Fastest Woman on Wheels

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Fastest Woman on Wheels is written by Erik Arneson and published by . It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1642341452 (ISBN 10) and 9781642341454 (ISBN 13).

In the winter of 1964, Paula Murphy climbed into Walt Arfons's homemade jet car, Avenger, on the famed Bonneville Salt Flats. Seeing the car for the first time when she arrived at the salt, Murphy needed pillows added to the cockpit to be able to reach the pedals. Following a short test run on a surface soaked by rain, snow, and hail just the night before, Murphy's initial run ended in a fish tail on the puddled surface. After completing the return run, she had earned the title "The Fastest Woman on Wheels," with a two-way average speed of 226.37 mph. Choreographed in part by Studebaker/STP giant Andy Granatelli, the successful stunt lead to a wide variety of racing headlines for Murphy, including being the first woman to make laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first woman awarded an NHRA Funny Car license, and the opportunity to "drive around the world" to celebrate America's Bicentennial. Making laps at Talladega Superspeedway in NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen's STP Dodge in the early '70s, Murphy set a women's closed-course record (171.499 mph) that stood for years. From club racing to Bonneville to the Mobil Economy Run to NHRA drag racing, if it had four wheels and a motor, Murphy drove it and gave the racing world one helluva ride along the way . . . all the way to the Motorsports Hall of Fame.