Posted on 03/24/2021 8:48:34 AM PDT by Rebelbase
53 years ago.
Thanks for that...it’s hard for people today to comprehend just what a phenom this guy was back in the day.
I remember the Evel Knievel TV specials. It was a big event with everyone gathered around the family room TV.
What in the wide wide world of sports is a goin’ on here?
I remember this. I won’t say why because I don’t want to give up too much personal info on the internet.
It was Moses Lake, Washington.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/86829/8-evel-knievels-most-memorable-stunts#:~:text=In%201965%2C%20the%20motorcyclist%20performed,over%20a%20couple%20of%20lions.
“In 1965, the motorcyclist performed his first public stunt. He organized an event in Moses Lake, Washington featuring two mountain lions and a box of rattlesnakes.”
I never met him, but I did know his cousin John Knievel. Evel was always the family oddball and the one everyone talked about after the family reunions.
He was a good guy and a Christian. He was also busted up a lot but that was OK with him. He was willing to take those calculated risks because he loved what he was doing.
There used to be a Saturday morning cartoon about Evel, and I think he voiced his character.
Ascot Park. My uncle used to take us there for the flat track races back in the 50’s-60s. Fun times.
“it’s hard for people today to comprehend just what a phenom this guy was back in the day.”
Add to that he was doing it on what today is considered antique motorcycle-suspension technology. Indoor arena motocross racers today routinely make jumps safely that would (and did) put the old timers into the hospital.
You can see how the rear wheel spins up, suddenly bereft of it’s previous load, thereby transferring angular momentum to the bike’s frame; this causes the m/c to rotate backward, raising the front wheel. Evel stands up to slow the m/c’s backward rotation by increasing the moment of inertia of the whole m/c-driver assembly. Had he not done that, he would have wiped out by landing with his front wheel pointed at the sky.
Very dangerous.
Thx for posting.
The start of a long relationship between Evel and ABC.
Kids, jumping everything they could find, with no helmets.
And loving it!
Peach
Yup. Huge events. We al couldn’t wait for the day, or night that the jump took place. Was really something to look forward to. Later we also watched his son and also waited for the big events to take place.
Good times for sure
I met him many, many years ago in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a very kind, down to earth, handsome gentleman.
My favorite was when he jumped the snake river
“What in the wide wide world of sports is a goin’ on here?”
I see what you did there.
Trivia. Knievel didn’t break every bone in his body as was claimed. There was a couple he didn’t. The title of the man who broke every bone in his body goes to Jackie Chan.
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