nationals, being eliminated by the 1970 Dodge Charger of event winner

Tom Haller Thomas Frank Haller (June 23, 1937 – November 26, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and executive. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1972, most notably as a member of the San Francisco Gi ...

. At the 1971

U.S. Nationals United States nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds United States nationality. In the United States, nationality is typically obtained through provisions in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and international agree ...

, Shahan and husband H.L. got two AMCs into the Pro Stock field, hers in the thirty-first slot; both were eliminated in Round One, Shahan losing to "Fast Eddie" Schartman's

Mercury Comet The Mercury Comet is an automobile that was produced by Mercury from 1960–1969 and 1971–1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car. In its first two years, it was marketed as the "Comet" and from 1962 as the "Mercury Comet ...

. It would be twenty-one more years before another woman would win a round in Pro Stock. AMC quit drag racing in 1972, and when her husband got an opportunity to build racing engines full-time, his attention was diverted, so Shahan quit racing. Shahan usually drove a Super Stock car, but also had the opportunity to drive an A/FX fuel funny car.

Personal life

She worked for SoCal Gas Company for over thirty years before retiring. In 1966, while match racing around the U.S., Shahan was a contestant on "Hollywood Squares" and "To Tell the Truth" (where, she confesses, Bill Cullen guess right she was a drag racer). The 1966 Winternationals win also attracted the attention of ABC's "Wide World of Sports". She divorced H. L., and has been married to her second husband, Ken Bridges, for over forty years. Shahan has three children. Her youngest son, Steven, was on the

pit crew In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...

of two

top fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 second ...

teams, one of them Ed McCulloch's. Her youngest son, Th Robert, races a replica of her 1968

Dodge Dart Dodge Dart is a line of automobiles marketed by Dodge from the 1959 to 1976 model years in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart name originally appeared on a 1956 Chrysler show car featuring ...

. Her daughter, Janet (the eldest), and her husband operate a

Lucas Oil Lucas Oil Products, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It was founded by trucker Forrest Lucas and his wife Charlotte in 1989. The company is a medium size manufacturer of lubrican ...

-sponsored

tractor pull Truck and tractor pulling, also known as power pulling, is a form of a motorsport competition in which antique or modified tractors pull a heavy drag or sled along an , track, with the winner being the tractor that pulls the drag the farthe ...

er called ''Git-R-Done''. She has twenty-seven grandchildren.Taylor, p.17; Burgess, Phil, ''National Dragster'' editor. "The Drag-on Lady: Racer, pioneer, mom", written 30 April 2008, a
NHRA.com
(retrieved 25 September 2018) In her spare time, she plays softball and golf. She still lives in

. In 1997, Shahan was inducted into the

. As of 2008, at 70, Shahan still competed in some nostalgia drag racing events.

Notes

Sources

*Taylor, Thom. "Roddin' @Random: Take 5 icwith Shirley Shahan" in ''Hot Rod'', April 2017, pp. 16–17. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shahan, Shirley American automotive pioneers Dragster drivers People from Visalia, California