Knievel's most famous stunt was probably an attempt to jump the quarter-mile wide Snake River Canyon in 1974 on his rocket-powered "Sky-Cycle."I saw this on TV, too. Fucking crazy. I used to play "Evel Knieval" with my friends, which involved riding our banana seated Schwinns with tassles at each handgrip up and down the street and doing fake crashes onto the lawn. This was just before BMX style bikes became all the rage, and only Huffy was making motorcycle-looking, black-framed bikes with off-road wheels, but otherwise, if you went with a Schwinn, you had chrome fenders and seat backs, otiose springs and spirals, and others sorts of ornamenta. You were cool (and spoiled).
Is there a youTube clip of the Snake River Canyon attempt? There is, but I happen to like this clip, because he's jumping over Mack Trucks. How awesome were Mack trucks in the 70s!? VERY AWESOME, and the move Convoy with Kris Kristofferson taught you this, and if you were jumping over those square hooded rigs in the 70s, then you were superhuman. Here's a mack truck a la Convoy:
And here is the jump:
As I said last year, EVERYTHING GOES WITH EVEL KNIEVEL!!!
2 comments:
I too was a fan. Every one of his stunts was broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports(spanning the globe)with prime coverage like it trully mattered-and it did, at least to impressionalble mini daredevils with shaggy 70's haircuts(i think our parents gave up on the "hair wars" after Viet Nam-it just didn't matter any more). My most memorable jump (besides the canyon) was the footage they aired of his practice attempt to jump a tank of lemon sharks. He made the jump, but on the landing he put his arm out and it hit one of the cameras and he subsequently wiped out in the glorious fashion only Evel could do. I mean, what kid even knew that there was such a thing as lemon sharks?
We will miss you Evel. I think maybe your popularity came at just the right time in American history. Coming out of a long pointless war where the "man" made the choices for danger, you showed that the choice for danger was trully OURS to make.
There is NO doubt that you are jumping angels in heaven now and crashing into soft, fluffy clouds...
i cannot count the number of Knieval-inspired jumps i made on my little 70's bike before it got stolen and I got what became the BMX bike for the next three decades. three was that set of butterflies you got in the stomach--it told you "maybe you do have some hidden talent and the ability to do something nobody else on your block or in your school can do...maybe you too are a dare devil"! now let's just land on the other side of that thing without busting my balls. god that would hurt!
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