Kitty O'Neil
Kitty O'Neil, born March 24, 1946 in Corpus Christi, Texas, is an American former stuntwoman and racer noted for a handful of exceptional accomplishments, despite becoming deaf when she was four months old. However she did not let this disability become an obstacle to achievement. She became a stunt woman at Hollywood and was married to a stunt man, Duffy Hambleton.
In 1977 in the Mojave Desert, she piloted a hydrogen peroxide powered rocket dragster built by Ky Michaelson's Space Age Racing Team with an average speed of 279.5 mph (449.8 km/h), setting an all-time record pass in the quarter mile at an incredible, never before achieved 3.72 seconds[1] at a top speed of 392.54 mph.[1][2][3]
The NHRA contends that Top Fuel dragsters hold the fastest quarter mile times in the 4.4x seconds and 330 mph (530 km/h) range as of 2005. But NHRA rules state that any run that sets a record on a drag strip must be backed up within one percent during the same meet. FIA rules on land speed records require any run to set a record must be based on the average of two runs, each way, within one hour. Because the quarter mile elapsed time was not set under these conditions, neither the NHRA nor the FIA recognize this achievement as an official record.
In 1979 her experiences served as the base for a biographical movie: Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story, starring Stockard Channing.
In drag racing, hydrogen peroxide "rocket cars" were relegated to exhibition only, and have not been allowed in the United States since the 1980s, although they continue to be run in other parts of the world.