Me too. I was just thinking of what ever happened to it. My mother saved a lot of my old toys but I didn’t find it when cleaning her attic out a few years ago
I grew up watching every jump he did. We would get on our bikes and try and jump anything that looked like a challenge. I was 13 my brother was 12. We took a picnic table bench and broke the legs off one end. Then we stacked bricks in the street and put the bench end with the legs on the bricks. We would add a brick every time we jumped. We got to 12 bricks and my brother goes off the ramp and his front wheel came off. He nose dived into the street face first and from the bottom of his lower lip to his chin was pretty much torn off. He jumped up and looked at us and everyone freaked out. He ended up in emergency and came home with a bunch of stitches. The next day I fixed his front wheel and we were right back at it. We put plywood on the trunk of a 68 Chrysler Newport and jumped it. I'm 59 now and after reading some of these comments, I have a lot of respect for our generation. We have the best of everything, music, movies, sports and life.
Then I hate to tell you but most of his televised events were fake. Rubber dummy strapped to a motorcycle sent thru the air type stuff only you were just a kid and didn't know you were being deceived.
I was 11, and the idea of jumping a motorcycle over anything, even a single car back in 1971 was mind blowing. Of course we did not have motocross bikes with long travel suspension yet, so all landings were harsh. Jumping on a street Harley today is inconceivable.
You betcha! All us young lads here in Ontario Canada were glued to any WWOS that broadcasted an Evel Knievel jump! That and NASCAR when NASCAR was NASCAR. Great time to be a boy! 🙂
I grew up in Houston and was there for this jump, six years old. We used to go to motorcross races, flat track races, and stunt shows in the Dome all the time, the 70s were great! The Astrodome was such an amazing building.
I was there. I was 7 years old. I remember how he came out, rode up the ramp and then stopped... I was thinking "huh"? Then he slowly rolled back down the ramp, then came flying out of there and made the jump. Flash bulbs going off all over the dome. After that, all through my childhood, when I built little ramps for my bicycle, I would always roll my front tire up the ramp and then slowly back down before I made my jump. LOL! :D
Wow this brings me back to my great childhood, loved growing up in the 70’s. What a great time, We were all jumping our bicycles thinking we were Evel Knievel thanks for the memories Sir.🙏
The greatest thing I ever got for Christmas was an Evel Knievel wind up cycle with action figure in 1975, Being raised by a single mother we didn't have much but I wanted that for Christmas and Mom got it, Greatest gift ever, I couldn't break it for anything, It was almost as tough as Evel himself, What a legend.
We shared the same Christmas Wish...exactly...it was hard to find during that Christmas and not a cheap toy...I still remember it and how important it was to me...Thank you for the memories
I was raised in Houston and I was 9 for this jump. I can't begin to tell you how many jumps I wiped out on my stingray, banana seat a chopper handle bars but now all I remember is the pain I still feel everyday.
I was there to see it. I was 14. My best friends father brought us. Boy that was a long time ago. I remember the announcer saying it was going to be in the Evel Knievel movie. Im 58 now but remember it well.
Scott Simpson - time is a thief my friend, but at least we can remember it. I wasn't there, but I remember watching Evel on TV so many times. It was great! Archie Guy - agreed the 70s were a great time- it was a different world then.
I love that he calls out modern Dare Devils and tells them to try it on a MC with 4 inch travel in the rear end. This guy was amazing. When he landed I could almost feel my spine compressing..
Congrads...I also Evel in 73', at the Michigan State Fair cow palace, he jumped 15 pickups, there was about two thousand people there...it was intense..!! I was fifteen.
It was so good to be a child in the 70s! You had regular everyday heroes you could try to emulate. I remember Evel was all around and all the kids would be doing stunts and stuff on their bycicles. I was just 6 or 7 back then and too little to own a bike but I figured my trycicle was good enough... sadly, I soon discovered it was impossible to jump anything worth squat in a Trycicle. Smart kid I was, I decided all I needed was more speed, thus I looked around the neighborhood for the street with steppest slope and there I went!!!! it seems I was reaching around 30 mph when I reached terminal speed, which is insane for a trycicle!!! Sadly it ended badly. Lots of bruises and stitches, and I was very lucky I didn't injured myself seriously. I have never done something so insanely stupid like that... but boy, THAT WAS FUN!!!!
Because you asked, I was born in 6️⃣9️⃣, obviously, I was 2, in 71, but I, in 2021 with my kids, ( and grand kids ) still ride bikes, quads, my Harley, & even bicycles !!!! Still I, even after so many crashes through & over the years, 24 total broken bones later, and countless stitches, b/c this guy, he was a HUGE influence on my generation, when I was a kid... GOD WILLING I'll continue to ride !!! 🤙😲😱😁
Honestly, these old jumps are more impressive then jump today, look at the ramps and his bikes, he was a skilled rider, everything had to be perfect, just picture the side of the landing ramp on the take off, with all the presure of dying and with everybody all eyes on him. Amazing
Ah yes.... memories of pretending garbage cans were cars and jumping over them on our bicycles using a ramp we built. Only a couple of us could clear 6! Good times. And yeah, plenty of wipeouts.
Received for Christmas '75 when I was 11yrs. old Evel Knievel toy wind up motorcycle, Toughest damn thing I ever saw, You couldn't damage it if you tried!!!
Man, my parents were having a porch built and there were 8' x 4' boards of plywood as extras. We built those ramps everywhere. Jumped logs of firewood, trash cans, empty glass Pepsi bottles ready for recycling.... I guess that wasn't too smart. Evel Knievel was the man!
I loved growing up in the 70s too. Evil was the shit. Me and my brothers used to run our crank up evil toy down the hallway and jump im the living room. My younger bro even had the chopper evil trike.
I was born in downtown Houston in 1955. I was there for the jump.He had ride in from outside to get up to speed to jump then land and go outside again before returning.Lots of camera flashes going off
I was there for this @ 'The Dome'. I was 11. (We watched the Astrodome being built from parents upstairs bedroom windows.) Anyhoo, it was a cool thing then & remains so today.
I had a really cool experience as an 8 yr old. I was on the golf course at Rivermont Country Club in N Fulton County (Atlanta, Ga) during a charity event. I watched as Evil jumped a golf cart on a dare. Bags and clubs went flying, it overturned. He wasn’t hurt. Fun memories, I’m 60 now 🙂.
My hero in the 70s…my friends and I would use anything we could find to jump anything we could find lol…watched him every time he came on ABC’s Wide World of Sports
Stainless steel balls son that weighed 100lbs each nut polished to a mirror finish.Evel dint fuck around he jumped big heavy ass Harleys and most of the time made it look easy the rest of the time he made it look painful but so death defying.still got my Evel Knevel stunt cycle and action figure from when i was 5 years old one of the best toys i ever got.
we need this kind of American hero/badass today to help forget the worlds pain even for a minute. But sadly no matter how hard we try, there wil never be another Evel Knievel, but we can watch on RU-vid!!!!! Hooray!!!!! And I just cant believe the type of bikes he jumped with, nothing like the supercross we have today or even what Robbie had when he jumped Caesers Palace, amazing Evel didnt fracture his tailbone or any 1 of his vertebrae landing those motorcycles. they were by no means stunt bikes but he sure made them look like they were!! LMFAO
Yeah. His stunts at the time, were a huge deal to millions of people across the world. I think that kind of character doing these kinds of things is not relevant to the people of today. It’s just a different world now. It’s the world of the billionaire doing things with his/her billions. I find it mindnumbingly boring and uninspiring. We have been “extremed” to death.
I was a big Evel Knievel fan when I was a kid. I had the toy bike and action figure. I wish I still had it. It had the plastic pull that made the back wheels spin and the bike would take off with Evel riding. I wore that toy out playing with it so much. RIP Evel ✝️
i was 10 in 1978,i took my moms picnic table,chopped the legs of one end,set up 7 garbage cans,yelled to the house mom come watch this,she opens the door as im peddling my huffy as fast as it would go,as i approached the take of ramp,(moms table) i hear ,if ya break your legs im not taking you to the hospital!!!!to this day she still gives me sh!t about ruining her table,and yes, i made it with room for one more can,a neighborhood record that stood for 6 years.........my claim to fame.....lol and evel was the only reason my dad would watch tv.....
I own one of them old laverda SF750,s. Being a pretty heavy bike its amazing to think ol evel had no fear jumping with them,(or anything for that matter),s. I believe his american eagle 750,s jump bikes still exist....respect !
Evel Knievel rocks. Of course, what junior high male would say different? but as an adult and look closer, he was a marketing genius. Still, good memories and I had the EK doll/motorcycle, etc.
1 of a kind deredevil. He got some balls to be flying through the air and on a bike not for that kinda thing. On todays bikes, he'd be jumping the moon
Just watched the Bionic Woman episode with Evel and they showed the Astrodome stock footage as the jump he did at the end of the episode. With a title called "Motorcycle Boogie" how can you go wrong?
You must have forgot. Superman was a strange visitor from another planet.Which would qualify him as an illegal alien and not a man.He wouldn't be allowed over the Wall today.LoL and smiling too!
Nothing like jumping a Harley Davidson with my minimal wheel travel. The reason that the new bikes can do it is weight and massive wheel travel. The XR750 was basically a flat track bike.
Had he never crashed, not once ever , fans would have lost interest very quick. Evel made his fortune from those crashes but paid for it with his health .
I was 13, this incredible man was bigger than live, some are just made of a little better stuff, I would put him comparable to Earnhardt the man, as for legendary status.
Why is the landing ramp extended over the last 3 cars,which isnt the actual landing ramp,its painted dark color,while the actual landing ramp is white. ....Technically he didnt have enough speed to make it to the landing ramp if u watch it in slowmo .
He jumped ,Triumps ,then moved To Harley Sportsters ,No Speedomiter ,went by Feel ,470 pound Bike ,Not the 200 lbs of some of todays bikes ,,NO THERE WILL NEVER EVER BE ANOTHER ,,HE HAD HEART ,WAS NOT WITHOUT FAULT ,,BUT MADE KIDS HAPPY AND THE WORLD A LOT BETTER PLACE ,BROUGHT ALOT OF JOY BUT PAIDED A HEAVY PRICE TO ,NO HES IN GODS WORLD IM SURE FEELING BETTER AND TALKING OLD TIMES ,,WHO KNOWS HE MIGHT BE BACK TO DOING STUNTS IN HEAVEN
I believe you are correct about that safety ramp covering the last 4 cars if you stop it at time stamp 125 it looks like he would not have made it what do you think??
i believe an american eagle, the tank has a an eagle on the tank. i think he rode this piece of crap because they paid him well. soon after he switched to a harley the most of the jumps after where a HD xr750
