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Don Garlits, 70, and Shirley Muldowney, 61, face off this weekend.
By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 14, 2002
Drag racing legend Don Garlits counts among his most embarrassing losses the time Shirley Muldowney beat him in the final of the 1982 Gatornationals, his home event.
"I really hated that in front of all my friends and family," Garlits said.
How about a rematch?
Twenty years later, Garlits, 70, and Muldowney, 61, will renew their timeless rivalry at the NHRA's 33rd annual Gatornationals this weekend in Gainesville. Even now, many years past their racing primes, they are worth the price of admission.
"It's probably the most exciting match race in the history of drag racing," said Garlits, who won 35 events, the last in 1987. "Of all the people you could put side by side, it brings the most people into the facility, the most people to their feet, the most people out of their garages and pits. There's just something about that man vs. woman matchup."
Garlits and Muldowney, each three-time Top Fuel champions, were fierce competitors for most of the 1970s and '80s. Though it has been more than a decade since either competed full time, neither can stay away.
Muldowney, who still makes her living in exhibition-style match races, will run five national events this season, the most since 1990. Garlits, a Tampa native who owns a drag racing museum in Ocala, made his first 300 mph run last season at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
"An old-time partner of mine said, 'Don, most people your age are looking for a four-door Lincoln or Mercury. What's your secret?' " said Garlits, who will race Swamp Rat XXXIV in Gainesville. "I just like to go fast and still feel good, so why not?"
Last year, the NHRA marked its 50th anniversary by naming its top 50 drivers. Muldowney was fifth, Garlits first for his contributions to the sport, including designing the first rear-engine dragster.
In the rivalry's early years, Garlits and Muldowney didn't care much for one another. Garlits remembers an incident in Salt Lake City when he let Muldowney get the best of him.
During down times on the track, the public address operator entertained fans by playing interviews with drivers. Garlits was settling into his dragster for a qualifying run when Muldowney's voice came through the loudspeaker.
"It was awful," Garlits said. "She said if I was a millionaire, it was time I got off some of my money and bought a new truck and new trailer and new clean uniforms for the guys. I got so mad."
Garlits jumped the start on his run and was disqualified. Eager for revenge, he strolled in front of Muldowney's dragster just before her next run.
"I gave her the big raspberry," he said. "I should have been more careful; she could have run right over me. But she was just as cool as a cucumber, just backed right up. I'll never forget that. It didn't bother her a bit."
Typical Muldowney.
The first woman to obtain a Top Fuel license and the first of either gender to win the championship more than once, Muldowney was a no-nonsense racer. She still is.
"People who think they can sway my thinking or my performance are really making a mistake," Muldowney said. "Don, like a lot of the racers back then, resented our success. I was the chick, the female, and they had problems with that. But everybody's grown up in recent years."
The nature of the rivalry changed in 1984, when Muldowney was critically injured in a qualifying accident at Montreal. Garlits heard the news on the radio.
"All of those nasty things I said over the years suddenly flashed before me and I really felt bad," he said. "I never said another nasty thing. I was glad to see her come back; most people would not have come back after an accident like that. She does it because she loves it and it's hard to say anything against that."