Sometime during the 1950's, a teenager by the name of Shirley caught the bug to go fast in the streets of upstate New York. In 1958, this teen entered the first competition in what was to become a four-decade career. Shirley Muldowney was this teen and she is the First Lady of drag racing. Her incredible achievements started right after becoming the first woman to be licensed by the NHRA to drive a gas dragster in 1965. After success in Top Gas and Funny Car, she became the first woman to be licensed for Top Fuel in 1973, where she became the first person to ever win three NHRA Winston Top Fuel World Championships and remains the only woman to have ever done so. Along the way she has also picked up dozens upon dozens of accolades; even the U.S. House of Representatives has honored Muldowney with an achievement award in 1977. These are but a handful of Muldowney's accomplishments as she continues to set records to this day, in fact she ran her career best speed of 319.22 just last year. And as she enters the twilight of her career, her pioneering spirit continues in drag racing - even in the import drag racing arena. In 1999, forty years after Muldowney entered her first competition, Angela Proudfoot entered her first drag race and became one of the torchbearers.

After graduating from the University of Maryland in 1998, Angela decided to purchase a Honda Civic Coupe based on its affordability and performance possibilities. Soon after picking up the car, she learned to drive the manual setup (she had somebody drive it home from the dealership) and decided to visit the local drag strip at a friend's prodding. Her first run was a stock 17.3 but it was enough to give her the first taste of her new addiction - speed. Already a Human Resources manager by day, she picked up a second job to finance her need for speed. This allowed her to purchase standard bolt-on performance parts like intake, header, exhaust, and wheel upgrades. Armed with these improvements, she started attending weeknight drag strip events alone. Her times dropped into the 16's but she knew she wasn't nearly satisfied.

After attending import drag races in 1999, she saw the successful and growing trend of engine swaps. Careful research then pointed her to a (Integra GS-R) B18c1 engine, more specifically a 1998 model. 3 months of fruitless inquiries finally ended with a phone call to Inline Pro of Springfield, Va. After finding out they had an engine on hand, Angela bought it, sight unseen, and moved quickly to have it installed in August of 1999. In a bold move, she decided to have a Rev Hard T04E Turbo Kit be a part of the package at the same time the stock engine was being installed. Naturally, the major powerplant revision netted a major drop in e.t.'s - from 16 to 12 second runs, faster than you can say deprived paycheck.

Being a serious racer from the beginning and strong opponent of street tuning/racing, she became a fixture at Capitol Raceway, MD's Friday Night Test and Tune sessions to fine tune the setup. The preparation payed off at an Englishtown, NJ event in October of 1999 where her 12.6@111 mph pass quietly moved her up to the distinct status of the 'Fastest Female Import Driver on the East Coast' - a title she still holds today. Her quick success led to an invigorated campaign the following year. In 2000, joined by Chris Neidemire as Crew Chief, Angela attended 16 events, including a rained out Battle of the Imports event in California. Although she couldn't afford to make the west coast appearance again, she had first place successes at the NIRA Fall Nationals (Power 4) and Englishtown, Raceway Park's Import Survival Series 3, a Second Place performance at the Import Internationals, and not to mention half a dozen Fastest Female Driver awards from Girlie Girl Racing.

The 2000 season was a pivotal season as Angela was basing her 2001 Pro plans on her ability to get the car down to a 11.4 sec street legal time slip. The plans to change to a Pro set up were cemented as she accomplished her goal with an 11.4@124 mph best time. The rebuild had started with a basic engine compartment revision but quickly evolved into a full tear down and rebuild of the car.

A weight saving and structural reinforcement plan called for the use of lightweight fiberglass doors, hood, trunk lid, and a chromoly roll cage. Outside, an original graphics scheme was developed by Pigeonhole design and applied by Speedesign Graphics. Neidemire, who campaigned his own Prelude prior to joining the Proudfoot crew, then mapped out the plans for the new powerplant.

A custom ceramic ball bearing Turbonetics Turbo is the main power producer. Charge air is chilled by a Spearco liquid to air intercooler before it enters the Venom Manifold. Once inside the walls of the cylinders, air is quickly compressed by JE Pistons swung on Crower Rods. Fuel mixture is handled through Venom injectors and a Speedpro fuel management system. A custom Rev Hard exhaust manifold and a Turbonetics Wastegate complete the pressurized journey of air. The combination is already good for 546 HP at only 7200 RPM during initial dyno testing.

To get all the power down, a Tanabe suspension holds onto Bogart Pro 2000 wheels and Hoosier slicks while a custom traction bar provides assistance during launches. Inside, the strictly business theme continues with a Sparco Evo Seat and steering wheel taking center stage. An HKS EVC boost controller, Apex-I boost gauge, and an Autometer tachometer are featured in the custom aluminum dash.

To date, an aggressive competition schedule has limited on-track tuning sessions. This has forced Angela, Chris, and Julio, a new assistant crew chief, to tweak the Honda's setup during the qualifying sessions. Even so, they have been able to find some quick success on the track. In fact, the second time the car was on the track, Angela drove the new car into the 10's with a 10.98@125 run in June, at IDRC's Inaugural Advanced Clutch Technology Spring Nationals at Atco Raceway, NJ. Although continuing setup issues have limited her advance in elimination rounds she proved her potential with the new car by driving to a career best 10.30@132 at the very next event, the NHRA / Summit Racing's Inaugural Nitto Import Nationals at Englishtown, before rain postponed the event. With more than half the racing season still ahead, Angela and her team are confident that the competitiveness of the car will improve and a high nine-second pass will come as fine-tuning is completed.

Inevitably, many will be looking to see if Angela will challenge the current and original World's Fastest Female Import Driver, Lisa Kubo, for her title. For Angela however, although the title is attractive - the main focus of the 2001 season is to compete successfully - all gender issues aside. As any of her fellow racers will tell you, her competitive spirit has no bounds. Her drive is easy to understand when you consider she didn't even know how to drive a manual shifted car, much less a low 10 second racer, just a scant three years ago. We expect to follow her continuing success story. For more information about Angela and her team, check out her website at home.mindspring.com/~angelaproudfoot/index.html.

Angela would like to thank, first, her crewmembers, Chris Neidemire, Crew Chief and Julio Cepeda, Asst. Crew Chief. She also thanks Harv St. Mary, Edwin and the crew at Turbonetics, Inc., Rich at Bogart Racing Wheels, Steve at Offix, Eddie Lee, Chris Jules, Chris Rado, Jimmy at Venom, and John Wheelis at Pro Drive.