Voting continues on NHRA Facebook page for the Greatest Moment in NHRA History; Moment No. 9 will be announced during this Sunday night’s ESPN2 race telecast
GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 19, 2011) – After more than 40,000 votes, likes and comments, the fans of the NHRA page on Facebook have identified their choice for the 10th Greatest Moment in NHRA History: Shirley Muldowney’s landmark first win by a female in a Top Fuel dragster.
The historic victory that occurred on June 13, 1976 at the NHRA Springnationals at Columbus, Ohio was not only the first win by a woman in NHRA’s quickest and fastest class, but it was also the first win by a woman in any NHRA Full Throttle Series category.
With Moment No. 10 having now been identified, that leaves nine Moments (see complete list below) still in contention to be the Greatest Moment in NHRA history. Voting has resumed today, via the “Vote 4 Greatest Moment” tab on the NHRA Facebook page, and it will continue through Nov. 9 at 11:59 p.m. ET, at which point the ‘polls’ will close and the final votes will be tallied ahead of the official announcement of the Greatest Moment in NHRA history, Sunday, Nov. 13, during pre-race on the final Sunday of NHRA’s 60th anniversary season.
In the meantime, moments 6-9 will be identified individually and announced during the ESPN2 race telecasts of the next four races in the 2011 NHRA Countdown to the Championship, beginning with the unveiling of NHRA Greatest Moment No. 9 on Sunday, Sept. 25 during the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, 7-10 pm ET on ESPN2 (Moment No. 8 will be unveiled during the Uni-Select Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals Oct. 2, Moment No. 7 during the NHRA Arizona Nationals on Oct. 16, and Moment No. 6 at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals on Oct. 30).
At the conclusion of the NHRA Nevada Nationals, Oct. 30, the original list of 60 Greatest Moments will have been pared down to the Top 5 Greatest Moments in NHRA history and fans will have the chance to submit one final vote for their favorite moment before the final vote will be counted on Nov. 9.
The quest for NHRA’s Greatest Moment has been one of a number of programs NHRA created during this historic 60th anniversary season to celebrate the sport’s rich tradition.
It began with the announcement in January 2011 of the 60 Greatest Moments in NHRA history, as selected by a panel of drag racing experts. From there, it was turned over the fans who responded in huge numbers during the first two stages of the program – more than 7.5 million impressions and more than 31,000 fan interactions – to trim the original list of 60 Greatest Moments to the Top 20 Greatest Moments (on Aug. 22) and the Top 10 Greatest Moments (Sept. 5).
As difficult as that must have been for NHRA fans – narrowing the original list of 60 Greatest Moments down to just 10 – consider the challenge that lies ahead for fans in selecting the single Moment that they believe is the greatest moment in NHRA History. How do you pick just one of these 10 remaining Greatest Moments in NHRA History?
Here are the Top 10 Greatest Moments (with top nine in chronological order):
- Founding of NHRA (1951)
- Don Garlits makes NHRA's First 200-mph Run (1964)
- Don Garlits debuts the rear-engine dragster — and wins (Pomona, 1971)
- Shirley Muldowney is NHRA's First Female World Champ (1977)
- Kenny Bernstein makes NHRA's first 300-mph Run (1992)
- John Force is first to win 100 career races (2002)
- Tony Schumacher's "The Run" (2006)
- Ashley Force Hood is first Female Funny Car Winner (2008)
- John Force Completes Comeback, Wins 15th Championship (2010)
- No. 10: Shirley Muldowney is first Women to Win in Top Fuel (1976)
To participate, fans can go to NHRA’s Facebook page, easy to find at Facebook.com/NHRA, and click on the “Vote 4 Greatest Moment” tab. Once there, fans will be instructed to select just one (1) of the 10 Moments and click ‘Submit’ (after submitting their vote, fans will have the chance to enter to win one VIP package or one of five pairs of full-event tickets to the 2012 event of their choice).
Fans can visit the 60 Greatest Moments Web page for complete program details as well as to view historical photos and videos that retrace every step in NHRA rich and storied history. The page also includes links to view a preview of / purchase NHRA’s “60 Greatest Moments” DVD.
