Evel Knieval, C/D?

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Evel Knievel says coping with health problems his biggest battle
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — Former daredevil Evel Knievel says health problems are now his biggest hurdle — to the extent that even his wife Krystal is wary to ride on his motorcycle.
“I hate to be Evel Knievel and told by my wife she doesn’t want to get on a motorcycle with me,” he says.
Knievel, 66, will ride Friday at the fourth annual Evel Knievel Days in Montana. Since his wife won’t join him, though, Knievel says he may have a blowup doll on the bike with him: “A naked blowup doll.”
Knievel says he has been diagnosed with an incurable lung disease and has diabetes and hepatitis. He has constant pain from having steel plates in his back and screws in his ankle, the result of bone-breaking crashes during motorcycle jumps.
But the stuntman says he still loves to ride the motorcycles that made him an icon. However, on a recent outing on a new fuel-injected road machine he had to flag down a passing motorist to help him turn the bike around on a two-lane highway.
Knievel became famous in the 1970s for riding his motorcycle over everything from vehicles to alligators while wearing a red, white and blue jumpsuit. He retired from jumping more than 20 years ago.
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― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 28 July 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

I idol worshipped him as a kid; my dad him, and told me again and again how he had cowardly had some buddies hold a guy while Evel beat him in the stomach with a baseball bat (outside a bar). I still loved my wind-up cycle, though.

― andy --, Thursday, 28 July 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

my dad "despised" him...

― andy --, Thursday, 28 July 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

Ha - my brother had the Evel Knieval doll, complete with its own wind-up motorcycle. We used to make him jump off tables and stuff.

― Land Ho! (dymaxia), Thursday, 28 July 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

we share a birthday, so CLASSIC

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 28 July 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

That wind-up motorcycle ... The plastic frame thing that you stick the motorcyle in with the crank on the side?

Classic. The actual man? Not so classic.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 28 July 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

I saw a great documentary about the rocket car jump... both the unmanned test cars failed miserably, but he decided to go ahead with the jump... he didn't want to let down the kids. He failed miserably, but at least the kids learned a lesson about actually going through with suicidal obligations.

― andy --, Thursday, 28 July 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

Pleasant Plains...so *that's* how it worked. I couldn't remember. Yeah, I guess it had a "launch pad" or something, but that was TOO MUCH FUN. We used to send it down the sidewalk, across the porch, wherever....just to see how long it took before Evel spun out of control.

― Land Ho! (dymaxia), Thursday, 28 July 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

The whole pimp incident alone makes him a total classic.

― Aramyr, Thursday, 28 July 2005 21:40 (twenty years ago)

In 1974 I saw him jump over a dozen or so double-decker buses at the Orange County Speedway. Totally classic!

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 29 July 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

Anyone else out there remember the short-lived TV series with Sam Elliot playing Evel?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 29 July 2005 02:33 (twenty years ago)

Can’t believe this question is being asked, he’s obviously classic!
The hours of fun I had with this…
http://www.feelingretro.com/toy_img/evel.jpg

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Friday, 29 July 2005 08:34 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

R.I.P.

http://www.thewvsr.com/Evel.jpg

― StanM, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 12:57 (eighteen years ago)

RIP

― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 12:59 (eighteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Just watched "Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel" (filmed just a couple months before Evel died) and it's a pretty stunning documentary. (fave scene: Hammond and Evel watching footage of the Caesars crash on the screen of an old drive-in theater)

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 3 January 2008 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

its amazing how inadequate his rig was for jumping. i mean, with 21st century eyes, those were hardly even attempted stunts. he might as well as just driven his bike into a solid brick wall and said "thats all folks!" every year or so.

― Hunt3r, Friday, 4 January 2008 00:52 (eighteen years ago)

seven years pass...

I remember all the hype from the '70s--e.g., his Sports Illustrated cover--well enough that I thought I Am Evel Knievel had a chance to be good. The first half amounts to a lot of people braying about how "badass" he was--dreadful. (Matthew McConaughey's embarrassing.) Somewhat better when it got to Snake River and Wembley Stadium.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 02:21 (ten years ago)

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