A Winning Smile #261 - Kathleen Mead 1968 Drivers Ed Queen / Link Simulator

[Otto Puzzell]

For one point: identify this young lady, the nature of her victory, and, tell us - in what she is seated?.  

Only a complete and specific answer will earn a point!  

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[frederick59]

Jane Fonda

[Otto Puzzell]

No sir. I think this picture represents the peek of this young lady's fame.

[Otto Puzzell]

Up

[Carnut]

the peek of this young lady.

Pun spotted!

[Otto Puzzell]

 

[Otto Puzzell]

Pros?

[Tom_I]

I don't know who this young lady is, but is she sitting on one of those driving simulator things that appeared in the 1960s?

A film of a road scene would be projected on to a screen, and the students would operate the car controls on their individual simulator units, a bit like this...

[RayTheRat]

Debra Bryant, 1966 Miss America?

[jotage21]

I don´t know who is this lady, but if she kept the same look, I´d like so much to know her 

[Otto Puzzell]

I don't know who this young lady is, but is she sitting on one of those driving simulator things that appeared in the 1960s?

A film of a road scene would be projected on to a screen, and the students would operate the car controls on their individual simulator units, a bit like this...

You're onto something there...

[Otto Puzzell]

Debra Bryant, 1966 Miss America?

No sir. I think this picture represents the peak of this young lady's fame.

[Tom_I]

So she wasn't Miss America, but was she a beauty queen at some other (presumably less well-known) event?

[Otto Puzzell]

None of which I am aware

[Carnut]

None of which I am aware

She should have been though!

[Tom_I]

Did this young lady win some award for her prowess on the driving simulator?

[Otto Puzzell]

None of which I am aware

She should have been though!

Upon further review - she did win a 'beauty queen' title, that was connected to the thing in which she is seated, and the venue where this picture was taken.

[Otto Puzzell]

Did this young lady win some award for her prowess on the driving simulator?

Had she not completed her driver's training, she would not have been in this picture.

[Tom_I]

Was she taking part in some sort of road safety event?

[Otto Puzzell]

Road safety was certainly the subject of her award, and this photo was taken at an event.

Locked for you.

[Tom_I]

Found her at last! She is 17-year-old Kathleen Mead from Rossmoor, Orange County, California, and she was chosen as queen of the 1968 International Auto Show held at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The caption to the newspaper photograph says "This year, as a tribute to the school driver education program, the queen and her court were chosen from girls who had completed their driver training instruction".

She is sitting in a Link driving simulator, made in Binghamton, NY, in conjunction with the Allstate Insurance Company, which produced the films that provided the simulated road conditions. At least two companies made machines like this, but I'm not sure they caught on in a big way, as they were quite expensive. Around the time of this picture, a 12-station Link simulator cost over $30,000.

The Link company was better known for making flight simulators, and was founded in Binghamton by Edwin A. Link, who patented the first ground-based flight trainer in 1929. By the end of WW2 it is estimated that over half a million Allied airmen had trained in Link "Blue Box" simulators before entering the air war over Europe and the Pacific. The company name still exists as the Link Simulation & Training Division of L-3 Communications, which claims to be the world leader in military flight simulation.

Here's the uncropped photo.

[Otto Puzzell]

Well solved, sir!