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Snake River Jump

#2
My Evel Knievel memory is that I was at a concert (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell and the LA Express, The Beach Boys and Jesse Colin Young) when the emcee said that Evel had just failed in (I think it was the Canyon River jump?) his latest attempt and everyone cheered and then he said that President Ford had just pardoned Nixon and everyone booed. It was a strange moment.
 
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#3
ptg said:
My Evel Knievel memory is that I was at a concert (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell and the LA Express, The Beach Boys and Jesse Colin Young) when the emcee said that Evel had just failed in (I think it was the Canyon River jump?) his latest attempt and everyone cheered and then he said that President Ford had just pardoned Nixon and everyone booed. It was a strange moment.
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Yep, I would say that would be kind of a weird memory of Knievel......I remember me, my dad and all the neighbors coming over to watch his jumps.....those were good times

To bad he turned into such a mean dude.....maybe he was just in pain all the time and that made him grumpy???
 
#4
If it was simply an equipment malfunction (as was apparently the case), I never understood why Evel didn't retry it. I pretty much lost all respect for him because of that failed jump.
 
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#6
Helix said:
Yep, I would say that would be kind of a weird memory of Knievel......I remember me, my dad and all the neighbors coming over to watch his jumps.....those were good times

To bad he turned into such a mean dude.....maybe he was just in pain all the time and that made him grumpy???
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I am curious what makes him such an old grump. Any notable examples? I don't know the guy beyond his jumps, that was before my time.
 
#7
DiabolusInMusic said:
I am curious what makes him such an old grump. Any notable examples? I don't know the guy beyond his jumps, that was before my time.
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I watched a bio on him, he turned into a pretty mean guy......here's some stuff from Wikipedia

While Knievel was healing from his latest round of injuries, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Authored by Knievel's promoter for the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book painted an unflattering picture of Knievel's character, alleging that he abused his wife and kids and he used drugs. Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to California to confront Saltman, a VP at 20th Century Fox. Outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum Invalid Link Removed, declaring, "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. It took numerous surgeries and permanent metal plates in his arm to eventually give Saltman back the use of his arm. Saltman's book was pulled from the shelves by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had actually been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word prior to its publication. On October 14, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years' probation and six months in county jail, during which he publicly flaunted his brief incarceration for the press.

After the assault of Saltman and time served in jail, Knievel lost most marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorship, Knievel was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $13 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but never received money from Knievel or Knievel's estate.

Edit: Apparently the last few years of his life he became a devoted Christian and kind of changed his Evel way's
 
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#8
Helix said:
I watched a bio on him, he turned into a pretty mean dude......here's some stuff from Wikipedia

While Knievel was healing from his latest round of injuries, the book Evel Knievel on Tour was released. Authored by Knievel's promoter for the Snake River Canyon jump, Shelly Saltman, the book painted an unflattering picture of Knievel's character, alleging that he abused his wife and kids and he used drugs. Knievel, with both arms still in casts, flew to California to confront Saltman, a VP at 20th Century Fox. Outside the studio commissary, one of Knievel's friends grabbed Saltman and held him, while Knievel attacked him with an aluminum Invalid Link Removed, declaring, "I'm going to kill you!" According to a witness to the attack, Knievel struck repeated blows at Saltman's head, with Saltman blocking the blows with his left arm. Saltman's arm and wrist were shattered in several places before he fell to the ground unconscious. It took numerous surgeries and permanent metal plates in his arm to eventually give Saltman back the use of his arm. Saltman's book was pulled from the shelves by the publisher after Knievel threatened to sue. Saltman later produced documents in both criminal and civil court that proved that, although Knievel claimed to have been insulted by statements in Saltman's book, he and his lawyers had actually been given editorial access to the book and had approved and signed off on every word prior to its publication. On October 14, 1977, Knievel pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to three years' probation and six months in county jail, during which he publicly flaunted his brief incarceration for the press.

After the assault of Saltman and time served in jail, Knievel lost most marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys. With no income from jumping or sponsorship, Knievel was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1981, Saltman was awarded a $13 million judgment against Knievel in a civil trial, but never received money from Knievel or Knievel's estate.

Edit: Apparently the last few years of his life he became a devoted Christian and kind of changed his Evel way's
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Holy smokes... I didn't expect that. Thanks for posting it.
 
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#13
Munjibunga said:
You actually respected him? I always thought his pulleys weren't fully aligned.
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I never said I ever respected him very much. To be honest, it was only the tiniest thread of something resembling respect that I lost - notable only because it was the last remaining thread.
 
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#17
Well yeah, Evil Knievel was a stuntman, I thought he was a good role model so I did what all the kids were doing at the time and put ramps up for bicycle jumping. Amazingly all my man parts still work to this day.

Knievel's failed jump at Caesar's Palace was epic, just epic. I admired that he kept jumping after that. All he asked for was some money and a little bit of fame, reckless for sure and a lot of people thought he was an idiot but I didn't. :thumbsup:

Just re-watched the fountain jump at Caesar's, he only missed the landing by half a foot or so, the rear wheel caught on the edge of the ramp sending him flying off the bike and down the ramp tumbling onto the pavement.

Eddie Braun's jump was cool too..
 
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#19
Evel Knievel was just one of those bigger than life Iconic characters that come along now and then, kind of like a gunfighter that walks out of the pages of a western novel. He made some epic jumps that gained him a lot of publicity and was a welcome diversion from Vietnam and the whole Nixon fiasco. I was fortunate to see him jump a bunch of school busses at my local race track but I would agree that Snake river jump was really a huge publicity stunt on his part, I don't think he even believed it could be done, but it got him a lot of press which he loved I'm sure. Doing it with a rocket is not the same thing as a motorcycle, that's a whole different deal there.
 
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