# Evel is dead! Long live Evel! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369 "2007-11-30T21:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/1 "2007-11-30T21:38:07Z")
[http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/30/evel-knievel-dies-age-69/](http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/30/evel-knievel-dies-age-69/) An American icon of nuttiness and thoughtless adventurism is gone. Who can fill the shoes of this man who defied fate in a goofy cape? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/2 "2007-11-30T21:42:14Z")
Knievel was in his heyday when I was in elementary school and was considered to be pretty cool among my peers. The last time I saw him was on a 2006 David Blaine tv special, in an interview segment. Knievel was the mentor figure, with Blaine in the student role. I remember thinking Knievel came off like a bizarre cross between Yoda and Eddie Murphy’s Gumby. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/3 "2007-11-30T21:44:38Z")
[QUOTE=Borborygmi] …Knievel came off like a bizarre cross between Yoda and Eddie Murphy’s Gumby. [/QUOTE] …and your point? Damn. I remember seeing the George Hamilton movie at a drive-in (the pre-VCR version of “direct to video”). ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/4 "2007-11-30T22:38:50Z")
First Elvis and now this. How much can a man take? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/5 "2007-11-30T22:39:54Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] …and your point? [/QUOTE] I’m pretty confident I don’t need one in this forum. But if I have one, it’s that my memory of Knievel is skewed by this weird appearance of his last year on a magician’s tv special. The point surely wasn’t to offend, and apologies if that’s what happened here. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/6 "2007-11-30T23:31:09Z")
[QUOTE=Wakinyan] First Elvis and now this. How much can a man take? [/QUOTE] _puts on Letterman hat_.. Elvis,Evel…Evel,Elvis ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/7 "2007-11-30T23:46:33Z")
Evel has leapt the building. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/8 "2007-11-30T23:56:05Z")
**sniff** Sydney, 1976… A young TheLoadedDog is given an Evel Knievel toy - a motorbike with a flywheel drive that you launch from a wind up launch ramp, and a soft plastic Evel figure in a jumpsuit. You can bend the little Evel into different shapes and clip his hands on to the handlebars and whatnot, to make him perform stunts. Through heavy usage, the jumpsuit eventually wore out and fell off. So, we were left playing with a naked man on a motorcycle, holding on to the handlebars upside down, with his legs spread in the air. Good. Wholesome. Fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/9 "2007-12-01T00:01:52Z")
And in a moment of synchronicity, I had the TV running in the background and Wheel of Fortune came on, and the first puzzle? MOTORCYCLE STUNTS ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/10 "2007-12-01T00:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] A young TheLoadedDog is given an Evel Knievel toy - a motorbike with a flywheel drive that you launch from a wind up launch ramp, and a soft plastic Evel figure in a jumpsuit. You can bend the little Evel into different shapes and clip his hands on to the handlebars and whatnot, to make him perform stunts. [/QUOTE] I had that toy!!! My parent got it for me as a wee lad because they thought I would play with that rather than keep up the near death expriences on my tricycle. I used to drag it to the top of a hill normally used for sledding in winter, scream “Eveeeeeeel Kinieeeeeeeevel!..” and way I’d go, usually requiring multiple band-aids afterwards. _sniff_ He was my toddler-self hero. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/11 "2007-12-01T00:08:59Z")
[QUOTE=Borborygmi] I’m pretty confident I don’t need one in this forum. But if I have one, it’s that my memory of Knievel is skewed by this weird appearance of his last year on a magician’s tv special. The point surely wasn’t to offend, and apologies if that’s what happened here. [/QUOTE] It was a joke. Alas, it landed somewhere at the bottom of the Snake River canyon. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/12 "2007-12-01T01:11:08Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] Evel has leapt the building. [/QUOTE] Very well said. I’m sure he’d approve of that epitaph. (Actually, I’m going to steal it if the topic comes up at work.) ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/13 "2007-12-01T01:42:42Z")
I think my young brothers had a little Evel Knievel toy with motorbike, but I must have been a bit too girly to notice him all that much. I _did_ notice the thread title, though. “Eek”, think I, “if something has happened to our member (former member?) **Eve** , surely that’s a strange way to headline the thread … Ah, I see now”. (Note: go and get new glasses, Celyn) One wouldn’t have expected Evel Knievel to live to the age of 69 somehow. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/14 "2007-12-01T03:24:06Z")
While his spirit soars safely and majestically over the Snake River Canyon (and generally, the planet, at latitude 36 degrees north) in the final rematch, let his body be lowered slowly, slowly, and very gently into the earth. There isn’t room for a whole _lot_ of teachers showing us how to do incredibly stupid things just for the hell of it, but the evolutionary process, in my humble opinion, demands at least one. For a short time, the man was Elvis at 200 MPH. Good for him. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/15 "2007-12-01T12:55:18Z")
I was visiting my father last night and we were watching the news with the subtitles for the hard of hearing switched on. The text came up on screen as ‘evil people, who thrilled thousands in the 70s has died’ But they had his picture up, so I knew who they meant! How the hard of hearing understand half the news, I’ll never know! ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/16 "2007-12-01T13:14:02Z")
Damn, I remember the day of the Snake River jump like it was yesterday. We had a ramp out in the street and were jumping our bikes right and left. I was luckier than Evel was to have survived the day. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/17 "2007-12-01T13:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] A young TheLoadedDog is given an Evel Knievel toy - a motorbike with a flywheel drive that you launch from a wind up launch ramp, and a soft plastic Evel figure in a jumpsuit. You can bend the little Evel into different shapes and clip his hands on to the handlebars and whatnot, to make him perform stunts. [/QUOTE] The odd thing is I just mentioned this toy in the Toy Crazes of Yesteryear thread (my mom braved a crowd of frenzied shoppers to obtain one of these for my little brother for Xmas). It was the first time I’d thought of Evel Knievel in years, and wondered if anybody remembered who he was these days. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/18 "2007-12-01T16:18:12Z")
As I walked out of the local Acme this morning, I glanced over at the rack of newspapers. I noted that one had a big splash picture of Evel, but the headline didn’t register until I was already out of the store. I believe it was the _Philadelphia Enquirer_, but can’t be certain. The headline: **WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?** Ahh, gotta love what counts for journalistic taste around these parts… ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/19 "2007-12-01T16:32:07Z")
Add me to the crowd who are wondering if they want to live in a world that doesn’t have Evel Knieval in it. As an eight year old boy in 1975, I had the flywheel reving motorcycle bendy doll toy. (He actually didn’t bend all that well.) I would rev the cycle up as high as I could, and run it up an album that’s propped up on book for a ramp. We were making bigger ramps for our bikes not too much later. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369/20 "2007-12-01T18:02:42Z")
I think I saw the title of this thread last night, on coming back home, wondered why folk were talking about Evel Knieval – then saw the item on the telly news. There goes part of the background pop culture from the 1960s and 1970s, to be sure. I grew up from the late 1960s with his name popping up every so often on the news. Seems strange because I always thought then he’d get killed by his stunts. Never though natural causes would be the leap that’d get him in the end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evel-is-dead-long-live-evel/428369.md?page=2)