CNIIARCHIVES
P142
BY KENT TAYLOR
EVEL KNIEVEL'S
ATTEMPT TO
"JUMP" THE
SNAKE RIVER.
YEARS
LATER
50
"I
said I would jump the canyon when I was
damn good and ready! Well, now I'm ready!"
Thus, after years of speculation, exag-
geration and plenty of hesitation, Evel Knievel,
the king of all daredevils, crawled into a steam-
powered rocket and launched himself into history
with an attempt to clear a 4/5-mile gap of the
Snake River Canyon. Four…three…two…one.
Lift-off…and let down. After years of fore-
play, the stunt of the century fizzled as America
watched Knievel and his limping Skycycle X-2
parachute down into a humiliating bonk on the
rim of the canyon.
Much ado about nothing?
That was pretty much what guest editorial
writer Ron Schneiders called Knievel's jump in
Cycle News back in September 1974. Schneiders,
a respected motorcycle journalist of the time,
dismissed Knievel's effort, blasting it as an event
that "certainly wasn't worth watching from any
It was 50 years
ago this week Evel
Knievel attempted to
"jump" the 4000-foot
Snake River chasm
in his X-2 Skycycle
"motorcycle" that
was registered as an
airplane.
