On the eve of the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, over a soft drink and a plate

of nachos in the lobby of their St. Louis hotel, Jim Brissette, Doug Herbert's

longtime sidekick and team consultant, took a enjoyable jaunt down memory lane

with an on-track rival from long ago.

 

John Muldowney is back on the scene.

 

Muldowney, fabricator extraordinaire who helped his famous mother Shirley

win four Top Fuel championships (three in NHRA, one in AHRA), is attending this

seventh stop on the Powerade Drag Racing Series tour as part of Herbert's

Snap-On Top Fuel Dragster team.

 

"I'm going to enjoy the races. I'm going to do what Doug Herbert asks me to

do," John Muldowney said.

 

 

On the eve of the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, over a soft drink and a plate

of nachos in the lobby of their St. Louis hotel, Jim Brissette, Doug Herbert's

longtime sidekick and team consultant, took a enjoyable jaunt down memory lane

with an on-track rival from long ago.

 

John Muldowney is back on the scene.

 

Muldowney, fabricator extraordinaire who helped his famous mother Shirley

win four Top Fuel championships (three in NHRA, one in AHRA), is attending this

seventh stop on the Powerade Drag Racing Series tour as part of Herbert's

Snap-On Top Fuel Dragster team.

 

"I'm going to enjoy the races. I'm going to do what Doug Herbert asks me to

do," John Muldowney said.

 

"I don't want anybody's job. I'm not going to hover over the clutch guy.

I'm going to hang back. I'm not going to get in there and say, 'We're going to

do this' or 'We're going to do that.' That's not my style," he said. "I'm going

to sit back in the shadows and take notes. I'm not going to give tuning

information and opinions. I don't want them to think that."

 

Herbert extended the invitation with a win-win scenario in mind.

 

"I've been friends with Shirley for 100 years," Herbert said with his

booming laugh.

"I don't really have a job or title for John. But he has great

fabrication skills. John's biggest assets are racing with his mom and his

fabrication skills.

 

"He's in St. Louis to take some notes and see if he sees a place where he

can fit in. We're going to let him look and see what he sees and how he might be

able to fit in with this team," Herbert said.

 

After a Full House of bad luck — three first-round losses and a pair of

DNQs — Herbert rebounded with a runner-up finish at Atlanta last week. And he

said he's committed to chasing an NHRA championship trophy that would complement

the four he won in IHRA in the 1990s. He said Muldowney might end up being a

pivotal player down the stretch.

 

"Whether it's a basketball team or a drag-racing team, the teams that are

the best out here have a deep bench," Herbert said. "We've been working hard for

a year or more to fit all the right pegs into the right holes. Maybe John will

be a key piece in the puzzle."

 

Herbert said he first met John Muldowney years ago, when, he joked, "I was

a dumb alcohol guy and he was a fuel guy, working on his mom's car.

 

"I think he's got the desire to get back into this. I remember his

remote-control cars. He built absolutely the most bitchin' remote-control

cars."

 

"I can work metal," Muldowney said. "Metal's my thing."

 

No telling what will be John Muldowney's thing. He has such a keen eye — a

gift both he and his mother say he inherited from his father, Jack — and a

tremendous talent for building and crafting and imagining.

 

The Walt Disney Company calls its engineers "imagineers," and that would

describe Muldowney. In fact, he has designed some fascinating technological

pieces for Disney and Universal Studios in Orlando. "I've even welded stuff for

the Space Shuttle," he said.

 

He still builds. While he said he still owes "Big Daddy" Don Garlits a

model of his Swamp Rat I, he did present him recently with a Swamp Rat XXXII

one-sixth-scale replica. "It's trick!" he said. And when he isn't building,

Muldowney — who can tutor about tires, wheels, wings, fuel pumps, bellhousings,

or just about any other part of a dragster — collects die-cast cars. His stash

is up to about 2,500.

 

But he acknowledged that he has been out of the drag-racing industry "for

quite some time, but I've been getting up to speed. These cars are very

different. I respect that."

 

Brissette told him, "They're like 'Star Wars!' " They're radically

different than they were when John was helping his mom to the 1977, 1980, and

1982 NHRA Winston Top Fuel championships and fighting off Brissette and partner

Mike Drake with their driver, Kelly Brown. Story-swapping aside, he and

Brissette — a 2006 International Drag Racing Hall of Famer along with Shirley

Muldowney — recognized they were on the same page.

 

"These cars go in the 4.40s, not the 5.70s. But more is not necessarily

better," Muldowney said. And he knew all too well what unholy damage a dragster

could do when something went wrong in the 5.70-second elapsed-time range. "My

mom, she's crashed 'em. She's slid to a stop on fire. The day [as in "back in

the day"] was dangerous."

 

And of course, he was by her side after her ghastly crash in 1984 at

Montreal and with her resurrected team for awhile when she came back in triumph.

So he has seen both the cool and cruel sides of the sport.

 

"These care are not little kids' toys," he said. "They'll peel your eyelids

back when you take off and go 350 feet a second. They will hurt you

severely."

 

Knowing what his mother has endured has made him appreciate her all the

more.

 

"She's my everything," Muldowney said with pride. "We have had more fun in

the past few weeks than we've had in 20 years. We have been spending so much

quality time."

 

They tease each other. "Your yard work is brutal!" he mock-complains.

She'll jab at him, "You mess with my chihuahuas, I'll take ya out!" Theirs has

been a wonderful time of reconnection lately. And however  John Muldowney might

hook on with Herbert team manager Brad Fornes and car chief Dave Fletcher or

however he might step back into drag racing, nothing can match the satisfaction

he has had just making up for lost time.

 

"I had a couple of demons, and I beat 'em. I won," he said. "It's weird how

things come full circle."

 

For Shirley Muldowney, it's simply rejuvenating.

 

"I'm happier than I've ever been in years," she said.

 

But she said she hasn't forgotten just how hard he worked to help her win

and earn that NHRA Top Fuel championship ring that's on his left hand.

 

"John did the dirty work. He never had anything handed to him. He proved to

me that he deserved the highest spot on the chart," she said. "He was a huge

part of my championship years. He can't ever be denied that his talent and

contributions to my team helped me win four championships. And I will be forever

grateful.

 

"I've always admired John's talent. He is very bright."

 

Spoken like a true mother. And with Mothers Day coming up May 13, he

already has given her the greatest gift — his love and respect.

 

Herbert said he respects them both. And he's hoping that maybe John

Muldowney might find a place somewhere among his machine shop, dynos, flow

benches, and pits on the circuit as he pursues his NHRA championship

goals.