Editing Land speed record (section)

== Women's land speed record ==
[[File:Miss Dorothy Levitt, in a 26hp Napier, Brooklands, 1908.jpg|thumb|[[Dorothy Levitt]], in a {{cvt|26|hp|disp=flip}} Napier, at [[Brooklands]], England, in 1908]]

The FIA does not recognize separate men's and women's land speed records, because the records are set using [[Motor vehicle|motorized vehicles]], and not [[Human-powered transport|muscle-powered vehicles]], so the gender of the driver does not matter; however, unofficial women's records have long been claimed, seemingly starting with [[Dorothy Levitt]]'s 1906 record in [[Blackpool]], England, and, unlike the FIA and other car-racing organisations, ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' does recognize gender-based land speed records.<ref name="Strohl2019-09-26-01a">{{cite news |url=https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2019/09/26/what-exactly-is-the-womens-world-land-speed-record |title=What exactly is the women's world land-speed record? |publisher=[[Hemmings Motor News|Hemmings]] |first=Daniel |last=Strohl |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=25 June 2021 |quote=... the Fédération Internationale de L'Automobile, which oversees world land-speed record attempts, doesn't recognize separate men's and women's records. ... The Guinness Book of World Records – to which the North American Eagle team submitted Combs's data – appears to be the only record-keeping entity that does recognize gender-separated land-speed records ... The idea of creating a separate, though unofficial, category for women's land-speed records likely originated with Levitt ... Goodyear and Firestone didn't place Murphy, Skelton, and Lee Breedlove in those cars to empower women; they did it instead to market to women ... That the women's land-speed record does not officially exist may be a relic of less enlightened times when men believed women to be inferior and incapable of handling an automobile, but it may also, ironically, serve the interests of gender equality.}}</ref>

In 1906, Dorothy Levitt broke the women's world speed record for the flying kilometer, recording a speed of {{cvt|96|mph|km/h|0|order=flip}} and receiving the [[sobriquet]] the "Fastest Girl on Earth". She drove a six-cylinder [[D. Napier & Son|Napier motorcar]], a {{cvt|100|hp|kW|0|order=flip}} development of the K5, in a speed trial in [[Blackpool]].<ref name="Hull - Napier">Hull, Peter G. "Napier: The Stradivarius of the Road", in Northey, Tom, ed. The World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 13, p.1483.</ref><ref name="Cars:Early">[[G.N. Georgano]] ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btinternet.com/~rhobbs/womtime.htm |title=Women in Motorsport – Timeline |publisher=Btinternet.com |access-date=October 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724160016/http://www.btinternet.com/~rhobbs/womtime.htm |archive-date=July 24, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1963, [[Paula Murphy]] drove a [[Studebaker Avanti]] to {{cvt|163|mph|km/h|0|order=flip}} at the [[Bonneville Salt Flats]] as part of [[Andy Granatelli]]'s attempt on the overall record.<ref name="Strohl2019-09-26-01a" /> In 1964, she was asked by the [[tire company]] [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company|Goodyear]] to try to improve her own record, which she raised to {{cvt|226.37|mph|km/h|2|order=flip}} in [[Walt Arfons]]'s [[jet dragster]] ''Avenger''.<ref name="Strohl2019-09-26-01a" /><ref name="Hawley2011-01a">{{cite book |author=Samuel Hawley |title=Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-1ECQAAQBAJ |year=2011 |publisher=Firefly Books |isbn=978-1-77088-007-8 |pages= |quote=}}</ref> The rival tire company [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]] and [[Art Arfons]] hit back against Goodyear and Walt Arfons when [[Betty Skelton]] drove Art's ''Cyclops'' to achieve a two-way average of {{cvt|277.52|mph|km/h|2|order=flip}} in September 1965.<ref name="Strohl2019-09-26-01a" />

Five weeks later, Goodyear hit back against Firestone with [[Lee Breedlove]].<ref name="Strohl2019-09-26-01a" /> While recordkeeping has not been as extensive, a report in 1974 confirmed that a record was held by Lee Breedlove, the wife of then overall record holder [[Craig Breedlove]], who piloted her husband's [[Spirit of America (automobile)#Spirit of America - Sonic 1|''Spirit of America – Sonic I'']] to a record {{cvt|308.506|mph|km/h|order=flip}} in 1965.<ref>{{Citation |last=Twite |first=Mike |title=Breedlove: Towards the sound barrier |journal=World of Automobiles, Orbis Publishing |volume=2 |year=1974 |pages=231}}</ref> According to author [[Rachel Kushner]], Craig Breedlove had talked Lee into taking the car out for a record attempt in order to monopolize the salt flats for the day and block one of his competitors from making a record attempt.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/books/rachel-kushner-author-of-the-flamethrowers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Knowingly Navigating the Unknown] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031172718/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/books/rachel-kushner-author-of-the-flamethrowers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |date=October 31, 2015 }}", Maria Russo, ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 7, 2013</ref>

In 1976, the women's absolute record was set by [[Kitty O'Neil]], in the jet-powered, three-wheeled ''[[SMI Motivator]]'', at the [[Alvord Desert]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ellen Jares |first=Sue |title=The Renaissance Woman of Danger—That's Tiny Kitty O'Neil |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20067351,00.html |work=People |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202181048/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20067351,00.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Held back by her contract with a sponsor and using only 60 percent of her car's power, O'Neil reached an average speed of {{cvt|512.710|mph|km/h|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite web |last=Phinizy |first=Coles |title=A Rocket Ride To Glory And Gloom |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1977/01/17/565972/a-rocket-ride-to-glory-and-gloom |work=SI Vault |access-date=August 28, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Deaf stuntwoman Kitty O'Neil sets women's land-speed record |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/deaf-stuntwoman-kitty-oneil-sets-womens-land-speed-record |work=History |access-date=January 7, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613000719/http://www.history.com:80/this-day-in-history/deaf-stuntwoman-kitty-oneil-sets-womens-land-speed-record |archive-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref>

On October 9, 2013, driver [[Jessi Combs]], in a vehicle of the [[North American Eagle Project]] running at the Alvord Desert, raised the women's four-wheel [[Land speed racing#Records by class|land speed class record]] with an official run of {{cvt|392.954|mph|km/h|2|order=flip}}, surpassing Breedlove's 48-year-old record.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.slashgear.com/female-land-speed-record-broken-by-jessi-combs-after-48-years-15301457/ |title=Female land speed record broken by Jessi Combs after 48 years |date=October 15, 2013 |website=SlashGear |language=en-US |access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> Combs continued with the North American Eagle Project, whose ongoing target is the overall land speed record; as part of that effort, Combs was killed, on August 27, 2019, during an attempt to raise the four-wheel record.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/28/us/jessi-combs-race-car-driver-death-trnd/index.html |title=Race car driver Jessi Combs, known as the 'fastest woman on four wheels,' dies while trying to beat record |first=Leah |last=Asmelash |work=CNN |date=August 28, 2019 |access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> In late June 2020, the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of Records]] reclassified the August 27, 2019 speed runs as meeting its requirements, and Combs was posthumously credited with the record at {{cvt|841.338|kph|mph}}, noting she was the first to break the record in 40&nbsp;years.<ref name="2020-06-25_ABC-AP">{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-25/jet-car-racer-jessi-combs-female-land-speed-record-fatal-crash/12391272 |title=American jet-car racer and Mythbusters host Jessi Combs posthumously awarded world land-speed record for a woman |publisher=[[ABC News Online|ABC]]/[[Associated Press|AP]] |location=US |date=June 25, 2020 |access-date=June 26, 2020}}</ref>