Despite losing the record, Debbie was a sensation. She appeared on the TV game show What's My Line? and in print ads for Eagle Tires. In response to Ideal's successful Knievel toys, Kenner released the "Debbie Lawler Daredevil Jump Set," reasoning that girls would demand a line of stunt toys that they too could identify with. The Debbie doll had a big pink heart on her white helmet, with her golden plastic mane flowing out over her white jumpsuit. Her cycle was primarily green, with shiny plastic faux-chrome machinery and another big pink heart emblazoned on the side. The toy's packaging depicted a small girl at the helm of the wind-up crankcase that made little Debbie's cycle go. The back of the toy's box illustrated "Wild Rider Action!", eight positions that Debbie could be mounted on the cycle.

She also received her own chapter in the Joe Scalzo book Evel Knievel and Other Daredevils (Grosset and Dunlap, 1974). "No terrible scars or ugly pavement rash mar her delicate features yet," Scalzo wrote. "Certainly she is the most attractive of all motorcycle daredevils."

While Scalzo was merely stating the obvious, also revealed a Debbie previously unknown to her public: her favorite food was fried chicken, and she was an expert water skier and aspiring actress. He depicted this apparent "wild woman" as a sweet, wholesome, old-fashioned girl who loved children and the elderly. She also lived cleanly, except for the two packs of cigarettes she smoked daily.

Scalzo quoted Debbie at length, further exposing her personal side. "All I can say is, I never wear a bra," she said, except one: "I won't jump without my lucky bra. I just won't jump without it. It's a real dainty French thing. I'm superstitious about it. I won't jump without it or my manager being right there."

On the more obsessive-compulsive side, Debbie admitted, "Oh, I'm always taking showers. I seem to spend most of my time taking showers."

But don't get the impression she was a complete nut: "I love cooking and sewing. I get up in the morning, take a shower, do my nails, and watch TV. And, I create."

To wit: "Love is a beautiful thing that comes on wings/ But leaves with tears/ But memory of love is an ever-burning ember."

Television could sometimes be a distraction. "The first time I jumped, over at Tucson, I'd brought a portable TV along with me," said Debbie. "But I was sitting there watching Sanford and Son and forgot all about jumping. They had to come remind me."

Though Debbie might've been the Amelia Earhart of motorcycle jumpers, she certainly wasn't its Gloria Steinem: "I'm no woman's libber. I like men."

So, how about those men? "Well, I've had trouble as far as dating goes. I have some boyfriends, of course. I like the masculine male. But boys find out what I do, that I jump a motorcycle over cars, and they don't like it at all. I guess they don't want to see me get splattered around. Or maybe they don't like the competition."

Debbie didn't like the competition either. "In my mind I recognize no other male jumper. Evel Knievel started it all and as long as he is around, that's it. My thing is not to compete with Evel at all. Knievel is the king of jumpers, right? Well, I'm the queen. And a queen can't beat the king -- it's impossible. And I don't like to compete against men anyway. I'm a girl."