Evel Knievel, What is the first thought when you hear his name?

[jensenracing77]

Some friends and I have been discussing Evel Knievel lately. We are wanting to see what people think of him or his jumps without looking anything up. Basically, What are the first thoughts that come to mind when you hear his name? I don't want to affect the responses so I will not give my thoughts till later.

[Joseph Farrow]

One Bad MOFO!

I can remember seeing his jumps that were televised live. Some went well and others not so well. I can still see him botching a landing and rolling like a dish rag down the down ramp. :( I think he has had every bone in his body broken. He was quiet a showman as well. The build ups before the Jumps made them that much more special. IF you look at the equipment he was riding you would see that what he was doing was crazy. The Jump over the Snake River Canon was the end. Pretty much didn't see or hear of him after that.

Also I will have to admit I did have an Evel Knievel Electric Tooth Brush, Lunch Box, and a cool toy that had a pull cord that spun the rear tire and when you let it go it would pull a wheelie and also had ramps. :D

[Dirtweed]

I was kid in the 70s. We loved Evel Knievel...every ramp we built and jumped with our Banana seat bikes was just like him.
Tell the truth I don't know we would have built ramps without Evel.

Wonder what he would do today with the bikes we have now?

[tripledog]

Caesar's Palace. OUCH!

[El Camexican]

Snake River Canyon

[onformula1]

This is off of memory, but it was from a Knievel VCR tape from the 80's of all his famous jumps. (Not the movie)

I go down to Dayton and watch the Nascar boys race and some of the teams cheat and run nitro and they go like hell and before the end of the race they blow the hell up!

If you use dope you to will go like hell then you to will blow the hell up!

[El Camexican]

I like that he played hockey:)

[onformula1]

Anyone can jump a motorcycle, its easy...landing is the hard part!

[fabiodriven]

Guy was an animal. He jumped heavy old motorcycles silly distances with next to no suspension. Seems as though he may have had a death wish.

[Buck Snort]

I remember being a kid in the 70s and waiting for a televised jump for weeks, drove my parents crazy. The big day finally came and Evil crashed practicing and it was cancelled. I believe he was going to jump a shark tank, I may be wrong. Almost 40 years ago (ha ha) A true wild man!

[redsox]

i had an Evil rip chord motorcycle toy. thing must have weighed ten pounds. went like hell. i was doing jumps with it in the kitchen and blasted a hole in the plaster. dad=not too happy with Evil or myself. i was a little young, so i came in on the tail end of his career. i remember the showmanship more than anything. his events were a big deal. i couldn't appreciate then the reality of what he was doing. He was a favorite though. right up there with Andre the Giant and the Dukes.

[keister]

What first popped into my mind was a mental image of him standing there.
Wearing shades and a white (leather?) jumpsuit.
Always very patriotic, red, white and blue with stars on it....
.... and a cape. I think he often wore a cape. Seems like nobody wears a cape these days.

[ironchop]

Evel + XR750 Harley + huge jump = epic jumps & crashes

I used to yank that zipcord on my little toy XR so hard that little plastic Evel would wheelie his way across our kitchen floor, launch off mom`s overturned cookie sheet laid over a glass Litre Coke bottle and cleared over 75 HotWheels and 4 Matchbox cars in one shot. I drank a tall glass of tang to celebrate my successful stunt afterward and shared some Fruit Rollups with my buddy Rick.

Those were the DAYS! Whoop Whoop! \0/

[poolieZerUK]

Always on tv in the middle of the night over here, was a treat to stay up and watch.

Can't really remember much about the actual jumps other than that they invariably ended in an ambulance ride.
Had the motorcycle windup toy, that thing did some crazy jumps, usually from the top of the stairs, remember taking it to Ireland where Evel jumped maybe half a dozen Holstein cattle coming out of the milking shed from a ramp on the roof.

By far one of his finest jumps, bit of a messy ending but no ambulance ride.

Did he used to use a Harley for jumps? Will have to have a butchers on youtube.

He was as mad as feck, and as hard as nails.

[jb2wheels]

The cane and it's contents.

[onformula1]

He used a laverda until 1969 then changed to a harley

[robertc]

Father Extreme

[El Camexican]

i had an Evil rip chord motorcycle toy. thing must have weighed ten pounds.
Dude, it was a model of a Harley and likely made out of lead. I'm guessing it was closer to 20 pounds!;) I wonder how many of us still carry the scars we got trying to emulate him on our bicycles?

[El Camexican]

He used a laverda until 1969 then changed to a harley

I think he used a Triumph for a while too. Regardless, few of us would have the nerve to hit a speed bump at 60mph with any of the bikes he road let alone jump them.:lol:

[robertc]

Friend of mine had one of the Evel Knievel bicycles like pictured below. He was the envy of every boy in our neighborhood!
210670

My dad was too cheap, and had Santa bring me one of these, still remember the sound like it was yesterday!
210671

Pretty sure I was much faster once it was installed.

[Dirtcrasher]

I cannot believe the jumps he attempted and succeeded many times! On a motorcycle with two tires meant to be on the ground!

Robby on his CR500 has nothing on dad; I wonder where that kid is, I'll have to google him.

Anyhow "GUTS" is the word I would use to identify him and many of us emulated him whether it was BMX ( I threw away sooo many wins on jumps, lol ) or with Lego's or the 3wheelers we ride today.

I really REALLY want to clear that finish line jump at Trikefest/Haspins but just thinking of it stands the hairs up on the back of my skin. IDK if I'll get the balls to do it or not and it's nothing to do with the machine; It's all about whats in your head!!

Even just one time, (but then it gets easy) would be nice just to feel like I overcame the fear. Calling Josh Ball, calling Mr. Ball or any of the HALLS!! :D

[Red Rider]

I believe he was going to jump a shark tank, I may be wrong. Almost 40 years ago (ha ha) A true wild man!I thank that was Arthur Fonzirelli that was going to jump a shark tank.

[tripledog]

I thank that was Arthur Fonzirelli that was going to jump a shark tank.


AAAAAAYYYYYY! I think you are correct.

[Buck Snort]

Ha ha I think you are right! Maybe my parents tricked me. What if they have been lying to me all these years. Nothing makes sense anymore.
I thank that was Arthur Fonzirelli that was going to jump a shark tank.

[El Camexican]

I thank that was Arthur Fonzirelli that was going to jump a shark tank.

Don't forget Captain Lance Murdock!

[ironchop]

Don't forget Captain Lance Murdock!

Or Super Dave Osborne

[jensenracing77]

He was a man of his word and was great at marketing. Faith in God, For sure an American icon, to some a hero, good motorcycle rider, Spokesman against using drugs, and many other things good and bad. One thing for sure, he was a terrible jumper. By his own admission he had no clue what to do while in the air. He was along for the ride after it left the ground. He would have crashed just as much if on a modern bike. With not knowing how to jump and doing the jumps he did I think it was purely an adrenaline addiction and he knew how to market it to make him loads of money. The Caesars Palace jump could have been a success even though he was short, if only he knew what to do. Obviously the bike he was on didn't help but on a 140 foot jump and only coming up a couple feet short, He could have gained that back in the air and landed much better. It turned out to be the worst crash he ever had.

Would have been interesting to know him and would loved to have had a long conversation with him.

[Red Rider]

A friend & I bumped into Evel once, just outside of Sam's Town in Las Vegas. He was on his way out and we were headed in. We were on a mission to go destroy some bowling pins which, ironically, are "evil." He was busy chatting with someone else, so we just said, "Hey, Evel Knievel!", and waved to him as we passed. Nicely, he looked at us and waved back.

[honda atc guy]

Some friends and I have been discussing Evel Knievel lately. We are wanting to see what people think of him or his jumps without looking anything up. Basically, What are the first thoughts that come to mind when you hear his name? I don't want to affect the responses so I will not give my thoughts till later.

My first thoughts when I hear his name....broken bones. Man he had a lot of broken bones...ouch!

[oldskool83]

I watch many hours of him as kid....I though it was even cooler when Robbie has his white CR500 but he didn't seem to take off like the old man did. Now we just have FMX which ruined the dare devil's out there I think.

I wonder what kind of jumps Mr. Evel could of done if he was on a CR500!

[poolieZerUK]

I watch many hours of him as kid....I though it was even cooler when Robbie has his white CR500 but he didn't seem to take off like the old man did. Now we just have FMX which ruined the dare devil's out there I think.

I wonder what kind of jumps Mr. Evel could of done if he was on a CR500!

Don't know what kind of jumps he could have done but he definitely could have broken some more bones LOL