Motorcycle daredevil Knievel dies at 69

Source: Associated Press

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel death was confirmed by his 21-year-old 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. He 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.

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel’s trademarked image in a popular West music video.

Immortalized in the Washington’s Smithsonian Institution as “America’s Legendary Daredevil,” Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.


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He'll never be forgotten.

I remember when I was young, he supposedly hung out in bars getting raucous. I always wondered if I'd run into him.

The pearly gates should be no problem for him to get over.

He had a big Winnebago (sic?) with "E & J Enterprises" or something like that on the side of it. He came into a poolhall where my friends and I were, and we went out to his Winnebago and partied. I recognized him finally - he wasn't into announcing his presence, and at first he said, no that's not me, but when I asked him to show me his driver's license, he showed me and admitted it. He was a fun guy! Handsome too!

The rest of the story. I love this. Because this was around 1980. Thanks for telling me that. I feel like a circle has completed. :)

I was 25 or 26. God, the 80s...

I don't know how we did it. Only recently have I begun to slow down. I'm a tea totaling, boring person now. And the 70's were absolutely crazy. I tried going to college in Santa Cruz. That's just a blur of colors. :) Hey, at least I lived. Now I'm just trying to live. Haha.

It made me ill, and I never watched that kind of stupidity again.

RIP

But it never stopped him- it only slowed him down.

Stupidity or raw courage? You say one, I say the other. I hope we can agree to disagree. :toast:

:toast:

I think the people who are obedient and follow the path are the ones who lie on their deathbeds with big, big regrets.

The ones who leave a trail may have had things they would have done differently or not at all, but if you are sincerely blazing a trail, that's what you focus on.

The worst thing that I could envision for any human being would be to lie on their deathbed thinking "shoulda, woulda, coulda," knowing that it's too late to do anything about it. Knievel did his thing...not my thing, not your thing, not our thing...his thing, and he did it without holding anything back.

Woulda Coulda"? You don't, and neither do I; but it seems just as likely to me that he would have had major regrets after the pain he went through at the end of his life.

...so I'm just guessing that he was doing what he wanted to do.

Some people are born to sit in a cubicle or make widgets while others are born to be Evel Knievel. Maybe he wanted to flip burgers or paint sunsets or conduct symphony orchestras. I'm guessing that he pretty much wanted to jump over shit, and he did.

:patriot:

what a wild man.

He did what he did because he wanted to do it. That should be enough for anyone.

I ride my dirtbike on our local MX track about every month or so, I'v seen a few nasty crashes. One happened right in front of me when a guy landed too short on a jump and I almost landed on top of him. He had a serious chest injury from his body slamming into the handle bars.

I'v taken a few falls myself but luckily I havent gotten seriously hurt yet. Its not all that dangerous of sport as long as you know your limits, hell, pro football players get banged up more than MX riders ;-)

...and they proceed to try to break our own bones until someone's mother saw us and put an end to it.

since Chuck Norris and Ric Flair have endorsed Huckabee, I just assumed that he would also

Ay ay ay, I was just reading earlier this week that he and Kanye West had buried the hatchet, and I was very happy about that.

Glad he was able to go to his reward without that kind of animosity!

He was one hell of a crazy-brave bastard, wasn't he?

Gave us all some very VERY inetersting memories of the 70s.

Thanks, guy.

than the candy-ass leisure suit I wore when I married my first wife...

It was the brown acid.

the leisure suit, or that first marriage?! :D

First marriages can only be blamed on tequila!

:spray:

That's great.

to demonstrate at EK's funeral, the bikers who show up to counterprotest the WBC should attempt to jump over several members of the WBC.

And fail.

What an icon. RIP, dude.

I used live about 1/4 mile from the ramp he used to jump the Snake River. It's still there.

He was the real deal. They sure as hell don't make 'em like that anymore.

because I idolized this guy. My friends and I actually had "wipe-out" contests on our bikes in the street to see who could create the most spectacular crash. Those were good times.

I was standing on the South Rim of the Snake River Canyon on September 8, 1974, when he made his historic leap.

God speed you, Evel. You were an arrogant right-wing crazy asshole, but I loved you.

jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace some years back. :wow:

Yes, he does his stupid human tricks for "our boys" in Iraq. Another sign of the Decline of America.

To each his own. Works better that way.

sometime in the 80's.

RIP.

Evel Knievel living to 69 is a lot like David Crosby getting his new liver.

I mean, I am glad they are both alive (or lived as long as they had), but with their lifestyles...

Damn.

Evil Kumquat

Hep C is a major bitch. Lots more death to come over the next few decades.

What I quickly learn is that Knievel doesn’t just reminisce. He roars down memory lane full throttle, flushed with optimism. Any ambiguities elude him. All is black or white; gray, as far as he’s concerned, is for pussies. The same holds true when he’s mouthing off about politicians. A Barry Goldwater Republican, with a special admiration held for Harry Truman, Knievel steams at the mere mention of George W. Bush. “Believe me,” he says, “we need this Bush like we need a hole in the head. This guy made a terrible mistake going into Iraq. Why we left it up to him to make that decision is beyond me. What is the matter with the sheep in this goddamn country?!”….

And check out the picture of Cheney directly opposite this paragraph.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/11/knievel200711

Talk about placement!!!

I always thought he was a right-wing Republican, though I loved him anyway.

It's good to see that Evel had his head screwed on straight about the Chimperor and his war in Iraq.

God speed you, Evel.

Lots of memorable lines like when Rome asked him why he did the Snake River jump even though he knew it was insane and E.K., after a pregnant pause replied "Do you know who the hell I am?"