This Day

December 6, 1976 – Kitty O’Neil sets a land speed record

Kitty O’Neil

On this day in 1976, daredevil Kitty O’Neil successfully set the women’s land speed record in Alvord Desert in Oregon. The run came after Kitty met Bill Fredrick, a stunt technology maker, when she was a stuntwoman herself. Fredrick built the SMI Motivator, and recruited Kitty to pilot it. She accepted the challenge and set out to conquer the existing women’s land speed record of 308.506 mph (496.492 km/h). It had been set in 1965 by Lee Breedlove in the Spirit of America – Sonic 1. 


SMI Motivator

Kitty landed a $20,000 contract to drive the vehicle, under the stipulation that she could not pursue the broader (men’s) land speed record of 630.478 mph (1014.656 km/h). Stuntman Hal Needham chased that record in the same car. She agreed to the terms and put the pedal to the metal. When the dust settled she had smashed the women’s record with an official speed of 512.710 mph (825.127 km/h).


Brian Corey

Recent Posts

April 24, 1957 – Origins of the Nissan Skyline

Prince Skyline. By I, 天然ガス, CC BY-SA 3.0 When it comes to JDM cars, one…

1 day ago

April 23, 1947 – The 1,000,000th Packard is built

1947 Packard Super Custom (Not the actual 1,000,000th Packard. By Rex Gray- fvr2, CC BY…

2 days ago

April 22, 1996 – Mercedes SLK class debuts at Turin

Since its inception, the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class (R170) has epitomized the essence of a compact luxury…

3 days ago

April 21, 1983 – C4 Corvette is introduced

The C4 Chevrolet Corvette, which debuted nationally on this day in 1983, marked a significant…

4 days ago

April 16, 2014: Mazda Honors a Quarter-Century of Driving Joy with the 25th Anniversary MX-5 Miata

By Alexander-93 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132180377 On April 16, 2014, the vibrant…

1 week ago

April 15, 1964 – Who bought the first Mustang?

On this day in 1964, two days before the official Ford Mustang on-sale date, one…

1 week ago