Debbie Lawler

Debbie Lawler (born December 13, 1952) is an American motorcyclist and stunt performer. Lawler is most noted as the first and the only female motorcyclist to beat one of Evel Knievel's jump records.

Life and Career Debbie Lawler grew up with two sisters in Medford, Oregon. When she was in her teens, the family moved to Arizona. Her father, Ben Lawler, was a motorcycle racing veteran. She learned to ride at the age of 9, and for her 10th birthday her father gave her a motorcycle. She began racing at the age of 14 as well as her two sisters, who were also racing. As a teenager, she was a cheerleader at her high school and later was booked for modeling assignments.

During this time, she started motorcycle jumping, which she practiced in the Arizona desert. When she was 19, a family acquaintance invited her to participate in a local thrill show,

Lawler began jumping at fairs and speedways in 1972. On March 31, 1973, she jumped 76 feet (about 23 meters) over a row of parked cars at Beeline Dragway in Phoenix. and produced motorcycle stunt shows. Two weeks after her crash in 1974, Evel Knievel presented her with a pink mink coat on the Mike Douglas Show, to which she appeared in a wheelchair. By this time, Knievel had already reclaimed his record. In an BBC documentary titled Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel, she said that the coat had an embroidered message on the inside: “Happy Landings. Love, Evel.”

In 1974, the same year as her record, toy manufacturer Kenner Products marketed a Debbie Lawler Daredevil Jump Set for girls. It is now considered a collector's item.

Lawler wore a light blue jumpsuit with applications of pink leather hearts during her shows. Also the landing point of her jump ramp was a pink heart. Among other things, it displayed the pink mink coat that Lawler had received from Knievel.