Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Eve I K niev e I dos e n't sell' motorcycle jumps, he sells a feeling By David Swift Robert UEvei Knievel is sItting in that tower at Lions Drag Strip engaged in a lively conservation on the telephone. His back is to a half-dozen chairs and their occupants have become a bit tense because Eve! is unhappy, he says, about some of the editing - or lack of - on the Merv Griffin Show two tt • nights earlier. Eve! suddenly whirls around in his chair and glances at everyone while he terminates the conversation with well-timed humor. Everyone has a good laugh and is somewhat relieved. Actuallv, there was little reason to be upset in the first place; they would have enjoycd the show Eve! was putting on if they had known him better. Evel was quite happy with liis appearance wi th Griffin. It's just the Knieve! Way of Doing Things. Evel Knievel En terprises is a lucrative organization consisting of one man. Knievel handles the bookings, payroll, exhibition preparation., I travel arrangements, and, of course, the entertainment. You couldn't find him any any situation unless it was 100% Evel KnieveI. Soon after the phone conversation, Evel retires to his brand-new semi-truck-trailer with a couple of journalists from a local daily. Knievel's new semi is a good example of his penchant for the opulent. The cab portion of it is done in lots of mahogany and naugahyde. Custom seats, custom everything. A tape player that currently holds "Elvis' Golden Hits". The rearward portion of the ,truck is actually a mobile home. Color TV, whirlpool bath, a safe, a bar, a bath, a huge closet and lots of mahogany and naugahyde. Expensive furniture. Even a couple of trophies (1st place Main, Columbia Basin Ramblers M.C. Ephrates, Wash., 1961.) The trailer portion is an elongated affair made especially to hold the ramps and other personal effects. The whole thing totals out to be the longest in the United States. . Other ex travagent possessions includes a gold cane th-at he found for $35 in Seattle and was offered $35,000 for by Liberace. The rings he has are each valued in- sums sounding like a list of executive's salaries. One of the journalists points a camera at him while the other asks questions th.at should make Evel grit his teeth; "How high do you jump?:: "How fast are you going?" "Why do you do it?" Evel answers each question thoughtfully, articulately. He acts as if this is the first time around. He tells the reporter two things to put in the article. "Lf a father buys his son a motorcycle for his birthday he better buy him a helmet or it will be his last birthday." A well-rehearsed line, eloquently put. Also, "I don't use any narcotics, any drugs, of any kind. You put that in capital letters for the kids to read:' Then Evel says that he drinks "that" - he points to a bottle of Austin Nichols Wild Turkey Straight Bourbon Whiskey - every so often. He and several friends finish less than a fifth in five days, as it happens. Later, he asks the photographer if he would like to get a picture with one of the motorcycles. He has one of the big Harleys wrestled off the truck to accommodate a very -pleased cameraman. The machines. Two Harley-Daivdson XRs painted red, white, and blue with "Color Me Lucky", the working title of his movie, inscribed on the gas .,!:an k. Steve Brackett 'is an ace mechanic and the Milwaukee people assigned him ,the task of keeping them going. 'Most of his work consists of reassuring Knievel that the bikes haven't been tampered with. One of them, the stunt bike, is brand new; the rings haven't seated themselves, so fouling is a bit of a problem. Both bikes are supposed to be stock but the second one, the jump bike, has a slightly beefed·up swing arm. As it turns out, the 13-car jump will be completed on the stunt bike. Evel first practices for Saturday's jump the Thursday before. It is the first time in three months that he's been riding, a fact he repeats often. uI'm so goddamned tired I can't walk. I'm liable to get hurt." He means it. Evel suffered a freak accident a while back resulting in a fractured spine. (He was sitting on the bike in a TV studio lot and a car ran into him.) He's doing lots of TV shows and the like. ot to mention a 13-<:ar jump. Ignoring advice to take it easy, Evel has the Harleys started and warmed up. After a some docile passes on the quarter-mile strip the front wheel begins popping up for ever-increasing distances. Now he tries to do a wheelie standing on the seat but looks very awkward. Time has taken its toll, temporarily, and Evel rolls to a stop, quite dissatisfied. Surprisingly, he gets on the jump bike and decides to "practice." Evel Knievel's "practice jumps" would be enough to keep his family well-fed for a long time. He hits the take-off ramp doing about forty and slowly, gracefully launches himself 15 feet high and lands on a beautiful tangent 100 feet away. As smooth as grease. After completing a dozen of these, he rides by signaling uone more" and does a better one. He rides by again, "one more". And again, one more. He feels less grumpy now and goes in to return a call from Sports l1Iustrated. He tells them, "I don't have much strength and I don't have any balance:' Evel Knievel leaves alone, muttering, "I wonder if I'll ever be the same," and gets back on the stunt bike. It is now 10 o'clock Saturday morning and Evel is moving his gigantic truck around the infield at Lions. One wonders how the truck got there since the only gate it could have gone through doesn't look wide enough. As a matter of fact, Evel did drive it through that gate without a scratch while onlookers' jaws hit their navels. Now he wants it moved over a couple of feet. Mrs. Knievel, a strikingly beautiful woman named Linda, hops over a fence to get out of the way. Harris Sintelle, a 40ish stunt man and number·one assistant to Knievel, tidies the area around the ramp with a broom. Evel decides to practice a bit more. Some people ftIter in while Evel is riding. John Downing, a member of the NEW & USED SALES GRAND OPENING SALE BUENA PARI CYCLE Parts-Accessories-Seryice Lions Drag Strip board of directors, bas brought along his young daughter. She covers her eyes when Evel practices his Bruce Barnes of Sports leaps. Headliners, Inc. arrives to take care of some business. A welder shows up to fix the safety ramp, a steel mesh thal will cover up the last three cars. A security guard shows up and Evel asks him to supply some body' and bike-guards. Evel is now operating at full steam and he is as happy as he'll be during the week. He is handling ten different situations at once and each one is being handled quickly and efficiently. No one resents being given an order because he knows how to ask a favor and he knows how to show appreciation. He sends Downing off to get some Confederate flags to line the ramps. He sends Barnes off to locate some cars. "Tell them I only jump Volkswagens and Johnny Lightning cars," he jokes. The welder is done and Evel quickly produces a check and politely offers thanks. As they exchange pieces of paper, the welder, a bit dismayed that Evel Knievel is - well - not bad at ALL - stammers, UI'm pleased to meet you. Hope ya make it!" Everyone ignored that last comment. Soon _everyone, save EVel, Steve Brackett, and a reporter, is off on an errand. Can't stop 1l0W, the takeoff ramp has to be moved. The reporter admits he can drive a forklift so that is done, too. Many minute adjustments are made on the ramp before the star is door is constantly being slammed, knocked on, and slammed again as dragsters thunder constantly every few seconds a few feet from the window. Knievel is unnerved bu t does not show it, nor does he refuse entrance to anyone. The din finally comes to a halt at 9:30 and the announcer gives the microphone to actor George Hamilton, Fanfare Production's· version of Evel KnieveL On a signal the real Evel Knievel emerges from the trailer. He refuses to ride i!,_!!.Lil1coln Continental, but asks for a bodyguard. He addresses the crowd in a manner no different than he would speak to a single person; quickly, unemotionally, and to the point. He never wastes a word or a moment of time. The crowd has its collective preconceptions a\ld prejudices blown to hell. He doesn't sound crazy after all. Evel quickly disposes of the stunt portion of the show, for a fog has set in and the ramps are getting damp. Very dangerous. The jump bike has already been warmed up and Evel makes two runs past the ramps, as planned. Then he makes several more as the crowd grows tense and a bit angry. The jump bike, which hasn't missed a beat all week, has gone sour. It's the dampness. Brackett hasn't the time to fix it. Evel takes the microphone and says "I want to get this over as SOOIl as possible .. ." It's the right thing to say. The crowd is satisfied, This alone takes an hour. People come back with errands completed and Evel personally erects the flags along the both ramps, At 2:30 Evel and Linda get into a BMW sedan and start to 'leave, exhausted. "Hold it a minute," he commands the driver as they pass the ramps. He gets out and examines them for a few moments. "Honey, when we get back that's gonna have to be moved to the left." They retire to a hot bath and rest. Linda and Evel arrive at the drag strip at 7 :30, virtually unnoticed. Somebody wonders why there was no "grand entrance". In the, trailer they are huddled together gazing at John and Yoko Lennon on the color TV. The now with him all the way. He gets on the stunt bike and those who know him worry. - Some more passes and Evel signals the crowd, thumbs up. He positions himself in front of the ramp as the noise stepdily diminishes. A sudden burst of acceleration and Eve! Knievel is up, floating to the staccato strobes of a thousand cameras. He comes down hard on the rear wheel, and then the front one. The impact nearly tearing his hands from the bars. The suspension is compressed completely and when it rebounds a fraction of a second later the bike goes into a bad wobble. Evel strains at the bars and keeps the machine upright, coasting out of the flood lights. 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