Clip of the Week - December 3/07

As you may have heard, one of my boyhood heroes passed away this past weekend. Evel Knievel died on Friday in Florida at the age of 69 after a lengthy illness. He suffered from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. He also had a liver transplant in 1999 after he almost died from hepatitis C, a disease that he likely got through a blood transfusion.

Growing up in the 70's there was nobody more exciting than the legendary Evel Knievel. What boy didn't pretend to be him at one time or another as we set up ramps on the street and rode our bikes off them while jumping our buddies lying on their backs. How we didn't kill anyone I'll never know. Evel was a hero to many young boys with his throw caution to the wind attitude.

I also recall playing for hours with my Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle that you'd attach to this mechanism which you then cranked up and upon releasing; the motorcycle with an Evel action figure along for the ride would race across the floor. I never owned an Evel Knievel lunchbox but I know some guys who did and boy was I jealous.

Knievel made a name for himself by cheating death over and over again. He used his motorcycle to jump cars, double-decker buses, the fountain at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and of course his failed attempt at crossing the Snake River Canyon in is jet powered "Skycycle" made his a household name.

Below is video taken of his failed attempt to jump the Caesar's Palace fountain. Actually, he cleared the fountain but botched the landing as he lost speed during the takeoff. As a result of the crash, Knievel received a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in a coma for 29 days.