For those that missed it, it re-airs later tonight, I think 10:00pm PST (not sure really). I never played with any dolls as a kid, but I always watched him on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I'll never forget Caesers Palace and the Snake River jumps.
He's still a little bitter about that Snake River jump huh? I don't blame him. He's amazing. How he ever got leather pants over balls the size of Idaho I'll never know. He's not stupid so it must be courage that drove him. The fact that he did it all on a Harley with less than 3" of suspension travel just makes him a hero. The guys that do supercross now are still bad*** but nobody will ever be more insane in my book than Evel.
He sure was my hero growing up...along with AJ Foyt, Buddy Baker, and Don Prudhomme. But I had all the Evel toys, including the Snake River rocket bike...SO cool... I still have my metal Evel lunchbox, with Thermos... The History Channel show was pretty awesome. He's an "ornery" guy, which is an attribute in my opinion. That determination is impressive, but I'll never forget when he got up after that crash at Wembley to address the crowd- I was SO affected by that as a kid...it was huge to me. ....and I really dug the "blue" version of his jumpsuit... Evel Kneivel STILL Rules. He'll always be King of the Daredevils. Scotch~!
My dad used to share a shop with Evel. He would paint his bike for him every week, so he could smash them up that weekend. My dad was my hero.
AND if he didn't he wouldn't have been able to get 8 hot chicks a day........with thier boyfriends/husbands waiting outside on a chair. hahah
"Some people can only dream of such a life. I lived it. I was watching television the other day, a biography on the history channel of Aristotle Onasis. They talked about his wealth, his riches, and I wasn't impressed. I had bigger boats than he did, bigger yachts. I had more Rolls-Royces, more Ferraris. I had more racehorses than he did. I screwed more women than he did. And they were better looking too." -Evel
Best interview I ever heard with Evel was on the Jim Rome Show as few years back. Rome was asking Evel if he thought about backing out of the Snake River Jump. Evel's reply was cl***ic, Evel says "Do you know who the Hell I am?". The tone on his reply was, like boy sure have balls to even ask that question. Farmall WAR Evel 'Freaking' Kneivel
I guess you can say i was bit of a fan of his and i looked up to his feats and daredevil talents on a Motorcycle back in the day This is my personal Evel Knievel collection and tribute to the king of daredevils! (my E.K. pinball machine and signature Hoffman BMX bike not shown). Bobby Knievel was bit of an idol for me as a kid growing up in the 70's CAB
I can recall as a teenager actually see this guy perform. Yes, he was one of a kind. He was one of the first to stand on a bike seat and lift the front wheel of those awkward balanced bikes a whole quarter mile. I don't think of him as a hero but as a brave innovator.
Evel (Robert) lives here in FL now, met him once, pre-transplant, he was a drinking PBR and *****ing at a guy re-wiring a motorcycle trailer for him, mostly just teasing him that he couldn't do it any faster. He was getting the trailer ready to go out and promote a new line of bicycles. he had one there, but I have never seen another anywhere since. I shook his hand and I was expecting a big, manly man grip... it wasn't, it was really weak. I thought about it later and realized shaking hands was probably painful with all the broken bones over the years. The real International truck and trailer the toy is modeled after is sitting behind a warehouse here in Largo. he said it would be restored and go on tour someday. Wasn't expecting to see him that day, so I hadn't thought of anything to ask him except about the van at the time, it was sitting outside the door.
Heres a pic of young Bobby Knievel playing for the ****e Hockey team. (#18) I remember him jumping a motorcycle over a couple of pickups at the halftime of the high school football games. In later years I taught his son Kelly. Kelly was a neat kid, and the missus was an exceptional lady. Evel as you would expect was sort of a Jeckel/Hyde kinda guy. It all made growing up in ****e an interesting experience. Jeesus! I'm gettin old! look at the date on that photo-1955 !!.........
Robbie charged us a few pennies to watch him jump in front of their house back when he was just a pup. We made Evels house a pilgrimmage on a family vaction! The Bicycles were a line of limited edition Matt Hoffman freestyle bikes. Several years ago when the bikes came out, Hoffman displayed them at Interbike, the bike trade show in Vegas. Evel was there signing autographs. His lines were bigger than Lance Armstrongs and he was witty and cordial to everyone! A gentleman to his fans.
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