Author Topic: Evel Knievel takes his last ride (Read 732 times)

Maverick · « **on:** November 30, 2007, 04:25:16 PM »

He made it to 69, pretty good considering all the crashes he had. An icon from the past is gone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obit_knievel

Jackal1 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 30, 2007, 04:37:27 PM »

Whether you liked or despised Evel, one thing had to be said. He was indeed an icon and an entertainer of the top rank.

Flint · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2007, 04:37:39 PM »

Knievel's wind up bike and ramp is one standout memory of my childhood.

This is the kind of news i wouldn't get over here - childhood hero deceased.

Thanks for the heads up.

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:02:13 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Flint
Knievel's wind up bike and ramp is one standout memory of my childhood.

This is the kind of news i wouldn't get over here - childhood hero deceased.

Thanks for the heads up.

Yep was my favorite toy as a kid for years.

soda72 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:10:52 PM »

Curval · « **Reply #5 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:18:29 PM »

How can you despise Evel Knievel?

He was my IDOL when I was a kid.

I can honestly say that I, nore any of my friends, broke any bones emulating him. TONNES AND TONNES of other injuries...but nothing too serious. A few stiches here and there was all.

A friend of mine tried to jump a high retaining wall in my backyard once. Everything would have been fine, except we forgot about crab holes. The crabs tend to dig right against the highside.

So, when his front wheel approached the wall the grass just gave way just enough to lower the wheel until it was unable to negotiate the wall. The end result was that the wheel stopped dead and my friend did a header...followed by the bike which was whirling end over end in the air. The stand smacked his head as the bike crashed down on top of him and opened his scalp like peeling an orange.

He ran home crying (only a few houses down) trailing blood. When I saw him at school the next day he had a big bald patch on his head where they shaved to stich him up.

lol

I see him all the time to this day. We coach TBall for our kids, and he is the architect (sp?) I use if needed, which we have for all our rennovations.

RIP Evel. We always wanted to be you man.

Rolex · « **Reply #6 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:34:55 PM »

I knew Evel during his heyday. He was a compulsive gambler. I played golf and gin with him in Tamarac, Florida and saw him lose probably $200,000 back when that was a lot of money. When you jump over canyons for a living, it takes some heavy action to get the adrenalin going. I never knew anyone who was a friend of his because he wasn't a very nice guy away from the cameras. I suspect he died without a friend in the world.

ChickenHawk · « **Reply #7 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:37:17 PM »

He was an icon when I was a kid. I wanted that wind up bike so bad but never got one.

Saw several interviews with him in later years and found what a bitter, angry old man he had become and it shattered my illusions of him as a hero.

May he finally rest in peace.

SFRT - Frenchy · « **Reply #8 on:** November 30, 2007, 05:55:11 PM »

The good thing about him was that he said what he had to say, and took responsability for his actions ... which is kind of rare those days.

RifleLance · « **Reply #9 on:** November 30, 2007, 06:07:43 PM »

It is Terrible that Evel had to suffer such a painful and protracted death.

Why good people have to suffer such horrible deaths, I do not know. It does not make any sense to me.

He did have all of the risk factors to get Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, though. One needs to be:

1) Male

2) Over 50

3) A Smoker

All of the many injuries he suffered played a role too, I think. For that was how he got Hepatitis, though one of the many blood transfusions he received. And I'm sure that must have weakened his immune system some too.

I know that he admitted to many sinful acts during his life. But overall, I don't think that one can say that he was really "evil".

SIG 220

john9001 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 30, 2007, 06:10:43 PM »

i wonder how many kids ended up in wheelchairs because of him.

if god wanted motorcycles to fly he would have put wings on them and called them airplanes.

Tigeress · « **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2007, 06:11:14 PM »

Hate to see him go... he was a free spirit.

Good Luck Evil, where ever you are. You were a trip!

TIGERESS

Edit:From a movie in which he played himself: he had been arrested for something and the deputies were teasing him calling him Awful Kanawful... funny how things stick in your mind.

WMLute · « **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2007, 06:28:48 PM »

That was my fav. toy as a kid.

Durn, this sucks.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2007, 07:59:24 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by WMLute

That was my fav. toy as a kid.

Durn, this sucks.

Mine too.

Here's a mint one going for $560 now on ebay:

link

WMLute · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2007, 08:37:23 PM »

The motorcycle and the base thingy that powered it died within' months of getting it, but I bet I had that Evel action figure (with chewed off nose goodness) for years.

Man i'm bummed.