If you were around back then, you remember this guy.
Sadly, he was a better daredevil than he was a movie actor. But I grew up wanting to be like Evel, and I still have a few scars as proof. I didn't have the custom Harley, but I managed to get in more than enough trouble with my orange-and-white Huffy--the one with the banana seat that I was sure could fly if I just did my part.
Man, I used to bounce that bike off of just about everything. Evel made it look easy.
That's probably why a decade later, when I was riding motorcycles across the country just for the hell of it, this song kept coming back to me every time I twisted the throttle open:
Showing posts with label Evel Knievel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evel Knievel. Show all posts
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, November 30, 2007
Evel Knievel is dead
The news just doesn't stop today.
From Brietbart
Damn. I grew up watching--and emulating--this man. (I still have some scars to prove it.) He was my hero when I was a kid and my inspiration as I attempted to defy the laws of physics with my orange and white Huffy bicycle--the one with the banana seat. Of course this was before I knew about his alcoholism and frequent arrests for all sorts of things. But none of us are perfect, and his life issues aside, he dared try to do what others said was impossible and that's what he'll always be remembered for.
That and his star-spangled costumes and his way-too-cool Harley Davidson dirt bikes. I saw him crash and burn more than once, and I saw him succeed. I saw him fail at Snake River Canyon, and I remember feeling cheated because I so wanted him to triumph and thought that's he'd been robbed by a simple mechanical failure.
Rest in Peace, Evel. You won't be forgotten.
Evel Knievel
From Brietbart
Evel Knievel Dies at 69
Nov 30 05:21 PM US/Eastern
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.
Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.
Damn. I grew up watching--and emulating--this man. (I still have some scars to prove it.) He was my hero when I was a kid and my inspiration as I attempted to defy the laws of physics with my orange and white Huffy bicycle--the one with the banana seat. Of course this was before I knew about his alcoholism and frequent arrests for all sorts of things. But none of us are perfect, and his life issues aside, he dared try to do what others said was impossible and that's what he'll always be remembered for.
That and his star-spangled costumes and his way-too-cool Harley Davidson dirt bikes. I saw him crash and burn more than once, and I saw him succeed. I saw him fail at Snake River Canyon, and I remember feeling cheated because I so wanted him to triumph and thought that's he'd been robbed by a simple mechanical failure.
Rest in Peace, Evel. You won't be forgotten.
Evel Knievel
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