Paula Murphy
The first woman license to drive a supercharged fuel car was a seasoned motorsports veteran by the time she received her UDRA and NHRA Funny Car licenses. Under the guidance of Andy Granatelli, sport car racer Paula Murphy turned pro in 1963. She promptly set a women speed record at Bonneville, averaging 161 mph in an Avanti, and turned practice labs at Indy in the STP Novi. In 1964, she returned to Bonneville to boost her women’s land speed record to 236.37 mph with Walt Arfon’s jet car. Murphy went drag racing in 1965, rapidly advancing from stockers to gas and fuel dragsters. In 1966 she campaigned a fuel-burning funny car nationwide as “Miss STP” and received a UDRA license. NHRA followed suit, only to revoke the privileges of all four of its female pros midway through Murphy’s lucrative 1967 tour. NHRA would reconsider under pressure from STP and reinstated the women’s licenses. Paula went on to break the 200 mph barrier and win the Olympics of Drag Racing. She remained a red-hot funny car attraction through the end of 1972, when a rocket powered ride at Bonneville prompted a switch to rocket dragsters. However, her first full pass ended in disaster after the engine failed to shut off, excelling Murphy off the end of the Sears Point Raceway at 300 plus mph. This incident prematurely ended one of the sport’s most promising careers.