She was at a cruise-in this morning at a restaurant in Katy, Tx. People were lined up all morning to see her.
I met her once when a buddy of mine and I went to Konnie Kalitta's home. She answered the door and told Mr. Kalitta that two boys were there to see him. He invited us into his shop and I had a great experience there. It was AWESOME for me as a 16 year old! We helped him put his engine together and he rolled the chassis for the Bounty Hunter out onto the snow and started it up. WHOA! I had never been that close to a funny car running. It shook me to the core.
What a great drag racer. 2017 pic of her signing autographs. She put up with a lot of shit getting to the top. The Cha Cha name for example..
The First Lady of Drag Racing! It’s super cool that she is still out visiting fans. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Fastest Woman on Earth ! 1976 ,New England Dragway , she slapped my hand while rolling down the rail , SHE was a Goddess ! My old man always told me about fast cars and fast woman,,,,And here she was ,, In the flesh ,,,I was 12 and she was everything my old man talked about !!
Way back in the late 60's she was just another racer in the pits at Lebanon Valley Dragway. Good lady would BS with the other racers just like the rest of us. She even use to stop in the clubhouse at the track on the way home for a few for the road.
On the other hand... Everyone has their...not so good side. Seems either she didn't like the West Coast, she didn't like Orange County Raceway, or somthin, but during more than one race, she was excessively loud, using not so nice words to both her crew and "possibly" spectators. That's all I'll say. Not a fan. Mike
Mike only offers a counterpoint. It only stands to reason that someone with winning drive can be " intense". Looked up some info on her. Word is, the actress who played her in the movie was not Shirley's pick. Bonnie was too prissy.
Also not a fan, by personal experience at Fremont, after watching her yelling at Big- who just looked at her like "eh". She was nasty to everyone that day. Big, on the other hand, was nice to everyone, as were all the other stars, Snake etc. . Lost all interest in trying to talk to her- the movie was way overly generous to her nature. Probably started as much shit as she had to "put up with". One of the other fuel stars of the time used to live down the street from me, and joked about her nickname amongst the others- started with Thunder....
Yep, most would, and genuinely. I met Eddie and Ercie Hill at the Chowchilla boat drags in '84, as our friends Blown Gas Flatbottom (Arias power) was sponsored by the same company and they pitted together, and we were all in the same hotel in Fresno. We discovered that the hot tub was under the window to our room, so the screen came out and crew cannonballs commenced. I told him that I still had my 1961 HotRod Yearbook with the picture of his old twin Pontiac digger with the twin whitewall slicks that melted holes in the starting line. Gave me a boat t-shirt and autographed it. So in '94, at Sears Point, back in the cars and first in the 4's, so I wear the boat shirt. Walk up to his pit, after a couple minutes he sees the shirt with the scribble and starts smiling- says "I know you..." Reminded him about the hot tub thing and he just shook his head- and then re-signed my '84 boat shirt
have met her, and got poster signed - very nice to talk to - but, could tell that her body was not doing good - nit pick what you want - but, none of us will truly know what she went through to get to the level that she has - high level competition definitely has it's very highs and very lows - plus, personal life had it's big challenges too - I say a very big Thank-You to her for helping change/improve drag racing
Not nit-picking, first hand experience- she was just not that nice compared to the others. There was a guy who raced in a major motorsport who put up with way, way, way more than SM, especially during the time frame he raced, and never had major money behind him, even climbed out of the car and helped during pit stops, but he always held his head high with pride and grace, and earned the respect of his peers and fans. He got some help with decent hand-me-down cars & equipment, but mostly just busting butt and not giving up, and doing his best to act like a gentleman
My one experience with her was at Pomona at the credential trailer. First impression was a bad one and that is all it took for me!
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