today's Google doodle celebrates Kitty O'Niel

https://www.google.com/doodles/kitty-oneils-77th-birthday

O’Neil was born on this day in 1946 to a Cherokee Native American mother and Irish father in Corpus Christi, Texas. 

O’Neil began experimenting with high-speed sports like water skiing and motorcycle racing. A true action-lover, she also performed dangerous acts such as falling from daunting heights while set on fire and jumping from helicopters. 

In the late 70s, she made it onto the big screen as a stunt double for films and TV series including The Bionic Woman (1976), Wonder Woman (1977-1979), and The Blues Brothers (1980). .

In 1976, O’Neil was crowned “the fastest woman alive” after zooming across the Alvord Desert at 512.76 miles per hour! She drove a rocket-powered car called the Motivator and surpassed the previous women’s land-speed record by almost 200 mph. 

Once she broke the women’s record by a landslide, it became evident that she could likely beat the men’s mark too. Unfortunately, her sponsors did not allow her to break the overall record as it threatened the status quo — they wanted to reserve the feat for a male driver.