Marian Pagan, often known as “Mopsy” was one of the first female drivers to try her hand in NASCAR.
Residing in California, she was the first woman from outside NASCAR’s Southern heartlands to try her hand at one of its top-level events.
She only made one Cup start in 1954, finishing 18th out of 33 in the Oakland Grand National race in a Plymouth run by her husband Eddie. He also took part in the race. Some of her male rivals protested her entry, but responses from the media and the public were largely positive.
“Mopsy” had relatively little experience in motorsport, but she had been quite successful in horse-drawn buggy races and was a member of the Cheesecake Racing Association, a twelve-woman racing league that competed widely. Their main haunt was Culver City but they also made several appearances at Gardena, at least one of which featured Mopsy.
In a 1955 newspaper interview, Eddie Pagan claimed that Marian had got into motor racing through him and that she first competed in 1951 after seeing her first “powderpuff derby” ladies’ race. Further details of her pre-Oakland career have proved tricky to find; full results for powderpuff derby races were rarely published.
In 1957, she was one of nine women who competed in the Mobilgas Economy Run for the Ford team. This was not a race but a cross-country trial with the aim of covering the greatest distance on the least fuel. She was tenth in the “Low Price” class, driving a Ford Fairlane. This appears to be the last time she entered a large-scale motoring event.
Away from the track, Marian worked in the aircraft industry.
(Image copyright Oakland Tribune)
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