IHRA: Muldowney's diagnosis reversed after surgery

Three-time NHRA Top Fuel legend Shirley Muldowney is home from the hospital after getting some very good news.

Diagnosed with what was believed to be Stage 2 lung cancer and told she would need her right lung remove, her agent, Rob Geiger, announced Friday that the tumor was not cancerous.

While Muldowney did have a tumor, it was benign, albeit severely infected, ESPN reported. But instead of having the entire lung removed, doctors only needed to remove part of it. She is recovering at home.

"I urge everyone to keep up with their health and get chest x-rays as often as possible to make sure they are okay," the 75-year-old Muldowney said prior to her surgery. "I'm a fighter, always have been, and I'm going to fight this as best I can with everything I got. [Thoracic and cardiac surgeon Dr. Harold
Howe] is the No. 1 guy in the business and he's as ready as I am to get this thing out of me.

"I'm ready for the pain to stop. It's been getting worse the last few weeks as they did biopsies and the pre-op stress tests to make sure I was strong enough to have the surgery. Everything is good, so we're getting it done.

It didn't count in the record books since it was a match race, but in March of 1997 Muldowney, runner-up to Doug Herbert in 1996's IHRA Snap-on Series, set what was then the official IHRA Top Fuel miles per hour performance world record of 294.98 mph.

Earlier this year, Muldowney created Shirley's Kids, a charity that helps children in need in cities in which drag racing is part of the community. So far this year, the charity says four children have been given cash donations at races in Gainesville, Charlotte, Houston and Atlanta.