CHARLOTTE (April 20) -- Drag racing legend Shirley Muldowney appeared on BBC World News
today, speaking with Ben Bland about comments made by Formula One Group
Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone that women couldn't handle an F1 car.
Muldowney is a three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion who
paved the way for female drivers in the sport. Her comments were heard
in 192 million households worldwide.
Here is a transcript of the interview:
Ben Bland: A Facebook viewer wrote, saying,
there are a number of sports women don't undertake because they lack the
physical ability, F1 being one of them. They should remain in sports
they are comfortable doing. Shirley, your thoughts?
Muldowney: My thoughts are, in our form of
motorsport -- and I must disagree with (past F1 test driver) Susie
(Wolff) only because I might be a bit partial -- the 10,000-horsepower
cars that we drive, fueled by nitromethane, are in fact the fastest race
cars in the world and the most demanding and the most challenging. And
she mentioned several times, using the word performing. Well that's
fine, you can go out there and perform for the crowd, but my motto is,
not performing ... winning. That's the bottom line. That's why I'm out
there. I'm not out there because I'm a woman, I'm not out there because I
am trying to prove anything, and I'm not out there because I want to
prove Mr. Ecclestone to be a bonehead, but winning is the bottom line.
That's what it's all about.
Bland: I know this has generated a lot of emotion, but we should probably keep the language a little tailored.
Muldowney: Oh, well that's not bad language.
Here in the States, that just pretty much signifies a knucklehead,
someone who says some of the things I read that he said. It's pretty
degrading, really. I'm a 50-year veteran in the sport of NHRA drag
racing. I've won four championships (three NHRA and one AHRA) and I've
had the pole position 18 times in my career, and to listen to this man
just degrade everything that any other woman has done out there, myself
included, is a little bit of a put-down.
Speed Sisters Director Amber Fares, who has made a documentary about the first all-woman race car team in the Middle East:
There's a whole racing scene happening in the Middle East, and they are
encouraging women to come out and race with them, and I'm thinking that
if it can happen in the Middle East, then couldn't it happen anywhere
else in the world?
Muldowney: It already has happened. It
happened back in 1971 when the NHRA, the first to accept women on an
equal basis, allowed me to come into the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis
and get my feet wet. And I'll admit, I missed qualifying by .02 of a
second -- that's a lot in our sport -- but I dug in and scratched my way
from the bottom right up through the ranks and reached the pinnacle. I
reached the top of our sport.
I wanted to go out there and teach them the right way to do
it, show the fellas the way home, and no one gave me a quarter. I did it
all by myself, with good people. Well, I didn't do it all by myself, I
need to retract that, but with great crewmembers, and I always had my
own equipment. I was the boss, and it kinda looks like I called the
right shots when you look at history.
Bland: Shirley, I would be interested to
hear you and Jutta (Kleinschmidt) compare your experiences in racing and
the attitudes you encountered in racing.
Muldowney: Wooo, attitude? Come on over here
and I'll show you some attitude because we have some very intense
drivers over here. Most of them are not just drivers, they don't just
show up with their helmet in one hand and a first-class boarding pass in
the other. They come with their own equipment, they build their cars
and engines, they maintain things, they tune it, and they drive it. They
are kinda like a one-man band, and what a great job our drivers do.
That's the foundation of the NHRA. You must start at the bottom and work
your way on up to the top.
We have several ladies out there that are getting the pole
position, they are winning the big races. This weekend we have the
Four-Wide Nationals. That's four Top Fuel cars racing at once; that's
40,000 horsepower. It is really a sight to see, and the women that are
competing know what they are doing.
I started with the sport in its infancy and I grew with it. I
was the first woman, and they hated me. They did everything they could
to outwit me, to make life difficult, but you know, I didn't go to the
corner and cry, I just got even. And I'll tell you where I got even:
right on the starting line and on the finish line. That was my taste of
glory, and I dwell on it. I love the way I did it because if I had done
it any other way, I would not have made the grade.
Bland to Jessica King, 18-year-old from the UK also on the line:
Jessica, you have the opportunity to get advice from two very inspiring
role models on the line, Ms. Shirley Muldowney and Jutta Kleinschmidt;
is there anything you want to ask them?
Jessica: How did you do it? What benefits you? How can I get to where you are?
Muldowney: I'll raise my hand. When you said
"program" earlier, I assumed you meant sponsorship programs. (Yes)
That's the hardest part, to be able to secure the funding to go out
there and buy the right parts and pieces and the right components and be
able to afford the people who really know what they are doing. You
cannot do this all on your own. I suffered from day one with finding the
money to race, but I was able to keep my head above water for 33 years
in nitro racing, which is unheard of, to be able to run these cars and
compete on a national level. Between
personal appearances, souvenir sales, guaranteed appearance money, and
winning, that is how I did it for three decades. My biggest problem
always was sponsorship.
One thing you need to do is build relationships in this
industry with everyone. Cater to the press; you don't pass on
interviews, you don't not show up. These are the people who vote for
Hall of Fame positions, and that is something you can take to the bank, a
Hall of Fame position. I'm in 11 Halls of Fame and I'm pretty proud of
that, and those where all voted by the media, so you must treat them the
way they deserve to be treated.
Also, you might want to have rich parents or be in the right
place at the right time. It's a hard thing to do, and I can't tell you
exactly how to do it because that is something I was never able to
achieve except with one company, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, and I had a
wonderful relationship with them for 45 years. In fact, I am very proud
that I was (friends with) the world racing director for Goodyear, a man
named Leo Mehl. They asked me to be his presenter when he was inducted
into the Motorsports Hall of Fame, and I was just blown away. I was so
excited and so impressed and I thought, "I have finally made it."
