Debbie Lawler came in to the world in Oregon in 1952. Her father, a veteran racer and clearly a excellent dad, bought Debbie a motorcycle for her 10th birthday.
Lawler started racing when she was 14. “Motorcross, flat track, hill climb – we did anything on a bike. My dad was always fighting for me and my sisters to race against the men.”
Aged 19, she was recruited by a motorcycle stunt troop and started jumping ar fairs and speedways in 1972. "Jumping through the air on a motorcycle gives you the most incredible feeling. It’s euphoric.”
Debbie made her mark on the world of motorcycle jumping when she became first, and only, woman to beat one of Evel Knievel’s jump records.
“I can spit further than she can jump," as Evel’s answer to Debbie, who launched her Suzuki TM250 over 16 Chevy pickups in the Houston Astrodome on 3rd February 1974.
Lawler’s 101-foot (just over 30 metres) leap was further than any other rider had achieved indoors, Knievel included.
In the wake of her record jump, she made appearances on television and in magazines. At 21, she became the first female athlete to have her own action figure.
Lawler was a graceful stunt jumper and a better technical rider than Knievel, often launching in a perfect arc and arriving squarely on the painted pink heart that decorated her landing ramp. Her airborne accuracy and grace were largely a product of time invested in practice. “I know Evel says he didn’t practice. Well, I did. I practiced because I didn’t want to crash. He had so many crashes. If I crashed, I’d be toast.”
That day came on on 4th March 1975, when Lawler was attempting a jump over 15 Datsuns at California’s Ontario Motor Speedway. As she launched, a tail wind pushed her beyond the landing ramp. Calm and collected mid-crash, Lawler put distance between her 100-pound body and her 220-pound bike. She rolled away from the bike. “But I went off the wrong side,” says Lawler. “I slammed into the cement retaining wall and broke my back.”
Less than two weeks after the accident, she was a guest on The Mike Douglas Show, having flown to be on the Vegas set in Mario Andretti’s private jet so she could sit comfortably in her wheelchair.
It was on Douglas’s show that Knievel made a surprise appearance. Apparently he had since recanted, and he gifted the stunt rider a pink mink coat with “Happy Landings, Evel Knievel” sewn into the lining.
“Evel Knievel was the king of motorcycle jumpers,” says Lawler. “I was the queen.”
