Posted on 08/01/2004 10:44:28 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
'Captain' Robbie Kneviel son of famed daredevil Evel Knievel last night jumped over two helcopters and five planes on the deck of the USS Intrepid aircaft carrier turned museum.
Organizers of the stunt, broadcast like on the cable network TNT, were breathless in their depiction of the dangers that the 45 year old faced.
Two paramedics were on hand to rush him to the hospital if he crashed, and a fire boat was at the ready in case he strayed overboard, they informed the audience.
Adding to the drama, the vintage aircraft that Knievel had to soar over was tagged as 'priceless,' and the event was dedicated to the US troops in Iraq.
Knievel's arrival on Marine 6, looking like a white leather clad George Washington crossing the Deleware, helped rev up the crowd.
So did the wheelies he performed on deck--with fireworks lighting up the night sky-- as a prelude to the main event.
The actual jump was perfect, although the landing was less than majestic, with Knievel ditching his bike and sliding into bales of hay.
Afterwords, Knievel, sporting a swollen hand and scraped arm was the picture of indtrepidity.
'I had a big meal earlier,' he said. The doctors say not to eat 24 hours beforehand in case they have to operate on you. But hey, I've got confidence!'
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
he did Ceasars Palace already as I recall.
I think youre right. Cool that TNT would air it live..
Jumps like this are so 1974. It takes a lot of guts and skill to pull off stunts like this, I admit, but it seems you have to be lacking some common sense, too.
I'm more amazed by the stunts that Jackie Chan routinely pulls off in his many films. Bet Jackie banks more, too.
I wonder what the insurance premiums are for something like this..
Robbie Knievel jumped over the Caesars Palace Fountains in 1989. I got it on dvd here some place.
He broke the hell outta his hand.
I imagine that he is waivered out of a lot of insurance issues.
I'll bet!
He's already done Caesars and the Grand Canyon.
I just saw the replay of this on TNT. Pretty cool. All the build-up before was cheesy and my wife and kids thought it was stupid, until he actually did the jump. Strange enough, after telling me "How can you watch this?" they didn't want to change the channel.
He went down a starting ramp to get up speed in a short distance, up the takeoff ramp, over the aircraft, down the landing ramp, and then slid into hay bales at the end of the carrier to avoid going into the harbor. He used almost every foot of the length of the carrier. He hurt his wrist when he slid into the barrels but the announcers said the slide was planned. If he stay on the bike, he would have been catapaulted over the bales and down 70 feet into New York Harbor.
Robbies daddy, Evel, is a childhood hero of mine. I followed every jump and recreated them in my yard with MY bike and the old crank up Evel motorcycle. I can probably thank Evel for being knocked out cold at least twice that I can remember, but man did those stars and stripes leathers make my little boy mind wonder. If Evel would have had the bike technology we have today, there's no telling what he would have tried.
Even Evel knew the Snake River jump wasn't going to work.
It was basically a scam.
I liked the time Evel jumped over a moving train on live tv once. That was cool.
Kerry will be asking "did we seek U.N. approval for this pro-war stunt?"
"I followed every jump and recreated them in my yard with MY bike "
I bet the Snake River jump was fun!
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