Kitty O'Neil facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kitty O'Neil
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O'Neil and the SMI Motivator, Oregon 1976
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| Born | March 24, 1946 Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | November 2, 2018 (aged 72) Eureka, South Dakota, U.S.
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| Occupation | Stuntwoman, race car driver |
| Children | 2 |
Kitty Linn O'Neil (born March 24, 1946 – died November 2, 2018) was an amazing American stuntwoman and racer. People called her "the fastest woman in the world"! When she was a baby, an illness made her deaf. Later, other health problems stopped her from driving cars professionally for a while.
Kitty's exciting career as a stuntwoman and race car driver led to her being featured in a TV movie. She even had her own action figure! Her amazing women's land speed record stood for a very long time, until 2019.
Contents
Early Life and Challenges
Kitty Linn O'Neil was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 24, 1946. Her father, John O'Neil, was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Forces and also explored for oil. He sadly died in a plane crash when Kitty was young. Her mother, Patsy Compton O'Neil, was from the Cherokee people.
When Kitty was just five months old, she became very sick with childhood diseases. This caused her to lose her hearing. When her deafness was noticed at age two, her mother taught her how to read lips and how to speak. Kitty's mother later became a speech therapist and helped start a school for students who couldn't hear well in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Becoming a Champion Diver
As a teenager, Kitty became a fantastic competitive diver. She was great at both 10-meter platform diving and 3-meter springboard diving. She won many diving championships from the Amateur Athletic Union.
Kitty started training in 1962 with a famous diving coach named Sammy Lee. Before the tryouts for the 1964 Olympics, she broke her wrist. Then, she got spinal meningitis, a serious illness that made it hard for her to walk. This meant she couldn't try out for the Olympic diving team.
New Adventures After Diving
Even though she couldn't dive in the Olympics, Kitty didn't give up on sports. She competed in swimming at the 1965 Summer Deaflympics. After getting better from meningitis, she found new interests. She started water skiing, scuba diving, skydiving, and hang gliding. She once said that diving "wasn't scary enough for me"! In her late 20s, she also had to get treatment for cancer twice.
Racing and Stunt Career
By 1970, Kitty O'Neil was racing on both water and land. She took part in tough races like the Baja 500 and the Mint 400. While racing motorcycles, she met famous stuntmen Hal Needham and Ron Hambleton. She lived with Hambleton for a while and stopped racing for a bit.
In the mid-1970s, Kitty started working as a stuntwoman. She trained with Needham, Hambleton, and Dar Robinson. In 1976, she made history by becoming the first woman to join Stunts Unlimited, which was the top stunt agency at the time.
Famous Stunts and Action Figures
As a stuntwoman, Kitty appeared in many popular TV shows and movies. These included The Bionic Woman, Airport '77, The Blues Brothers, and Smokey and the Bandit II. Her exciting stunt career even inspired a Kitty O'Neil action figure made by Mattel in 1978!
In 1979, Kitty performed a very difficult stunt for an episode of Wonder Woman. She was hired to do a high fall for Lynda Carter's usual stunt double, Jeannie Epper. Kitty set a new women's high-fall record by jumping 127 feet (39 m) (about 12 stories high) from a hotel in California. She said her small size, at 5 feet 2 inches and 97 pounds (44 kg), helped her handle the impact. Later, she broke her own record with an even higher fall of 180-foot (55 m) from a helicopter!
Kitty also set speed records on water. In 1977, she reached 275 miles per hour (443 km/h) on water. She also held a water skiing record from 1970, going 104.85 miles per hour (168.74 km/h).
Setting the Land Speed Record
On December 6, 1976, in the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon, Kitty O'Neil set an amazing land-speed record for female drivers. She drove a special three-wheeled rocket car called the "SMI Motivator." This car used hydrogen peroxide for power and cost a lot of money.
Kitty reached an average speed of 512.710 mph (825.127 km/h). Her fastest speed was an incredible 621 miles per hour (999 km/h)! She only used about 60% of the car's power during her runs. Kitty believed she could have gone even faster, possibly over 700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h), if she had used full power.
A Record Attempt Stopped
Kitty had a contract that limited her. She was only supposed to break the women's land speed record. Her contract also said that Hal Needham was supposed to set the overall land speed record. Needham's sponsor, a toy company, was planning to make a Hal Needham action figure. They got a court order to stop Kitty from making any more runs.
A spokesperson was incorrectly reported to say it was "unbecoming and degrading for a woman to set a land speed record." Hal Needham never actually set a record or even drove the car. Kitty and Ron Hambleton tried to fight the decision in court so Kitty could try again, but they were not successful. The sponsors received some negative attention for stopping Kitty, and the Needham action figures were never sold.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1977, in the Mojave Desert, Kitty O'Neil drove another powerful car. It was a hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket dragster built by Ky Michaelson. She reached an average speed of 279.5 mph (449.8 km/h). However, this run wasn't repeated as required by NHRA rules, so it's not an official drag racing record.
In 1979, Kitty's life story became a biographical movie called Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story. The actress Stockard Channing played Kitty. Kitty said that about half of the movie showed what really happened.
Kitty stopped doing stunt and speed work in 1982. This was after some of her stunt friends were sadly killed while performing. She moved to Minneapolis and later to Eureka, South Dakota, with Raymond Wald. When she retired, Kitty O'Neil had set an amazing 22 speed records on both land and water!
Kitty O'Neil passed away on November 2, 2018, from pneumonia in Eureka, South Dakota. She was 72 years old. In 2019, she was honored with the Oscars in Memoriam award, recognizing her incredible contributions.
Images for kids
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O'Neil and the SMI Motivator, Oregon 1976
See also
In Spanish: Kitty O'Neil para niños
