Paula Murphy, the first woman licensed to drive a Funny Car, passed away at 95. She was offered an Olds 442 by the LA and Orange County Dealers Association in 1964, prepared by Mopar legend Dick Landy. After two years in Stock eliminator, she met Jack Bynum, who would become her mentor, crew chief, and dear friend. Bynum built the chassis and 392 engine that sat beneath a Mustang Funny Car body. STP’s Andy Granatelli brought Murphy to the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1963, where she set a 161-mph women’s land-speed record in a Studebaker Avanti.

Murphy quickly became known as Miss STP, and in 1969, she bought a Don Hardy-built Barracuda, originally constructed for Larry Reyes before he signed with Leong for the 1969 season. In 1971, Murphy was invited to Talladega Superspeedway to drive the STP Dodge stock car of Freddie Lorenzen, with which she broke the NASCAR women’s closed-course record at 171.499 mph. The team got a new Duster-bodied Funny Car that not only toured the country but also went to England in 1973, along with Don Schumacher, as part of a three-weekend trip organized by Tony Nancy.

Just heard another icon has left us today RIP Paula Murphy

Murphy next wheeled Tony Fox’s hydrogen peroxide-powered Pollution Packer rocket dragster to a 258-mph pass at the Winternationals and was slated to drive Ky Michaelson’s rocket dragster in 1974. In early 1974 at Northern California’s Sears Point Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway), Murphy rocketed down the strip, but after crossing the finish line at 258 mph, the hydrogen-peroxide-fueled rocket engine would not shut down, and when she deployed both parachutes, they ripped right off of the car. She went off the end of the track at approximately 300 mph and went end over end several times on landing.

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Murphy continued competing, setting a record for an around-the-world drive, and returned to drag racing in 1976 with a B/Modified Compact Datsun and later a front-wheel-drive Z/Stock Honda Civic touring around the country before retiring from racing. She was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2017.

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