“MISS MIGHTY MOPAR” – JUDY LILLY
3 years ago Gallery Racing
1942 – 2022
“Pert and Petite” is how the media described Judy Lilly back in the sixties when she had first begun drag racing. She was one of the first female drivers to make an impact on the then all-male drag racing world. As a 19-year-old from Littleton, Colorado, she started in the 1/4-mile straight-line sport with a stick-shift D/Sport 1961 Fuel Injected Corvette, and local success was instant.
Judy, then a hairdresser by trade, was married to Lou Lilly and was drawn to drag racing “because I love to compete, I love the feeling of speed and power,” she stated. And driving, expertly handling that 4-speed manual transmission, was her key to success from the very get-go.
“My husband was the first to drive our Corvette, and he would always ‘straight shift’ [lift the gas between shifts]. There was another racer at our local track who would ‘power shift’ the car and do it so good it sounded like an automatic,” she said. “I told him he should shift that way, and he told me if I thought I could do better, I should get in the car. So, of course, I did.”
It was in 1966 when Judy was approached to give up that Corvette and drive a Mopar® vehicle, and a very special Mopar vehicle at that, a 1967 Street HEMI® Belvedere I Sedan with 4-speed manual transmission.
“I was at the NHRA World Finals, then held in Amarillo, Texas, when I was asked about running a car from Chrysler.” Judy was deep into the mechanicals of her Corvette that day, covered in grease and working under it on the rear end, changing the ring and pinion to a different ratio. She had taken the car down there alone as her husband couldn’t get off of work. “I knew we had to change the rear end,” she remembered. “But I went anyway. I was out in the parking lot, I had grease all over me.” That was the moment when a gentleman came up to her, observed what she was doing, and said, “We can use someone like you on our team.”
It turned out it was Dale Reeker from Chrysler Racing. Soon after, he provided Judy and her then-husband Dennis Maurer with a brand-new 1967 Plymouth, made specifically for drag racing, no sound-deadner, no undercoating, no heater. Nothing that wasn’t needed for straight-line competition. A HEMI engine and A-833 4-speed gearbox, Dana 60 rear end, front disc brakes. That was Judy’s first Mopar vehicle!
Part of the deal was that she needed a dealer in her area to help sponsor her. After hearing no, no and no, there was finally a Denver Plymouth dealer named “Pappy Fry” that agreed to support Judy and her potent HEMI engine-powered sedan. She ran that car for the 1967 season, winning “Super Stock Eliminator” at the Denver High Altitude Nationals.
For 1968, when the factory had Hurst Performance assemble the now legendary A-Body HEMI engine-powered drag cars, Judy and her husband, who served as the engine builder and crew chief, were given one. She continued to win locally with the car, and in 1969, she traveled to Canada where she won the Super Stock Eliminator at the Canadian Nationals. During this time frame, the car was painted a shade of blue lacquer that faded into a very light blue, with a finish that almost looked like a fish. Boldly, her name appeared in a signature-style font on the doors. And being a factory driver, it always had “P-L-Y-M-O-U-T-H” lettering in large on the sides.
It was in 1971 when she made her first finals in NHRA Super Stock competition, going to the runner-up spot at that year’s Springnationals. The big splash came at the 1972 NHRA Winternationals, where her car, now painted with a huge lilly flower along the side, was the winner in Super Stock. Judy had officially hit the big time!
In 1973, she was runner-up at the Winternationals, and went on to win at the NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio. In 1975, now in a Duster, she won the Gatornationals and the Fallnationals, and was runner-up at Indy. Also that year, she won the independent race, the Popular Hot Rodding Magazine Championships. She was so popular that she was voted by the readers of Car Craft Magazine to be “Driver of the Year” for the Super Stock category for 1972, 1976 and 1977.
She was always a popular and favorite subject for the writers in the sports pages of national newspapers when the NHRA events were taking place in their area. An example came at the 1975 running of the Fallnationals, in Seattle, Washington. She was photographed in the Seattle Times standing with her Duster Super Stocker, with this headline: “Judy Lilly is pre-destined to be good at something. She’s good at drag racing.” The article quotes Judy with the following: “I like the thrill of competing. There is a satisfaction within myself when I know I’ve run a race without a flaw. I like to feel within myself that I did as perfectly as I possibly could.”
And at that time frame in her career, 1975, she won three of five races in the West Central Division (Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Manitoba, Canada) to take a division championship for her third time.
Her last Super Stocker was a Plymouth Volaré equipped with a 360-cid small block and automatic transmission. It was a far cry from the previous HEMI engine-powered cars that she had run; however, at that time, the focus from the factory was to race what was on the showroom floor.
Judy did hang up her helmet in the end of the 1978 racing season, she had obviously accomplished a lot and it was time to spend more time at home and with family.
Fast forward to the staging lanes of the 1984 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California, there was a surprising sight: Judy Lilly sitting in a Dodge Omni Charger Pro Stocker! While her 8.01 run didn’t qualify, she was had no trouble adapting to the Lenco racing transmission and eventually running in the high 7-second range.
But they needed a sponsor to make it a first-class operation, and because that didn’t happen, she chose to get out of drag racing, this time for good. She made this comment about her time in a Pro Stocker, that it was quite the ride: “Coming off the line is like being shot out of a cannon and trying to hang onto the cannonball with my fingertips. It’s a fantastic feeling!”
To anyone who ever saw Judy run her cars, and I was fortunate to see her at Divisional and National Events competing, the lady always ran very strong, did impressive burnouts, left hard and straight and true down the quarter-mile. She knew how to cut a great light and handle a racecar. And how to win in Super Stock competition.
After her drag racing career, she got into running barrel horses in the late 1980s and participating at local rodeos. “You can say that I traded one kind of horsepower for another,” she said in a 1994 interview. And in that same interview, she did say that her permanent retirement from racing was difficult. She had tried bowling, camping and other things, “but I got bored a lot. It was hard to adjust.”
Because of her Colorado location, she did regularly visit the NHRA Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals, as well as attend the Mopar Block Parties in Golden. “When I joined Chrysler and the Mopar Direct Connection teams, I was truly part of a family,” she had said when John Bandimere, Jr., presented her an engraved medallion when she was entered into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
During her last time running a car on the Bandimere drag strip, inside the “Mopar Liquid Metal” Dodge Drag Pak car in 2008, the car was done up in her familiar white and blue colors, with her name painted on the sides. It truly was an impressive performance in a car she had never even driven before. Behind the wheel, doing a massive, powerful burnout and then staging, leaving on “Big Daddy” Don Garlits in a major fashion on the fun exhibition display run for the new HEMI drag package cars.
“It was a high point for me,” she said afterwards. “It was nice to know they hadn’t forgotten me.”
It was Top Fuel racer Krista Baldwin who was able to spend some time talking with Judy Lilly at the NHRA Mile-Highs in 2021, in reference to the Hemmings Auction of her former 1967 Belvedere drag car, plus asking her all about her career. Marriage, family, children Nancy and Philip, driving, it all was covered! Included in Krista’s Q & A session was this:
(KB): “Looking back at your career, what is the one thing that you are most proud of?”
(JL): “To find something that I was good at. And I was able to capitalize on the fact that I did something with it. So many different people, overly intelligent and overly talented individuals, do nothing with it. And I thought that the Dear Lord gave me some talent and I was able to do something with it.”
Services took place for Judy Lilly-Gunson in Brighton, Colorado, on the morning of September 9, 2022. She passed away August 9 at the age of 80 after a remarkable life.
Author: James Maxwell
With this car, a ’61 Corvette, Judy Lilly won class at the NHRA Winternationals in 1965, 1966; and again in ’66 at the Indy US Nationals. She started racing it in 1961. 
Always a “Kodak Moment” when Judy was around, this shot with her HEMI engine-powered Barracuda when the NHRA still classified the BO29 Package Cars with TorqueFlite as “SS/BA.” 
One question only the male racers of the era could answer, did her petite size and pretty looks play a part in having a psychological advantage when the Christmas Tree lights were activated? 
1972 NHRA Pomona Winternationals: Champion! She had to beat the DeFrank & Cohen L023 HEMI engine-powered Dart in the SS/AA class final, then took her high-horsepower car six rounds along the way to becoming the “Super Stock Eliminator” on that memorable day in Southern California, and all “come from behind” wins. 
Surrounded by Linda Vaughn and June Cochran at the trophy ceremony, what a special day and Judy earned it each and every round. 
Here in a late 1960s drag strip capture, she’s looking the part of a fashion model all the while most likely talking about camshaft specs and rear gear ratios! The 100-pound, 5-foot-tall mother of two had a one-of-a-kind look and style. 
“The colorful portrait of pretty Judy Lilly, of Denver, doesn’t hang in any museum. Look closely you’ll see it’s on the hood of this movin’ drag racer and is the unusual trademark of Miss Mighty Mopar,” as printed on the inside jacket of her 1973 press kit. 
Some rare shots of her at the SEMA Show back in the day! 
Chrysler did a high-quality media presentation for her when she was marketed as “Miss Mighty Mopar” with a colorful press folder. Today a true collector’s item! 
Hard launch at Pomona, Milodon deep oil pan visible. “When you leave the starting line in a good running car,” she had said about that HEMI engine-powered Barracuda, “it’s more fun than the first hill on a roller-coaster ride!” 
During this era, she was able to run all the contingency decals on the side glass and rear window, leaving the sheet metal all to the factory sponsors – “Plymouth” and “Mopar Parts”. 
During this era, she was able to run all the contingency decals on the side glass and rear window, leaving the sheet metal all to the factory sponsors – “Plymouth” and “Mopar Parts”. 
A close eye will spot a set of Motor Wheel magnesium race wheels, “Flys” on the front, “Spyder” models on the rear. Cragar Super Tricks and Keystone Klassics were also on the car at different times, and it was typically Firestone Drag 500 tires. 
For the factory racing press photographer, the easiest job of the year as getting a nice, glamorous shot of this drag racer. 
Her immaculately prepared HEMI engine-powered Barracuda in the top “A” class of Super Stock, a fully race-modified automatic was the chosen transmission for her and the vast majority of factory-backed racers with those Hurst Package cars. 
“Meet Drag-Racings Dark-Haired Beauty from Colorado, JUDY LILLY!” Artist Cliff Wirth did a fun character drawing of her and her car as part of the original press materials. 
Also part of the press folder was the general specifications of her Barracuda, some general details included; however, nothing too detailed as to give a glimpse of speed secrets. 5.12 gears and STX-22 racing camshaft did get listed nonetheless. 
When there was the “56” numbers on the door glass, it meant that Judy had conquered the top Super Stock points in her NHRA Division 5. 
These were the “hero card” handouts Judy gave away when she participated in Mopar events at the Bandimere track, having one today signed by here is a true prized possession for Mopar aficionados! 
Classy lady first and foremost, champion driver and highly photogenic, what a marketing gem for Mopar and all her sponsors. There will never be another “Miss Mighty Mopar.” 
Judy and her tennis dress was a periodic sight at that races, depending on the weather, and what a uniform: classy and unforgettable. 
The Duster was a 1974 model, 360-cid with Carter Thermo-Quad 4-barrel. factory rating of 245 hp, re-factored to 270 hp by the NHRA. The car was eventually re-factored to 280, then 290 hp by the rules makers and it ran in SS/MA, SS/LA and SS/KA during its time on the drag strip. 
Wally Parks, the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, shown congratulating Judy in her 1975 Gatornationals Super Stock Eliminator win, where she beat Bernie Agaman’s 454 Corvette in the final round. 
Paul Forte at Turbo Action provided numerous Mopar racers that ran automatics special manual valve bodies and higher-stall torque converters…and the company always liked to acknowledge their winners! Here they are promoting Judy and her list of 1975 NHRA wins. 
Hot Rod Magazine ran this ad from Echlin Automotive Controls Corp, promoting the line of “Deccel” brake components, as used on the Judy Lilly 1977 Super Stock Volaré. 
A wheels-up launch at the 1977 NHRA Springnationals in her SS/LA Volaré “M-Body” car. She ran this car through the end of the 1978 season. 
In 1982, Colorado businessman Mike Musso convinced Judy to drive a Dodge Omni Charger Pro Stocker, and it made the Summer of 1984 cover of Chrysler Power Magazine. 
With a loud and appreciative welcome from the crowd, Judy Lilly was invited to, along with Don Garlits, unveil the new 2008 Dodge Package Car Program at the 2008 Mile-High Mopar Parts Nationals. With modern HEMI engine power, she did her burnout and launched the car, showing everyone she had forgotten nothing! 
Always a favorite to be interviewed, here she is at an autograph session with the fully restored Volaré drag car. 
Over the course of her career, she was highly respected as a serious competitor, as well as a drag racing personality. 1998 saw her inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame; then in 2005, she was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame. And back in the day, she traveled to New York and appeared on the hit TV program “What’s My Line.” 
Judy made the move to a Plymouth for the 1967 racing season and it was a specially built RL21 2-door sedan with a 426 HEMI engine and a 4-speed! Bare-bones Belvedere I model and lightweight purpose-built racer. It came in Daffodil Yellow hue and Dark Copper racing stripes were added. 
Judy made the move to a Plymouth for the 1967 racing season and it was a specially built RL21 2-door sedan with a 426 HEMI engine and a 4-speed! Bare-bones Belvedere I model and lightweight purpose-built racer. It came in Daffodil Yellow hue and Dark Copper racing stripes were added. 
Judy made the move to a Plymouth for the 1967 racing season and it was a specially built RL21 2-door sedan with a 426 HEMI engine and a 4-speed! Bare-bones Belvedere I model and lightweight purpose-built racer. It came in Daffodil Yellow hue and Dark Copper racing stripes were added. 
The ’74 Duster was done up as a 1/8th scale model by Ertl in 2004 and today these remain favorites with collectors. Opening doors, lift-off hood, accurate markings with colorful graphics. 
With sponsorship from Denver, CO, Plymouth dealers, this is one of the numerous custom paint schemes she had prior to the Miss Mighty Mopar sponsorship. It’s running her then-trademark Keystone Klassic steel wheels. On the rear ,it says: “And On The 7th Day God Created The Hemi.” 
With sponsorship from Denver, CO, Plymouth dealers, this is one of the numerous custom paint schemes she had prior to the Miss Mighty Mopar sponsorship. It’s running her then-trademark Keystone Klassic steel wheels. On the rear, it says: “And On The 7th Day God Created The Hemi.” 
Recently, Desktop Musclecars has released vinyl banners of the flower-bedecked Barracuda complete with “Keith Black Racing Engines” markings, of which she was associated with in regards to the HEMI engine internals. www.desktopmusclecars.com
