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New Delhi: On Friday, Google celebrated the 77th birth anniversary of Kitty O’Neil, once crowned as the fastest woman in the world, with a creative doodle that paid tribute to the ace race driver’s daredevil career. Kitty O’Neil once drove a car at the speed of 825 km per hour, earning her the title of “the fastest woman in the world”. The most remarkable aspect of her achievements was that she did all this despite being deaf since childhood.
Her mother was a Native American whereas her father was of Irish descent. She was born on this day in 1946 in Corpus Christi, Texas. She lost her ability to hear due to an intense fever as a child. “Kitty was a legendary American stunt performer, daredevil, and rocket-powered vehicle driver who was deaf since childhood,” Google said in a blog post.
However, she never let this become an impediment to her success. She loved speed. She first tried her hands at water skiing and motorcycle racing. Later she turned to stunts. O’Neil, the first woman to join Stunts Unlimited, an organisation for Hollywood’s top stunt performers, was crowned the ‘fastest woman alive’ in 1976 after racing across the Alvord Desert at 512.76 miles per hour.
Three years later, a biopic about O’Neil’s life called ‘Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story’ was released in 1979. The film recaps the impressive Alvord Desert feat. She once performed a dangerous act in which she was thrown from daunting heights after being set on fire. She became a famous stunt woman, appearing in TV series like The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman and The Blues Brothers.
In 1976, she won the title of the fastest woman alive after she drove at 512 miles per hour across the Alvord Desert at a speed of 512.76 miles per hour. She trumped the previous best record by almost 200 mph. A true action-lover, O’Neil found love in high-speed sports such as water skiing and motorcycle racing and started performing dangerous stunts such as falling from unnerving heights while set on fire or jumping from helicopters.
It was powered by hydrogen peroxide. It was built by Bill Fredick. The car hit a top speed of 999 km per hour and an average speed of 825 km per hour. She later said she could have done 1100 km per hour. She stopped performing stunts after her colleagues died while performing. O’Neil, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 72, entered the film and TV industry as a stunt double and appeared in many hits such as ‘The Bionic Woman’ (1976), ‘Wonder Woman’ (1977-1979), and ‘The Blues Brothers’ (1980).The name of her ca was SMI Motivator.
