Zachary FenellEvel Knievel
September 19th 2008 01:10
The Man who could Fly and Bounce
Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel - "I guess I thought I was Elvis Presley but I'll tell ya something. All Elvis did was stand on a stage and play a guitar. He never fell off on that pavement at no 80 mph."
Being fearless and extreme doesn’t mean you don’t feel the agony of all 433 broken bones you endure while attempting to break world records. If you grew up in the 70’s you knew the name Evel Knievel and marvelled at his high risk feats.
Fascinating the entire world with his miraculous leaps and spills, this is a man who often looked death in the face to entertain his millions of fans.
Evel doing it mono
November 30th 2008 will mark a year since the greatest daredevil who ever lived launched his motorbike so high he ended up in stuntman heaven, figuratively speaking of course. (Why am I suddenly writing like good ole foghorn leg horn?)
Born October 1st 1938, the light went out November 30th 2007. Between those dates Robert Craig Knievel put his body through more physical punishment in public than anyone before or since.
Charismatic and seemingly cool under pressure as a kid I thought he was Superman. Now as an adult (again figuratively speaking) I see that some of his choices may not have been as ingenious nor wise as I once thought. By the same degree you have to respect the sacrifices and sheer strength of will it took to dazzle us with the spectacle of his promises.
Evel in full flight
Conquering the primary survival mechanism we all come equipped with to accomplish seemingly impossible stunts on his Harley Davidson XR 750. Incredibly surviving vicious and brutal wipe outs, his career really began with the now notorious Caesar’s Palace jump that went wrong. So severe was the failed landing that it left Evel in a 29 day coma.
The Caesar's Palace plummet
A human phenomenon that gained a world wide following and endless imitators, seekextreme salutes the man responsible for this writer’s love of the extreme and also the broken bones as a kid that resulted in my own attempts at daredevil immortality.
A 3 part vintage interview with the legendary Evel, includes the infamous Caesar's footage
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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