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84-456: Knievel is a surname of German origin. Notable people with the surname include: Evel Knievel (1938–2007), American stuntman and daredevil Robbie Knievel (1962–2023), American daredevil, son of Evel See also [ edit ] Evel Knievel (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Knievel . If an internal link intending to refer to

168-845: A monorail for American cities. The AMF Monorail was exhibited at the 1964 New York World's Fair , where it traversed a continuous elevated loop around the amusement section of the fair. It was displayed as a practical form of future transportation. In 1971, American Machine and Foundry was renamed AMF. For many years, the company produced a wide variety of sport and leisure equipment, including Roadmaster bicycles, Harley-Davidson motorcycles (1969–1981), Head snow skis and tennis racquets (1969–1985), snowmobiles, lawn and garden equipment, (including manufacturing for Sears Craftsman . The models typically start with "536") Ben Hogan golf clubs (1960–1985), Voit inflatable balls, exercise equipment (including exercycles ), motorized bicycles , mopeds , SlickCraft powerboats (1969–80), Alcort sailboats (including

252-440: A pretzel bender, an automatic baked pretzel-twisting machine that rolled and tied them at the rate of 50 a minute, more than twice as fast as skilled hand twisters. It then conveyed them through the baking and salting process. To expand its line of recreational equipment, AMF bought W. J. Voit Rubber Corp. (tread rubber, scuba gear), Ben Hogan Co. (golfing equipment), and Wen-Mac Corp. (engine-powered toy airplanes). In 1954,

336-455: A 1968 interview, Knievel stated, "I don't care if they say, 'Look, kid, you're going to drive that thing off the edge of the Canyon and die,' I'm going to do it. I want to be the first. If they'd let me go to the moon, I'd crawl all the way to Cape Kennedy just to do it. I'd like to go to the moon, but I don't want to be the second man to go there." For the next several years, Knievel negotiated with

420-473: A decline in his daredevil career, Knievel made a marketing comeback in the 1990s and continued to be involved in various ventures. Knievel died on November 30, 2007, at the age of 69 due to diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis . He was buried in his hometown of Butte, Montana. Posthumously, Knievel has been honored through various exhibits, a museum, and tribute jumps. His legacy also lives on in television commercials featuring his iconic stunts. Knievel

504-477: A few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon from which it had been launched. If he had landed in the water, Knievel said that he would have drowned, due to a harness malfunction that kept him strapped in the vehicle. He survived the failed jump with only minor physical injuries. Since the 1974 launch, seven daredevils have expressed interest in recreating the jump, including Knievel's two sons, Robbie and Kelly. In 2010, Robbie announced he would recreate

588-481: A few months on the job, he quit. Wanting a new start away from Butte, Knievel moved his family to Moses Lake, Washington . There, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership and promoted motocross racing. During the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition of their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership eventually closed. After

672-457: A film of the Caesars jump. To keep costs low, Derek employed his then-wife Linda Evans as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed the famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed his last $ 100 on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by the bar, and had a shot of Wild Turkey , and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of

756-765: A guest of ABC's The Joey Bishop Show . While in Las Vegas to watch Dick Tiger successfully defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight titles at the Convention Center on November 17, 1967, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace and decided to jump them. To get an audience with casino CEO Jay Sarno , Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Sports Illustrated inquiring about

840-440: A jump over 13 redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term "London Buses" used in earlier publicity had led to the belief that the attempt was to be made over the higher and more traditional AEC Routemaster double-decker type). After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating, "Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I've got to tell you that you are

924-570: A jump, took place in March 1980 in Puerto Rico. However, Knievel would officially finish his career as a daredevil as a touring "companion" of Robbie's, limiting his performance to speaking only, rather than stunt riding. His final tour appearance with Robbie was in March 1981 in Hollywood, Florida . American Machine and Foundry The company was founded in 1900 by Rufus L. Patterson Jr. , inventor of

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1008-529: A more substantial amount of money he would need to hire more performers, stunt coordinators, and other personnel so that he could concentrate on the jumps. With little money, he went looking for a sponsor and found one in Bob Blair, owner of ZDS Motors, Inc., the West Coast distributor for Berliner Motor Corporation , a distributor for Norton Motorcycles . Blair offered to provide the needed motorcycles, but he wanted

1092-586: A new International Style -office tower at 261 Madison Avenue. Given naming rights, the AMF logo appeared in the Manhattan skyline. The bowling division ultimately outgrew the space and in 1960 moved to Long Island ( Westbury, New York ); corporate headquarters was relocated in 1971 to White Plains, New York . In the early 1960s, American Machine and Foundry partnered with the French company SAFEGE to design, construct and market

1176-711: A new world record by jumping 19 cars with his Harley-Davidson XR-750 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California . The 19-car jump was shot for the biopic Evel Knievel . Knievel held the record for 27 years until Bubba Blackwell jumped 20 cars in 1998 with an XR-750. In 2015, Doug Danger surpassed that number with 22 cars, accomplishing this feat on Evel Knievel's actual vintage 1972 Harley-Davidson XR-750. On May 10, 1970, Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 13 Pepsi delivery trucks in Yakima, WA. His approach

1260-719: A one-day $ 1   million liability insurance to the amusement park. Lloyd's of London offered liability insurance for $ 17,500. Knievel eventually paid $ 2,500 to a U.S.-based insurance company. To keep his name in the news, Knievel proposed his biggest stunt ever, a motorcycle jump across the Grand Canyon . Just five months after his near-fatal crash in Las Vegas, Knievel performed another jump. On May 25, 1968, in Scottsdale, Arizona , Knievel crashed while attempting to jump 15 Ford Mustangs . Knievel ended up breaking his right leg and foot as

1344-493: A result of the crash. On August 3, 1968, Knievel returned to jumping, making more money than ever before. He was earning approximately $ 25,000 per performance, and he was making successful jumps almost weekly until October 13, in Carson City, Nevada . While trying to stick the landing, he lost control of the bike and crashed, breaking his hip again. By 1971, Knievel realized that the U.S. government would never allow him to jump

1428-508: A severely broken arm and several broken ribs. The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall. With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car. On March 25, 1967, Knievel cleared 15 cars at Ascot Park in Gardena, California . Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington , where he had his next serious crash. Landing his cycle on

1512-625: A specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knievel&oldid=1133617504 " Categories : Surnames German-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Evel Knievel Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel ( / ˈ iː v ə l k ə ˈ n iː v ə l / ),

1596-472: A time, AMF owned Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Aging production facilities and increasing quality control problems in some product lines caused sales declines in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The company's vast diversified output proved difficult to efficiently manage and, after suffering a series of losses, the company sold off its operations. In 1943, Patterson's son, Morehead Patterson , took over AMF. After World War II ended, Patterson determined that

1680-531: A time, the Italian scuba diving equipment manufacturer Mares was part of AMF, and was able to secure the rights to the MR-12 regulator , previously made by Voit, and to continue manufacture of the regulator. Mares would revert to being an independent manufacturer after AMF was sold. It eventually became part of a worldwide consortium of sports equipment companies, including another former AMF division, Head. In 1985, AMF

1764-644: The Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime". However, this number could be exaggerated: his son Robbie told a reporter in June 2014 that his father had broken 40 to 50 bones; Knievel himself claimed he broke 35. Although Knievel never attempted to jump the Grand Canyon, rumors of the Canyon jump were started by Knievel himself in 1968, following the Caesars Palace crash. During

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1848-571: The 1960 Winter Olympics (to be held in California). Knievel was ejected from the game minutes into the third period and left the stadium. When the Czechoslovakian officials went to the box office to collect the expense money that the team was promised, workers discovered the game receipts had been stolen. The United States Olympic Committee ended up paying the Czechoslovakian team's expenses to avoid an international incident. Knievel tried out with

1932-599: The Caesars Palace jump was longer, it ended in a crash). In the end, Knievel was featured in seven of the ten highest-rated episodes of ABC's Wide World of Sports . After the Kings Island jump, Knievel again announced his retirement. His retirement was once again short-lived, and Knievel continued to jump. However, after the lengthy Kings Island jump, Knievel limited the remainder of his career jumps to shorter and more attainable lengths. Knievel jumped on October 31, 1976, at

2016-644: The Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959, but decided that a traveling team was not for him. After the birth of his first son, Kelly, Knievel realized that he needed to come up with a new way to support his family financially. Using the hunting and fishing skills taught to him by his grandfather, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service. He guaranteed that if a hunter employed his service and paid his fee, he would get

2100-516: The Combined Insurance Company of America , working for W. Clement Stone . Stone suggested that Knievel read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude , a book that Stone wrote with Napoleon Hill . Knievel credited much of his later success to Stone and his book. Knievel was successful as an insurance salesman, but felt that his efforts were being unrecognized. When the company refused to promote him to vice president after he had been

2184-660: The Cow Palace in Daly City, California , after making a successful jump, he tried to come to a quick stop because of a short landing area. He reportedly suffered a broken back and a concussion after getting thrown off and run over by his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. Knievel returned to jumping in November 1973, when he successfully jumped over 50 stacked cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . For 35 years, Knievel held

2268-616: The Little 500 bicycle race. Despite this product placement , the film's protagonist expressed a preference for his lightweight Italian Masi road racing bike, deriding the elderly Roadmaster as a "piece of junk". In 1997, the Roadmaster bicycle division was sold to the Brunswick Corporation . However, it became evident that production of low-cost, mass-market bicycles in the US was not viable in

2352-809: The Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket-powered cycle called the Skycycle X-2. The jump failed after the parachute deployed prematurely, but Knievel survived with minor injuries. Knievel sought to profit from his image through endorsements and marketing deals. American Eagle Motorcycles signed him, and his popularity grew with young boys. From 1972 to 1977, Ideal Toy Company sold over $ 125 million worth of Knievel toys. Knievel's fame led to TV appearances and partnerships with companies like AMF and Harley-Davidson . However, after an assault conviction and jail time, he lost endorsements and declared bankruptcy. Despite

2436-550: The Sunfish and the Hilu ; 1969–86), Hatteras Yachts , and scuba gear . In the late 1970s, in a reference to its numerous leisure product lines, the company began a TV advertising campaign centered on the slogan "AMF, we make weekends". For a short time, the company owned Dewalt Tools (1949–1960), and manufactured gymnastics equipment under the AMF brand. The gymnastics division was later spun off to form American Athletic (AAI) which used

2520-456: The Caesars staff, as well as two showgirls. After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm-up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he said later, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto

2604-580: The Grand Canyon. To keep his fans interested, Knievel considered several other stunts that might match the publicity that would have been generated by jumping the canyon. Ideas included jumping across the Mississippi River , jumping from one skyscraper to another in New York City, and jumping over 13 cars inside the Houston Astrodome . While flying back to Butte from a performance tour, he looked out

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2688-582: The Seattle Kingdome. He jumped only seven Greyhound buses but it was a success. Despite the crowd's pleasure, Knievel felt that it was not his best jump, and apologized to the crowd. On January 31, 1977, Knievel was scheduled for a major jump in Chicago , Illinois . The jump was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws . Knievel was scheduled to jump a tank full of live sharks which would be televised live nationally. However, during his rehearsal, Knievel lost control of

2772-542: The Soviet Union . Later he became the fourth director of the Central Intelligence Agency . Until the mid-1980s, AMF's range of consumer goods included powered model airplanes , snow skis , lawn and garden equipment, Ben Hogan golf clubs, Voit inflatable balls, exercycles and exercise equipment, Hatteras Yachts , Alcort Sailboats , Nimble bicycles, motorized bicycles , mopeds , and scuba gear . For

2856-603: The UK company Venner in 1970. By the late 1970s, the company encountered difficulties. The absence of stable management (the company had seven presidents between 1972 and 1982), aging production facilities, rising labor costs, and the inability of AMF to operate efficiently and control its many product divisions from headquarters in White Plains, New York, contributed to a steady decline in sales and profits. Unlike large Japanese corporations such as Matsushita Electric Industrial (owners of

2940-553: The X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build two Skycycle X-2s , one to test and one for the actual jump. Both the X-1 and the X-2 test vehicles went into the river. The launch took place at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls , on September 8, 1974, at 3:36 p.m. MDT . The steam that powered

3024-549: The age of eight, Knievel attended a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show, which he credited for his later career choice as a motorcycle daredevil . Knievel was a cousin of Democratic U.S. Representative from Montana , Pat Williams (b. 1937). Knievel left Butte High School after his sophomore year and got a job in the copper mines as a diamond drill operator with the Anaconda Mining Company , but he preferred motorbiking to what he called "unimportant stuff". He

3108-550: The bicycle manufacturing business with its newly formed AMF Wheel Goods Division. After a prolonged labor strike in 1953, AMF moved bicycle manufacturing from a UAW -organized plant in Cleveland , Ohio, to a new facility in Little Rock , Arkansas . The new plant was heavily automated and featured more than a mile of conveyor belts in six separate systems, including an electrostatic induction painting operation. Taking advantage of

3192-669: The big game animal desired or Knievel would refund his fee. Knievel, after learning about the culling of elk in Yellowstone, decided to hitchhike from Butte to Washington, D.C. , in December 1961 to raise awareness and to have the elk relocated to areas where hunting was permitted. After this conspicuous trek (he hitchhiked with a 54-inch-wide (1.4-meter) rack of elk antlers and a petition with 3,000 signatures), he presented his case to Representative Arnold Olsen , Senator Mike Mansfield , and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall . Culling

3276-522: The brand Panasonic ), which had a standing corporate policy of discontinuing any product line or division in which they were not able to stay in first or second place in total market sales, AMF continued a practice of purchasing new companies in unfamiliar markets, while simultaneously failing to reorganize and modernize its core operations. As a result, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company lost an average of $ 8 million per year. Some subsidiaries were sold, including Harley-Davidson in 1981. For

3360-589: The closure, Knievel went to work for Don Pomeroy at his motorcycle shop in Sunnyside, Washington . Pomeroy's son, Jim Pomeroy , who went on to compete in the Motocross World Championship , taught Knievel how to do a wheelie and ride while standing on the seat of the bike. As a boy, Knievel had seen the Joie Chitwood show. He decided that he could do something similar using a motorcycle. Promoting

3444-483: The common movie posters for the film depicts Knievel jumping his motorcycle off a (likely) Grand Canyon cliff. In 1999, his son Robbie jumped a portion of the Grand Canyon owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation. ABC's Wide World of Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum 's company, Top Rank Productions, to put

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3528-449: The company acquired Potter and Brumfield, a manufacturer of electrical relays. By 1961, AMF controlled and operated 42 plants and 19 research facilities in 17 different countries, producing everything from remote-controlled toy airplanes to ICBM launching systems. AMF was the builder of the launching silos for the Titan and Atlas ICBMs , and also developed the rail-car launching system for

3612-554: The company had to "grow or die". One of AMF's post-World War II ventures was AMF Atomics : a division that made "low-dose irradiation equipment" for "the US Army Quartermaster Corps' bulk- food irradiation program". In a masterstroke of top executive recruitment, Patterson hired top US government cold warrior Walter Bedell Smith , whose leadership positions at the Pentagon , US State Department and CIA made AMF one of

3696-526: The company — had fallen to an all-time low. Bicycles made at the Olney plant were manufactured so poorly that some Midwestern bike shops refused to repair them, claiming that the bikes would not stay fixed no matter how much labor and effort was put into them. The division's problems with quality and outside competition were neatly summed up in a 1979 American film, Breaking Away , in which identical secondhand AMF Roadmaster track bicycles were used by competitors in

3780-467: The company's principal bicycle manufacturing location until the 1990s. After two decades of consistent growth, the AMF Wheel Goods Division stalled under the long-distance management of a parent company bogged down in layers of corporate management and marginally profitable product lines. Manufacturing quality as well as the technical standards of the Roadmaster bicycle line — once the pride of

3864-556: The copper mines but was later fired for causing a city-wide power outage. After adopting the nickname "Evel Knievel", he participated in rodeos and ski jumping events, and served in the U.S. Army before marrying Linda Joan Bork and starting a semi-pro hockey team. To support his family, Knievel started the Sur-Kill Guide Service and later worked as an insurance salesman. Eventually, he opened a Honda motorcycle dealership in Washington , but faced difficulties promoting Japanese imports. After

3948-473: The country with French assistance. Patterson encountered a prototype of an automatic bowling pin setter in the 1940s. To get the cash to develop the invention, Patterson swapped AMF stock to acquire eight small companies with fast-selling products. After incorporating key features developed by Leslie L. LeVeque, the AMF Pinspotter was perfected and put on the market in 1952, and helped to turn bowling into

4032-474: The dealership closed, Knievel worked at a motorcycle shop where he learned motocross stunts that would later contribute to his daredevil career. Knievel's most famous stunt was an attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace , which resulted in severe injuries. Despite never successfully jumping the Grand Canyon , Knievel became a legendary figure, breaking numerous records and bones throughout his career. On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to jump across

4116-430: The documentary Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story . Later that year on the sitcom Happy Days , motorcycle-riding character Fonzie ( Henry Winkler ) performed a similar trick, albeit on waterskis, inspiring the creation of the phrase " jump the shark ." Afterward, Knievel retired from major performances and limited his appearances to smaller venues to help launch Robbie's career. His last stunt show, not including

4200-457: The engine was superheated to a temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). The drogue parachute prematurely deployed as the Skycycle left the launching rail and induced significant drag . Even though the craft made it across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing northwest winds caused it to drift back into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only

4284-478: The event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters. Investors in the event took a substantial loss, including promoter Don   E. Branker, as well as Vince McMahon of what was then called the World Wide Wrestling Federation . Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman 's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: first, the necessary financing for

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4368-515: The face of foreign competition, and in 1999, all U.S. production of Roadmaster bicycles ceased. Brunswick sold its bicycle division and the Roadmaster brand to Pacific Cycle , which began distributing a new Roadmaster line of bicycles imported from Taiwan and the People's Republic of China . Pacific Cycle still uses the Olney facility for corporate offices and as a product inventory and distribution center. In 1949, American Machine and Foundry developed

4452-469: The federal government to secure a jumping site and develop various concept bikes to make the jump, but the Interior Department denied him airspace over the northern Arizona canyon. Knievel switched his attention in 1971 to the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho . In the 1971 film Evel Knievel , George Hamilton (as Knievel) alludes to the canyon jump in the final scene of the movie. One of

4536-511: The first automated cigarette manufacturing machine. Originally incorporated in New Jersey but operating in Brooklyn , New York City , New York , the company began by manufacturing cigarette, baking, and stitching machines. After World War II , AMF manufactured automated bowling equipment, and bowling centers became profitable business ventures. Bicycle production was added in 1950. The company

4620-442: The increase in its target markets in the aftermath of the baby boom, AMF was able to diversify its product line, adding exercise equipment under the brand name Vitamaster in 1950. As demand for bicycles continued to expand, the company needed a new manufacturing facility to keep up with demand. In 1962, the company moved its operations to Olney, Illinois , where it built a new factory on a 122-acre (0.49 km ) site that would remain

4704-574: The jump, and second, the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel hired aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to jump across the Snake River , and called it the Skycycle X-1. Malewicki's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax . On April 15, 1972,

4788-578: The jump. Stuntman Eddie Braun announced he was working with Kelly and Robert Truax's son to recreate the jump using a replica of the Skycycle X-2. Braun's jump took place on September 16, 2016, and was completed successfully. After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping with ABC's Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On May 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London , Knievel crashed while trying to land

4872-465: The jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and arranged for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on their popular Wide World of Sports . ABC declined but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later. Knievel, at the age of 29, used his own money to have actor/director John Derek produce

4956-582: The last people in the world who will ever see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I'm through." Near shock and ignoring Frank Gifford 's (of ABC's Wide World of Sports ) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley pitch stating, "I came in walking, I went out walking!" After recuperating, Knievel decided that he had spoken too soon and that he would continue jumping. On October 25, 1975, Knievel jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio . Although Knievel landed on

5040-495: The last vehicle, a panel truck, Knievel was thrown from his bike. This time he suffered a serious concussion. After a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show; but the result was the same, only this time the injuries were more serious. Again coming up short, Knievel crashed, breaking his left wrist, right knee, and two ribs. Knievel first received national exposure on March 18, 1968, when comedian and late-night talk show host Joey Bishop had him on as

5124-615: The most popular US participative, competitive sport. AMF became a major manufacturer of pinsetters, bowling pins, bowling balls , and other bowling equipment, and owned and operated numerous bowling centers. AMF Bowling Products maintained its headquarters in Shelby, Ohio , until 1988. In 1950, after purchasing the Roadmaster line of children's and youth bicycles from the Cleveland Welding Company, American Machine and Foundry entered

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5208-407: The motorcycle and crashed into a cameraman. Although Knievel broke his arms, he was more distraught over what he claimed was a permanent eye injury to cameraman Thomas Geren. The cameraman was admitted to the hospital and received treatment for an injury near his eye, but received no permanent injury. The footage of this crash was so upsetting to Knievel that he did not show the clip for 19 years until

5292-529: The name changed from Bobby Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils Thrill Show to Evil Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils . Knievel did not want his image to be that of a Hells Angels rider, so he convinced Blair to at least allow him to use the spelling Evel instead of Evil . Knievel and his daredevils debuted on January 3, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio, California . The second booking

5376-460: The pavement where he skidded into the Dunes hotel parking lot. As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist, and both ankles, and a concussion that kept him in the hospital. Rumors circulated that he was in a coma for 29 days in the hospital, but this was refuted by his wife and others in the documentary film Being Evel . The Caesars Palace crash

5460-499: The performance he had started almost a month earlier. Knievel's daredevil show broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing. After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act. To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars. He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to

5544-653: The pillars of the US military-industrial complex during the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1950s, the company won a contract for designing and constructing "a small 1 MW swimming pool-type reactor" at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Israel, which for a short time helped the Israelis conceal the fact that they were also building the Negev Nuclear Research Center for military purposes elsewhere in

5628-536: The record for jumping the most stacked cars on a Harley-Davidson XR-750 (the record was broken in October 2008). His historic XR-750 is now part of the collection of the Smithsonian 's National Museum of American History . Made of steel, aluminum, and fiberglass, the customized motorcycle weighs about 140 kilograms (300 pounds). During his career, Knievel may have suffered more than 433 bone fractures, earning an entry in

5712-421: The safety deck above the 14th bus, his landing was successful and he held the record for jumping the most buses on a Harley-Davidson for 24 years (until broken by Bubba Blackwell in late 1999 with 15 at 157 feet (48 m)). The Kings Island event scored the highest viewer ratings in the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports and would serve as Knievel's longest successful jump at 133 feet (41 m) (although

5796-432: The same logo as AMF but with different text. New and improved exercycles, such as the Computrim line, the first to incorporate an electronic heart monitor , were introduced. AMF also acquired a recreational motor home division named Atlas Recreational Vehicles of Mason City, Iowa , which was disbanded after heavy losses following the fuel crisis of the early 1970s. For a while the company made time switches , taking over

5880-405: The same venue to get people to come out and see him again. Knievel had not had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19 in Missoula, Montana , he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van. The distance he had for takeoff did not allow him to get up enough speed. His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp. Knievel ended up with

5964-442: The show himself, Knievel rented the venue, wrote the press releases, set up the show, sold the tickets, and served as his own master of ceremonies. After enticing the small crowd with a few wheelies, he proceeded to jump a 20-foot-long (6.1-meter) box of rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. Despite landing short and his back wheel hitting the box containing the rattlesnakes, Knievel managed to land safely. Knievel realized that to make

6048-515: The solid-fueled Minuteman missile . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the company ran neck-and-neck with General Dynamics in the construction of nuclear power reactors. AMF sold Pakistan and Iran their first nuclear reactors. Peter Karter was among the engineers working on the reactors AMF built in Pakistan and Iran under the Atoms for Peace program. In 1953, company headquarters moved into

6132-520: The track team, where he was a pole vaulter . After his army stint, Knievel returned to Butte, where he met and married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork. Shortly after getting married, Knievel started the Butte Bombers, a semi-pro hockey team. To help promote his team and earn some money, he convinced the Czechoslovakian Olympic ice hockey team to play the Butte Bombers in a warm-up game to

6216-642: The window of his airplane and saw the Snake River Canyon. After finding a location just east of Twin Falls, Idaho , that was wide enough, deep enough, and on private property, he leased 300 acres (1.2 square kilometers) for $ 35,000 to stage his jump. He set the date for Labor Day (September 4), 1972. On January 7–8, 1971, Knievel set a sales record at the Houston Astrodome by selling over 100,000 tickets to back-to-back performances there. On February 28, he set

6300-451: Was Knievel's longest attempted motorcycle jump at 141 feet (43 m). After his crash and recovery, Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC declined to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. The Caesars Palace historical jump video is now owned by K and K Promotions, Inc which is the successor in interest and owner of all Evel Knievel trademarks, film footage, and copyrights. In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett , Knievel stated that he

6384-606: Was a man named William Knofel, who had the nickname “Awful Knofel”; this led to Knievel being referred to as “Evel Knievel”. Seeking new thrills and challenges, Knievel participated in local professional rodeos and ski jumping events, including winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959. During the late 1950s, Knievel joined the United States Army . His athletic ability allowed him to join

6468-530: Was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps . Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. Evel Knievel was born in Butte, Montana . Raised by his paternal grandparents, Knievel was inspired to become a motorcycle daredevil after attending a Joie Chitwood auto daredevil show. He left high school early to work in

6552-627: Was born on October 17, 1938, in Butte, Montana , the first of two children of Robert E. and Ann Marie Keough Knievel. His surname is of German origin; his paternal great-great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany. His mother was of Irish ancestry. Robert and Ann divorced in 1940, after the 1939 birth of their second child, Nicolas, known as Nic. Both parents decided to leave Butte. Knievel and his brother were raised in Butte by their paternal grandparents, Ignatius and Emma Knievel. At

6636-427: Was complicated by the fact that he had to start on pavement, cut across grass, and then return to pavement. His lack of speed caused the motorcycle to come down on its front wheel first. He managed to hold on until the cycle hit the base of the ramp. After being thrown off, he skidded for 50 feet (15 m). He broke his collarbone, suffered a compound fracture of his right arm, and broke both legs. On March 3, 1972, at

6720-552: Was in Hemet, California , but was canceled due to rain. The next performance was on February 10, in Barstow, California . During the performance, Knievel attempted a new stunt in which he would jump, spread-eagled , over a speeding motorcycle. Knievel jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin, tossing him 15 feet (4.6 m) into the air. He was hospitalized as a result of his injuries. When released, he returned to Barstow to finish

6804-467: Was once a major manufacturer of products from tennis racquets to research reactors for the US " Atoms for Peace " program. AMF became a major part of what would soon be referred to by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower as "the military-industrial complex " after World War II. In the late 1950s, the company's vice-chairman was Walter Bedell Smith . He was formerly a US major general, Eisenhower's wartime chief-of-staff, and Harry Truman 's ambassador to

6888-420: Was promoted to surface duty, where he drove a large earth mover . Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and accidentally drove it into Butte's main power line, leaving the city without electricity for several hours. Knievel's website says that he chose his nickname after spending a night in jail in 1956 after being arrested for reckless driving. In the same jail that night

6972-440: Was stopped in the late 1960s. After returning home to the west from Washington, D.C., he joined the motocross circuit and had moderate success, but he still could not make enough money to support his family. In 1962, Knievel broke his collarbone and shoulder in a motocross accident. The doctors said he could not race for at least six months. Still needing to help support his family, he again switched careers and sold insurance for

7056-454: Was uninsurable following the Caesars' crash, stating, "I have trouble getting life insurance, accident insurance, hospitalization and even insurance for my automobile   ... Lloyd's of London has rejected me 37 times so if you hear the rumor that they insure anybody, don't pay too much attention to it." Four years later, a clause in Knievel's contract to jump 14 buses at Kings Island required

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