Hey there, thanks for coming back to OneEyedView! If you find our site enjoyable, please share with your friends, or give us some social bookmarking love;)
As many of you may know, Evel Knievel died today at the age of 69. I was both surprisedand saddened to hear of his death, more saddened than I expected actually. I hadn’t previously realized what an impact he had made on my life, even though I had only known him through television coverage, posters on my wall, and the many Evel Knievel toys I had when I was growing up. If you are too young to remember him, or maybe live in a different country and have never heard of him, here’s a brief description of who Evel Knievel was and what his contribution was to the world.
He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 mph behind dragster race cars.
In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.
He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year’s Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for a month.
His career continued into the late 70’s and if you were a young man in those days, you were a fan of Evel Knievel. He was a household name, a true American icon. Not the Entertainment Tonight or Inside Edition icons of today, but the very definition of the word icon: An important and enduring symbol.
“Superman just doesn’t die, right?” This is one quote in the news article that really affected me, and a perfect verbal description of how I felt when I heard of his death.
Do you have memories of Evel Knievel you’d like to share?
Thank you for commenting Clyde. I guess I need to expand my thinking a bit and realize that Evel was worldwide:)
Free thinking is the only way….
Positivity to you and yours!
Evel “Bionic” Knievel, I like it!
Hi,
Yes I was one of those who grew up with Evel as a household name, even in England, he was always on the news, and if I remember correctly holds a ton of records, many have done the same but he was the first, the first to jump so many cars, I remember the record breaking jump he did over double decker buses when he toured england, can’t remember how many but it was a lot.
This guy had so many pins,screws and metal plates in him i’m surprised his name didn’t incorporate the word bionic.
Considering the amount of near death accidents he was in he didn’t have a bad run, still sad though.
Tony:)