Stuntwoman and Daredevil. She was best known for her record-setting driving of a hydrogen peroxide-fueled, three-wheeled machine over a 5/8th-mile straightaway in the Alvord Desert in Oregon in 1976. At the age of four months, she contracted measles and smallpox and lost her hearing. She later took up the sport of diving and in 1962, moved to California to train with two-time Olympic gold medalist Sammy Lee. Her hopes of competing in the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo were derailed when she broke her wrist and then contracted spinal meningitis, which threatened to paralyze her. In the 1970s, she joined Hal Needham's racing team and was trained to be a stuntwoman by him. She later became the first female to join Stunts Unlimited, an elite group of performers co-founded by Needham. She went on to do stunt work in such films as "Airport 1975," (1974) "Two-Minute Warning," (1976) "The Blues Brothers," (1980) and "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980). She also did stunt work on such television series as "The Bionic Woman" and "Wonder Woman." On Dec. 6, 1976, she shattered the land-speed record for female drivers, posting an average speed of 512.71 mph while piloting a hydrogen peroxide-fueled, three-wheeled machine over a 5/8th-mile straightaway in the Alvord Desert in Oregon. She also set the women's water-skiing record of 104.85 mph and once drove a boat 275 mph. She retired in 1982 with nearly two dozen speed records on land and water. During her career, she had her own Barbie doll and Stockard Channing portrayed her in a 1979 CBS telefilm, "Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story." She passed away of pneumonia after earlier suffering a heart attack.
Stuntwoman and Daredevil. She was best known for her record-setting driving of a hydrogen peroxide-fueled, three-wheeled machine over a 5/8th-mile straightaway in the Alvord Desert in Oregon in 1976. At the age of four months, she contracted measles and smallpox and lost her hearing. She later took up the sport of diving and in 1962, moved to California to train with two-time Olympic gold medalist Sammy Lee. Her hopes of competing in the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo were derailed when she broke her wrist and then contracted spinal meningitis, which threatened to paralyze her. In the 1970s, she joined Hal Needham's racing team and was trained to be a stuntwoman by him. She later became the first female to join Stunts Unlimited, an elite group of performers co-founded by Needham. She went on to do stunt work in such films as "Airport 1975," (1974) "Two-Minute Warning," (1976) "The Blues Brothers," (1980) and "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980). She also did stunt work on such television series as "The Bionic Woman" and "Wonder Woman." On Dec. 6, 1976, she shattered the land-speed record for female drivers, posting an average speed of 512.71 mph while piloting a hydrogen peroxide-fueled, three-wheeled machine over a 5/8th-mile straightaway in the Alvord Desert in Oregon. She also set the women's water-skiing record of 104.85 mph and once drove a boat 275 mph. She retired in 1982 with nearly two dozen speed records on land and water. During her career, she had her own Barbie doll and Stockard Channing portrayed her in a 1979 CBS telefilm, "Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story." She passed away of pneumonia after earlier suffering a heart attack.
Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
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