Evel Knievel

dos

Shared on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 10:29
is dead at 69.

I remember thinking that Knievel was the coolest cat on the planet. He certainly had the coolest name. When I was 6 or 7 I had a Knievel action figure, on the bike, that fit in this crank-style launching station. You would crank the handle as hard and fast as you could an upon release Knievel would rocket in whatever direction you sent him. This was one of the greatest toys. I combined stacks of pillows and cardboard to recreate the Snake River jump. The jumps and spectacular crashes were awesome to watch as a kid and even more fun to replicate with my friends and our bicycles. My dad was also a big fan of the Kaptain which led to my first dirt bike for Christmas at age 8. Of course, I was instructed to keep both tires in the dirt. No jumps or wheelies. That wisdom went in one ear and out the other. My love affair with bikes still continues. The Kaptain was King.

Caesar's Palace
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYGGCVE2lKY[/youtube]


Snake River
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsq3dWTrRWA[/youtube]

Comments

Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 12:38
I heard about this last night and thought that I must be getting old if Evel is dead. :( I too had the cycle toy that you mentioned. Me and my brother used to jump stairs on our 3-speed Huffy's with "dirt tires" playing like we were the man. One time I tried to jump a flight of ten stairs and at the last minute before take-off my brother gave me a sideways shove, throwing my trajectory offline and into a wall that was landscaped with a line of rose bushes. I have concrete skid marks and thorns up and down my body. My brother was hooting up a storm and kept tellying me "Now THAT was like Evel Knievel. What I find so cool about the Snake River video above is that the ultimate tough guy is reciting a poem that he wrote. Can you imagine some UFC fighter today reciting a poem before his big match? This guy was definitely one of a kind. Long Live Evel!

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