Before Evel Knievel became a household name for his nationally televised and record-breaking motorcycle jumps, the young daredevil pulled off a stunt in Barstow that landed him in the local hospital.
The legend of Evel Knievel began on October 17, 1938, when Robert Craig Knievel was born in the mining town of Butte, Montana.
When he was 8 years old, Knievel attended the Joie Chitwood Auto Daredevil show, which inspired him to later become a motorcycle daredevil, according to evelknievel.com.
Growing up, Knievel was a thrill-seeker at heart and often found himself in trouble with local law enforcement.
After dropping out of high school in the late 1950s, Knievel joined the Army to avoid conscription.
When he got out of the military, Knievel married his first wife, Linda Joan Bork, had their first child, and started a semi-pro hockey team.
Kneival also started a hunting business, sold insurance, opened a motorcycle dealership, and promoted motocross racing which eventually included racing, which attracted a lot of attention.
Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils
In his early 20s, Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils headed to California and debuted on Jan. 23, 1966, at the National Date Festival in Indio in Riverside County.
Some of the motorcycle stunts performed by his team include wheelies, car jumps, a 32-foot ramp-to-ramp jump, jumping over two trucks, and breaking through brick walls.
After a successful show, a second booking in Hemet was canceled due to the storm.
The group’s third show was held in February 1966 in Barstow, a town of about 15,000 people.
Sponsored by the Barstow Junior Chamber of Commerce, the two-day Knievel show was held at Barstow Raceway.
The first show was canceled when strong winds made the ride dangerous, especially for rider Jack Stroh who was injured and taken to Barstow Community Hospital, the Desert Dispatch reported.
On Feb. 10, 1966, Knievel prepared to try a new stunt where he would jump, spread eagle, on top of a speeding motorcycle driven by Dale Schwark, the Desert Dispatch reported.
As the motorcycle raced towards Knievel, he jumped off too late and was hit by a round. He was taken to Barstow Community Hospital with broken legs and back injuries.
In the video documentary, Knievel said “One of the worst accidents I’ve ever had was the one in Barstow, California.”
Explaining this prank, Knievel said that when he was running in the rink, they would get on a motorcycle or a car and go towards him.
“I was jumping in the air with my legs open and it went under me,” Knievel said in the video. “In this game, I hit balls. Needless to say, I never made this guitar again.”
Schwark was also injured when his motorcycle lost braking power and jumped into the dirt, Desert Dispatch said.
When he was released from the hospital, Knievel took a break before returning to Barstow to finish the job he had started about a month ago.
No more daredevil shows
Knievel’s daredevil show was disbanded after the Barstow game because an injury prevented him from performing, Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils.
After recovering, Knievel began traveling from small town to small town as a solo act.
To get ahead of other motorcyclists who were jumping animals or puddles, Knievel started jumping cars.
He then started adding more cars to his jumps when he returned to the same place to attract more people.
Knievel had not been seriously injured since the Barstow game, but on June 19, 1966, in Missoula, Montana, he attempted to jump 12 cars and a cargo van.
The distance he had to take off did not allow him to gain enough speed. His rear tire hit the top of the pickup truck while his front tire hit the top of the curb, according to Evelknievel.com.
The knife ended up severely breaking his arm and several ribs. The accident and subsequent hospital stay became a story on the road.
Getting attention from the country
On March 25, 1967, Knievel cleared 15 cars at Ascot Park in Gardena. He attempted a similar jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington, where he suffered a severe concussion.
A month later, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18, 1967, to finish the show, but the result was the same and the injury was worse.
Knievel received his first national exposure on March 18, 1968, when late night talk show host Joey Bishop brought him on as a guest on ABC. The Joey Bishop Show.
Caesar’s Palace jump
While in Las Vegas to watch Dick Tiger successfully defend his lightweight boxing title at the Las Vegas Convention Center in November 1967, Knievel first saw the dancing fountains at Caesars Palace and decided he would try jumping them.
Knievel was scheduled to make a 140-foot jump over the wells on Dec. 31, 1967.
On the morning of the day of the leap, Knievel stopped by a casino and put his last $100 on the blackjack table, and lost, according to Evelknievel.com.
Knievel also stopped by the bar and shot a Wild Turkey and then went outside where he was joined by two showgirls.
After warming up, Knievel started to approach and ran towards and down the ramp. Everything was done well until he arrived.
Knievel came up with causing the handlebars to come loose from his hands when he tripped over them on the pavement where he slipped in the Dunes parking lot, according to Evelknievel.com.
In this accident, Knievel broke his hip and femur, broke his hip, wrist, and both ankles, and suffered a seizure that kept him in a coma for 29 days.
After the crash and his recovery, Knievel was more popular than ever, historians say.
Evel Knievel toys
On Jan. 8 and 9, 1971, Knievel set a record by selling more than 100,000 tickets for a back-to-back game at the Houston Astrodome.
On February 28, 1971, he set a new world record by jumping 19 cars on his Harley-Davidson XR-750 in Ontario, California. The 19-car jump was also filmed for the movie, Evel Knievel.
Knievel became so popular that the Ideal Toy Company produced a series of Evel Knievel toys from 1972 to 1977.
In 1973, Ideal released the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle, which became the “must-have” toy of the holiday season, according to Vintage Toy Emporium.
Snake River Canyon jump
On September 8, 1974, Knievel attempted to cross Idaho’s Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle designed by former NASA engineer Robert Truax called the Skycycle X-2.
The state of Idaho registered the X-2 as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.
As the crowd of 30,000 cheered, the Skycycle began to rise in a cloud of steam as the parachute activated prematurely.
The Skycycle floated down and landed on the same side of the canyon Knievel had started from and just a little further downstream.
After speculation that Knievel may have drowned in the river, video footage shows the man standing in a speeding lifeboat as he waves to the crowd above.
Knievel would retire from professional diving in 1981 after breaking nearly four bones and becoming an American icon. He died at the age of 69 in Clearwater, Florida on November 30, 2007.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz can be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article first appeared in the Victorville Daily Press: One of Evel Knievel’s ‘worst accidents’ happened in Barstow.
Source link
