Evel Knievel

woodbowl · December 01, 2007, 12:46:29 AM

Age 69 doesn't seem that old to me any more. It was just the other day he was making another jump. LINK

Dan_Shade · December 01, 2007, 06:07:57 AM

yeah, I don't think 69 is that old either. However, he put his body through a LOT of punishment, and had about 40 more years than many would have if they pulled his stunts.

He was an american legend. RIP

Jeff · December 01, 2007, 03:27:50 PM

Looks like he finally found what he was trying to defy all of those years.

SwampDonkey · December 01, 2007, 06:16:44 PM

I didn't see the video. But, with this dang sciatic nerve flare up I've been experiencing, I could just imagine what that 69 year old body feels like at night. :-\

Even my vision has been affected. I see stuff upside down and ash backwards. :

TexasTimbers · December 02, 2007, 02:37:58 PM

His life was a roller coaster allright. If you want to know more about the man in a 10 minute read, read the Wikipedia article on him. I didn't know much about him at all other than his daredevil exploits until I read it myself, but apparently he had some serious demons in him for years.
In the end, he claimed to have cast them out and accept Christ as his Saviour.

If he did I can't wait to see him jump from one planet to the next. That will have to go down in the Guiness Book of Univeral Records I suppose.

thecfarm · December 02, 2007, 05:16:32 PM

I was about 10 when he was doing all those stunts.I thought he was really something else.I kinda still do.He could really do a lot of things on a bike and I'm not talking about jumping either.His life was not the kind that I would choose to live,but I only could read about it.Sometimes I wonder about somethings I read.

theorm · December 02, 2007, 11:42:54 PM

Evel was my neighbor for a couple of years back in the 80's. Didn't hang out with him, but said hi a few times. He was the local hoodlum that became a celebrity, but was still a hometown boy. There were lots of stories about him. My favorite one concerns his sense of humor, betting and athletic ability. He liked to play golf and one day some bragging ensued. He bet one of his buddies that he could hit a golf ball a mile, and he had to hit it using a golf club in the usual way.

He did it from a hill over a frozen lake with a 60 mph tail wind. He won the bet.

8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Theo

Brad_S. · December 03, 2007, 09:08:20 AM

Monkey see, monkey do. :

Back in the day, when Evel was in his prime, we kids used to imitate him by setting a piece of plywood on a couple cinder blocks and jumping our bicycles over various objects. We were never airborne for more than 3 or 4 feet and never more than 2 feet off the ground. My bike was a purple framed, slick tired, banana seated, ape hanger handle barred ride that I thought was really cool. Such a bike doesn't have the correct weight distribution for aerobatics though, and I broke a collar bone after a front wheel first, fly over the handle bars landing. In addition to the broken bone and bruises, I screwed up the bike as well so that put an end to my Evel Kenievel impressions. :D
I bet I'm not the only kid who was injured imitating Evel.

TexasTimbers · December 03, 2007, 10:57:07 AM

Theo if you saw this persoanlly I do not doubt your word even an iota, but if you heard about it you might consider that it is an urban myth. If he did it, he stole the idea from Amarillo Slim who had conned some country club fools (my dad always warned me "Son, only a fool will bet on another mans tricks. Never do it!") a total which finally grew to $38,000, that he could hit one a mile with a regulation unmodified golf club. A good confidence man always starts the ruse by geting his victims thinking in the direction he wants them to. He wanted them to start asking questions about the club and not the location. One guy said "You can't tee it up on the edge of the grand canyon" and Slim said "that's rediculous the Grand canyon is not even a mile deep is it?" He sent the ball alot further than a mile on that frozen lake and collected the $38,000. The frozen lake trick was ingenious but it was not Evel's brain child and it was not Slim's either.

Slim, the notoriously ingenious gambler (A World Poker Champ at least once) did not come up with the ruse himself. A guy known as Titantic Thompson - a true larger than life charachter that Hollywood itself could not create, had won $1000 with this stunt (back in the 30s I believe) by wagering he could launch one 500 yards using a regular golf club and nothing else. Thompson was a seriously good golfer who could outshoot many pros of his day with either his left or right hand. He was a true ambidextrous. He defeated Byron Nelson in a widely publisized head to head match. He was once asked how come he would not join the pro circuit and he replied he could not afford to take the pay cut.
He was one of the most successful gamblers - okay hustlers that you would have the pleasure to read about. That's how I know this tidbits of history I read a book about him years ago. When the pro golfers of his era were struggling too make mere tens of thousands of dollars a year, it was widely known that he had made 20, 30, 40K in single group bets from the rich "gentleman" of the day. When he would be working a new area of the country, one of his favorite scams was to bet the local fools (I always call a man a fool who bets on another mans' tricks because my pappy taught me well to avoid that foolish temptation) that he could throw a peanut over the clubhouse. He made money many times this way. It's all in the way you word a bet you know. The betters (fools) would always ask stuff like "you can't tie it to a horseshoe?" "No I ain't gonna tie it to a horsshoe". "You can't use a pea shooter." "No I ain't gonna use a pea shooter." After they had placed all the restrictions on him they coulkd think of and they were satisfied they had him in a corner, he would calmly take the peanut provided by the fools, use his pocket knife to remove the peanuts from the shell without destroying it, and fill the shell with buckshot, wrap the gum he was chewing the whole time around the shell and toss it over the clubhouse. Some fools will pay big bucks to satisfy their curiosity you know.
Stupid tricks like this earned a him a big money living, and althought the book never mentioned it that I can remember anyway, his skullduggery probably also earned him a few black eyes from time to time.

But I think the evel knievel golf ball feat may be a myth theo unless he found a few fools who had never heard of Titantic Thompson or Amarillo Slim. Amarillo was a student of Titantics antics and many other predecessor confidence men. And just as any respectable Texan would do, Amarillo often put his own spin on it and recreated them, yet often on a much grander scale.

theorm · December 04, 2007, 02:33:42 AM

Nope, I didn't see the drive myself. Just heard it from dozens of well respected citizens. Montanans wouldn't pay attention to what them Texicans were bettin' on. :P Besides, where in Texas do ya get a frozen lake?

8) 8)

Theo

Ironwood · December 04, 2007, 05:45:58 AM

I could not imagine the stunts on the VERY unsuspended motorcycles of the day. Later the copycats had 12-14" of VERY cushy suspension to buffer their landings and much lighter 2 stroke bikes. As a child and even into my 20's (on mountain bikes) we jumped and crashed numerous vehicals, boys being boys. I suspose if you still had that adventurous mentaility today our young teens would be doing less thrill seeking w/ drugs (use to work w/ troubled teens) thought most of them where just seeking a fun high like we used to do as kids doing it the "old way". RIP

Ironwood

TexasTimbers · December 05, 2007, 09:25:51 AM

Quote from: theorm on December 04, 2007, 02:33:42 AMBesides, where in Texas do ya get a frozen lake? 8) 8) Theo

Anywhere the temperature drops low enough, for long enough, for a lake to freeze over which is most of the state, geographically speaking percentage wise, more frequently than you might imagine.

But i do not know what lake he used. His exploits are well enough documented though that a cursory search should provide the details.

Wouldn't you like to have been in a room with Evel and Slim listening to them bet who could do what and the othewr trying to place enough paramaters that there couldn't be a loophole. :D

KGNC · December 05, 2007, 11:36:40 AM

Ironwood, kids still do that stuff.
My 12 YO came in the house a few weeks ago with blood streaming down from a cut on the very top of his head. Seems he and his brother set up a jump with a 2x8 and a pile of cinder blocks. When he landed on the front wheel it flipped him head first into the gravel. They have helmets, I told them to wear them from now on.

sawguy21 · December 05, 2007, 12:28:28 PM

Years ago, my room mates five year old came in the house howling. He had been watching the older kids jumping their bikes and after they left he had to try it. Of course he did a face plant.
I cleaned him up then we shared some cookies and had a glass of juice. Next thing I knew, he and his buddies were back at it. :

When I told his mother, she gave me that deer in the headlights look and threw up her hands. :D
Kids will be kids and some like Evel never out grow it.

SwampDonkey · December 05, 2007, 01:38:55 PM

I made a ski jump once out of snow and ice. It didn't have enough lift because I went up, and my skis went out in front and went up vertical, but my noggin hit the ground before the skis came around to touch down. Dang near broke my fool neck. :