Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

********* EVEL AT ASCOT ********* By John Shedd A large crowd of motorcycle enthusiasts huddled together at Ascot Park, on a cold and windy Saturday nigbt, to watch Evel Knievel and his cohorts in a two hour motorcycle stunt show. The show was the first in a series of a nationwide tour of his new Stunt Show of Stars, which will wind up with a 'um over a Las Ve as hotel. Firewall Crash Wheelie Exhibition Knievel's crew set UP three plywood walls in front of the grand stand and then set them ablaze. As tbe flames leaped into the night air, for a moment it was not Quite as cold in the stands, and the undisputed star of the show. Evel Knievel, fired UP his bike. took a running start. lowered h,S Bell star helmet and blasted through the three burning walls. Butch again approached Evel and told him that his stunt was nothing. SO Butch again played co-pilot to Jimmy Cook as he drove his car over a ramp and through a wall of fire. It was a siJ!1ilar stunt to this one that llut Butch in the hospital a year ago Wlth severe roms, and Saturday w8:s his first appearance with the show Slnce then. After a short intermission. Jimmy Martin got the show underway by driving a car over a ramp and landing on top of a parked car. This stunt Jimmy calls a sidewinder and is one of the stunts that has made him famous. Butch, the worlds littlest stunt man. climbed on his minibike and prepared to drive through what he told Knievel was a brick wall. After several passes, :Butch powered his mini into the wall and took quite a spill. AS it turned out, the wall was not brick. but as Butch said. "It felt like on~". and everyone was sure it did. because Butch broke his collar bone. There was much applause as the amhul~ce pulled out taking Butch to the hOSPltal, but a nervous silence enveloped the crowd as they waited for the next act. Swede savage and the Ascot Queen. put the crowd back in spirits as Swede drove his Triumph through the little white out-house while Miss Ascot was owderin her nose. The first stunt of the evening featured Knievel. Mulder, Van Leeuwen and savage in a wheelie exhibition. They rode their Triumphs the entire length of the straightaway on the rear wheel one at a time, then two side by side. and then topped it off by making a run four abreast. Then Joe Monfort got into the act by lying on his back with a board across his stomach. and Mulder, Van Leeuwen and savage used him as a human ramp as they powered their machines over him. Little Butch told Evel that he didn't think that was too great, so he rode co-pilot with Jimmy Cook in a truck, and they again used Joe for a ramp as they drove the truck over hirp. Ra.ldp to Ramp Jump At this point of the show, Butch was to make ll. ramp to ramp jump on his mini-bike, but since he was unable, Miss Ascot consented to make it for him. AS the Queen soared from ramp to ramp she failed to land on the seat on touchdown, and this was a real crowd pleaser. j-rHlrL-io;o-is-l I • • T~ ••• I • 3141 CII1IUJ Blft,; • I !.•••L~=~11 t4!!. ••• Chute Fail ure Rod Pack, the talented aerial stunt man, made two attempts at riding a parasail behind a car. but they wpre unable to get the chute into the air, so Rod rode the Ascot oval the hard way, on the seat of his pants. It turned au t not to be Rod's night. because as he attempted his second stunt, which was a jump from the top of a sixty-six foot the other ramp with room to spare. AS he left the ramp, a chute popped open from the rear of his machine and pulled his bike to a halt. 1920 Ascot Queen Evel got the show under way by introducing his star studded cast, which included three of the nation's top motorcycle racers. Eddie Mulder. Skip Van Leeuwen and Swede Savage. Also in the line-up was parachutist Rod Pack. Evel's little sidekick. Butch Wilhelm and three auto stunt men, Jimmy Martin, Jim Cook and Joe Monfort. Last to be introduced was what Evel dubbed the 1920 Ascot Queen. Wow! This fugitive from the human race could put Leaping Lena in line for Miss International Beauty. Little Butch Wilhelm. proving himself to be quite a clown, received a roar of laulthter from the audience as he lined up the three motorcycle stars for a photo and then made the mistake of putting his head under Miss Ascot's dress instead of the black cloth draped over the camera. The final event of the show was an automobile destruclion derby which was so boring, I don't even care to discuss it other than to say that the mania did occur. I hoped to get a few words from Evel after the show, but he was surrounded by a large crowd of autograph hounds, and my wife was freezing. so we waved good-b,y to Evel Knievel and his motorcycle daredevils. pole. the top spike came out in his hand as he climbed UP. Rod did jump however, but he was a few feet short of the top when he dove off and landed on his back on 9. huge block of foan! rubber. The highlight of the night was Evel's ramp to ramp jump over the length of a senli-truck and trailer. As he prepared for the jump. the crowd was so Quiet you could hear teeth chattering in tbe cold wind. Knievel first ran his machine past the ramp on a tachometer run, then a second run was made for a speedometer reading. On his third run, he rode to the top of the ramp and looked things over. The fourth run was the real thing, and he hit the ramp full bore and sailed over the truck and trailer. and landed on

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