Google Doodle celebrates the unflinching spirit of deaf daredevil Kitty O’Neil
2 min read 24 Mar 2023, 10:00 AM ISTGoogle celebrates the birth anniversary of deaf daredevil, Kitty O’Neil, who is also known as the ‘world’s fastest woman'. She never let her disability limit herself and became America's iconic stunt performer, skydiver, and rocket powered vehicle driver
PremiumToday's Doodle remembers the unflinching spirit of a daredevil woman who defied all odds, even her disability, to become the world's fastest woman and a leading stunt performer in America. Born on 24 March, 1946, Kitty O’Neil was deaf since childhood, but turned out to become a legendary stunt performer, daredevil, and rocket powered vehicle driver.
She was born 77 years ago to a Cherokee Native American mother and Irish father in Corpus Christi, Texas. Few months after her birth, Kitty O'Neil suffered from multiple diseases which led to an intense fever. Ultimately she lost her ability to hear due to high fever. However, she learned various communication modes and adapted for different audiences throughout her life.
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With her grit and determination to do something in life, she never saw her inability as her limitation and often referred it as an asset. Later, she learned various communication modes and adapted for different audiences throughout her life. Her dream of diving broke when she injured her wrist and got ill. However, she pursued her love for adventure and action in the form of high-speed sports and stunt performance.
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O'Neil began experimenting with sports like water skiing and motorcycle racing. She also performed dangerous acting stunts like falling from daunting heights while set on fire and jumping from helicopters.
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In the late 70s she proved herself to be a real-life Wonder Woman, while performing challenging stunts in the movie Wonder Woman (1977-79). She was also the stunt double for films like The Blues Brothers (1980). Her commendable work made her the first woman to join Stunts Unlimited, an organization for Hollywood’s top stunt performers.
Highlighting the struggles and achievements of her life, her biopic titled Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story was released in 1979 and also recaps the impressive Alvord Desert feat.
The fastest woman alive
In 1976, O'Neil zoomed across the Alvord Desert at 512.76 miles per hour, after which she was named as ‘the fastest woman alive’. She drove a rocket-powered car called the Motivator and surpassed the previous record by 200 mph.
Her ability to break the record by a landslide mark made her capable of even breaking men driver's mar. However, her sponsors didn't allow her to break the overall record as they wanted to reserve the feat for a male driver. O'Neil didn't settle with the stance of sponsors and even fought the legal battle to break the overall record. However, she failed and couldn't get the opportunity to break the overall record. But, she went ahead and broke records of piloting jet-powered boats and rocket dragsters.
