I'm drinking one for Evel tonight

Rip.......

The daredevil icon of the '70's, Evel Knievel, has ridden that motorcycle into the sky!

May you rest in peace, Mr. Knievel!

I'm going to lay all my kegs on the ground, end to end, and attempt to jump over them all.

If I survive, I'll drink one for Evel.

Thread merger #1.

Did he die in the hop fire or did he hit that Grolsh truck?

So long Evel Knievel. I thought you were the coolest thing ever when I was a kid and had several of your toys including the cycle with the ramps and that awesome crash-up car.

God I wish I still had those. I'll hoist one for your tonight.

If ever walked a man who got more living done in 69 years, I'd like to meet him.

RIP.

Some video

[YOUTUBE]Q2xwO1ciEKo[/YOUTUBE]

...and for those that don't remember the awesome-ness of the crash car

[YOUTUBE]EuyKbEFZ21M[/YOUTUBE]

I'll toast one to Evel. He inspired most of my stupid bike and skateboard jumps when I was a kid.

rdwj said:

...and for those that don't remember the awesome-ness of the crash car

[YOUTUBE]EuyKbEFZ21M[/YOUTUBE]

Click to expand...

Aww man, I haven't seen that in 20 years. I used to love that toy.Thanks...

His act "jumped the shark" years ago.

Cheesefood said:

His act "jumped the shark" years ago.

Click to expand...

I was looking for that video - can't seem to find it

This guy was a hero of mine as a kid growing up in the early 70s. I had the cars and motorcycle toys. I had t-shirts. I watched the live network jumps and Wide World of Sports events when he became a household name. I watched the made for TV movies, with Evel riding his bike up the front steps of the sorority/dorm of his girlfriend and tearing around the place. I swear he was on one of the Bigfoot meets the 6 million dollar man episodes!

I'm not saying I cried at today's news, but I definitely lost my smile and reminisced for a while. Like many of you posting the videos, I'm 39, an early Gen x'er, and this guy was one of my inspirations for sheer stupidity in my youth. He was extreme sports long before the Powell and Peralta bones videos, and Tony Hawk, and Travis Pastrana.

Man, this guy was cool.

ma2brew said:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/11/30/kneviel.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

Click to expand...

i had at least 3 for him.

I rarely need a reason to hoist a pint, but this is a good cause. I may have to make it 4 or 5.

What's sad is that he just settled his beef with Kanye West, too. He could have been in the next video.

Flyin' Lion said:

What's sad is that he just settled his beef with Kanye West, too. He could have been in the next video.

Click to expand...

Whoo boy....this probably shows my age, but who the hell is Kanye West?

I destroyed a 1971 Sears Screamer 1 5 speed bicycle trying to be the 11 year old equivalent of Knievel in 1975. I've seen some of those going for 700 bucks on ebay. Wonder how may destroyed muscle bicycles from the '70's Knievel was indirectly responsable for?

I've got a copy of the George Hamilton movie on DVD. Guess tomorrow I'll pop it into the player, pour a few.....

Allan