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weasle
Supporter
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Posted: Wed Dec 12th, 2007 12:27 pm |
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| have seen bubba blackwell in person , he,s good but i dont think he,ll ever be as good as kanevil . imho.
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Dave
Supporter
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Posted: Wed Dec 12th, 2007 01:40 am |
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From a local Stealer's newletter....
Farewell to America's Legendary Daredevil: "Evel" Knievel
America's greatest daredevil is gone: on Friday, November 30 Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel succumbed to lung disease and died at age 69. It always felt like the world's most famous Harley rider had cheated death for years.
Knievel became an international icon in the '70s with jumps over crazy obstacles, including trucks, buses, live sharks, the fountains at Caesar's Palace, and the Snake River Canyon, though he may be remembered more for his spectacular crashes. With his patriotic caped jumpsuits, he was a fixture on ABC's "Wide World of Sports," his stunts perennial ratings-grabbers.
Immortalized in the Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," the 35-40 bones he broke over his death-defying career made the Guinness Book of Records.
Of course, Evel Knievel did not always crash. Statistically, most of his 300-odd jumps were successes. Some of his most celebrated jumps were done aboard a customized 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750, a light, dependable racing machine capable of reaching 90-100 miles per hour up the takeoff ramp and launching man and machine as far as 165 feet.
"Harley-Davidson is the finest company in the world," he once stated. He rode bikes, he said, because life was boring otherwise.
Born in the copper mining town of Butte, Montana, on Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel traced his career choice back to the time he saw Joey Chitwood's Auto Daredevil Show at age 8.
In 1965, while selling motorcycles in Moses Lake, Washington, he did tricks to draw in customers: jumping a car, then a car and a 20-foot box of rattlesnakes, then two cars, rattlers and a mountain lion, until a crowd came to watch him.
"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel once said.
His exploits even spawned a few movies. George Hamilton, Kurt Russell and Sam Elliott each portrayed the fearless showman, and Knievel played himself in 1977's fictionalized "Viva Knievel!"
Evel Knievel toys accounted for more than $300 million in sales for Ideal and other companies in the 1970s and '80s.
Knievel retired in 1981, and many of his records have been broken by fellow Harley-riding stuntman Bubba Blackwell, who watched Evel Knievel jump for the first time on television when he was 8, and determined that someday he'd be a daredevil himself.
These images came from a guy on another board that attended....
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02832.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02822.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...evel/evel1.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02827.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02830.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02825.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02820.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02819.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02814.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...l/DSC02815.jpg
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weasle
Supporter
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Posted: Sat Dec 1st, 2007 01:49 pm |
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| saw where he passed away ,on tv last night . quite a unique fellow.
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jeffy ole boy
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 11:59 pm |
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Dave wrote: Yeah, he did inspire a lot of us to make ramps and try jumps. The man is a legend...
R.I.P.... Ramps reminds me of an accident about 5 yrs ago that occurred in my back yard. I had bought my son a 125 YZ Yamaha dirt bike and he got pretty racey with it and one day wanted to try some ramping. So he setup some boards and so forth but was only getting a few ft of air. So me wanting to make it bigger and better suggest we place a few concrete blocks under some plywood and the boards. Well he twist the wick and hit it and went I would guess 10 ft in the air the front wheel came down first - he crashed and broke his collar bone. I wanted to go hide in a hole. Bad ramp design.. LOL!
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Dave
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 11:43 pm |
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Yeah, he did inspire a lot of us to make ramps and try jumps. The man is a legend...
R.I.P....
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Randy in Pensacola
Supporter
| Joined: | Wed Nov 3rd, 2004 |
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| Posts: | 870 |
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 09:46 pm |
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Mikey wrote: I tried alot of stupid stunts because of him..LOL...wouldn't trade it for anything.. That aint no shit..........He was the cause of allot of grey hairs on my Moms head. My Dad got me my first mimibike when I was 8....The first thing I did was build a ramp and crash it....LOL
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Mikey
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 09:41 pm |
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| I tried alot of stupid stunts because of him..LOL...wouldn't trade it for anything..
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jeffy ole boy
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 09:36 pm |
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He was my hero back in the 70's.. Dad and I always tuned in for his jumps on TV. Hate to hear that.. 
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Randy in Pensacola
Supporter
| Joined: | Wed Nov 3rd, 2004 |
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| Posts: | 870 |
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 09:18 pm |
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| Rest In Peace. Thank you for all the great shows. You will not be forgotten.
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Mikey
Supporter
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Posted: Fri Nov 30th, 2007 09:10 pm |
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| http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obit_knievel
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Current time is 12:51 pm | |
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