Jalopnik: evel

Inappropriate Rocket Powered Items

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:45:00 EST

Oobject.com is one of those sites that should charge me by the minute. Why? Because whenever I check 'em out, I'm stuck for an hour. And in internet time, that's like forever. Englishrussia.com is the same way. Back to oobject.com, who doesn't want to pour over 13 Ferocious Oil Drill Bits? Or giant airship hangers? Or these insanely inappropriate rocket powered items. Let's see, we got rocket powered go carts, bikes, shopping carts, arms (yeah, an arm), toilets and of course a street luge. Yup, looks pretty complete to me. Father of the year after the jump

[oobject.com]

Daredevil to Recreate Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump, in a Limo

Wes Siler — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:15:00 EST

Just weeks after Evel Knievel's death, one of the daredevil's biggest fans has declared his intention to recreate Evel's most famous jump, in a limousine. "Mad" Mike Hughes, who declares himself "The Most Famous Limousine Driver in the World," already holds the Guinness World Record for the longest jump in a limo. Hughes has enlisted the help of an expert team of rocket engineers and has started work on the Skylimo, which he hopes will clear Snake River Canyon, a distance in excess of 1/4 mile.

The 635kg limo-cum-rocket will be powered in the same way as Knievel's 1974 Skycycle, a 77-gallon tank holds water heated to 500 degrees, under 500 pounds of pressure. Capable of producing 4000lbs of thrust for 4 seconds, the Skylimo will be launched from a 100 foot, 45-degree ramp. Hughes hopes it will reach a height of 3,500 feet and a top speed of 350mph.

Knievel's famous attempt to jump the canyon in 1974 was cut short by the parachute cover sheering off, resulting in its premature deployment.

Hughes hopes to complete the Skylimo by next summer, and if the Snake River Canyon attempt proves successful, he may move on to make an attempt on the Grand Canyon. Any money made through the attempts or by selling the Skylimo will be put towards the opening of a museum dedicated to Evel Knievel, the creation of which is Hughs' life-long dream. [Via RelicEmporium]

Here With Fanfare, Your Final Tribute To Evel Knievel

bwojdyla — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:45:00 EST

Though the kitchy and hilarious "Jump of Legends" didn't make your cut in the vote for Jalopnik's final Evel Knievel tribute, the handsome and impressively constructed "Creation of Evel" did, with a commanding 37.4% of the vote. This tasteful work was contributed by reader Thomas Reynolds, who hails from the beating heart of hoon central, Australia. We asked Thomas to say a few words about his inspiration, process, and what Evel meant to him. His take on Evel, and stories of years gone by after the leap...

The inspiration was simple: to a now 30-something male growing up 15,000 miles away- Evel was God in the 70s.
In the late 70's Santa brought me an Evel K toy - complete with rip cord start, two jumps and THE cape. Years later my Mum told me that my (now deceased) Dad and his drunken mate were taking turns shooting Evel down the hallway very late on Xmas eve. When she tried to tell them to stop, me Dad replied "But... it's EVEL!"

And so when I photoshopped Evel jumping over the hand of God, I thought it strangely appropriate. The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, but Evel was bigger than God. Reckon he would have made it over the pearly gates with just a few more MPH too.

Anyway, many thanks to the Jalopnik crew- when I am named host of the Australian version of Top Gear (dear EK/God - yes please!), I'll be sure to forget to name you all as my inspiration.

Keep this reply in mind for the next time we ask for an acceptance speech, cause this one's got it all: Fond childhood memories, heartstring tugging, hubris, and just a hint of Jalopnik ego stroking. Thomas, we think you're the tops too (especially since he sent us shots of his sick daily driver - jealous). We're tossing the gallery of all the entries out one more time, because after all, a sendoff to a legendary figure can't really be the best. In fact, we're pretty sure the entries make the most rounded and fitting tribute when viewed together.

Evel Tribute Submissions In, Help Us Decide The Final Jump

bwojdyla — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:15:00 EST

A few Friday's ago, the hoon world lost the renegade of the ramp, the sultan of speed, the king of compound fractures, Evel Knievel. We asked you to work up your personal tribute to this monster of pop culture and you responded in spades. In the last days, we put together the Jalopnik Counsel of Awesomeness and selected our ten favorite entries for you to vote on. The reasons range from impressive level of CIA style photo manipulation, to complete irreverence mirroring the life of the man in question. We've decided to leave the voting anonymous, so as to avoid the popularity contests that you kids get caught up in. The winner, and their commentary will be revealed on Wednesday afternoon. Voting, and as always, comments, after the jump.

Remembering Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, Jr

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST

Yesterday, we lost a giant of American history. It's hard to overstate how massive Evel Knievel was in the media sphere of the late 1960s and early 1970s without some premium-grade hyperbole. Imagine the most identifiable figure of the past few years — Oprah, say, or that geek Star Wars kid from YouTube — and raise them by a Rachel Ray or a Sting. That'll get you in the ballpark with a guy who literally broke every bone in his body — on television — in the name of daredevil motorcycling. Evel Knievel owned the 70s. And he pwned himself in the process.

It was the era of the Big TV Network, when a single broadcast could reel in more eyeballs than today's top 10 cable channels and top 10,000 websites combined. Fronting that massive lens during the late-Vietnam era, Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, Jr. did one thing, and one thing only. He jumped over stuff. First, it was rattlesnakes and mountain lions, then cars, then buses — launch ramp to landing ramp, stars-and-stripes-clad jumpsuit and satin cape flapping in the wind. Audiences ate it up. Then, they came back for seconds and thirds.

Knievel had a surefire formula for keeping the small-screen bucks rolling in: Up the ante, no matter the cost. An audience comprising equal parts Joe sixpack and hippie Johnny tuned in to ABC to watch Knievel's increasingly elaborate leaps. Some hoped he'd come out on the high side of physics, others morbidly expected the man to shatter like human crockery. Maybe this'll be the time. Usually both sides got their wish. Oftentimes he'd land clear, then crumple to the ground, suffering astounding bodily harm. A pulverized femur here, a stuffed vertebrae there. Knievel worked it, limping out of the hospital in front of the rolling cameras, held together with pins and plates and surgical-steel hinges and ready to go again. He was as close to an action figure as human flesh could get.

In 1967 came the big payoff. In an independently financed production, Knievel launched his bike over the fountains at Las Vegas's Caesar's Palace, crashing so severely that he wound up in a coma for 29 days. ABC's Wide World of Sports bought the show and ran it, kickstarting Knievel into megastardom. In 1972, he undertook a massive effort to jump Idaho's Snake River Canyon inside a jet-powered craft. It was ludicrous from the get-go, a ridiculous climax to a career hard-wired to the stratosphere. He made it as a matter of distance, but a prematurely deployed chute drifted his skycycle back over the water, and he nearly drowned in the process.

After that, it was more exhibitions, more buses, more crashes. In 1981, he made his last jump, an ill-fated soar over a tank of sharks. A fitting end to his career, considering the connotation.

How Knievel went from huckster and petty thief to superstar is a story for the ages. But his death was long and slow and painful, and directly related to the constant battering his body took during that fateful decade-and-a-half. The era of the daredevil ended long before he did. – Mike Spinelli

Photo Credit: KC Blogs

An Evel Knievel Tribute: Photoshop the Hoonfather's Final Jump

bwojdyla — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:45:00 EST

If you're anything like us, you're completely heartbroken over the passing of ubermensch and all around hero to hoons everywhere, Evel Kneivel. Rarely in the annals of history has a man come along with no purpose other than to capture the popular imagination. There are an untold number of errant youths who invested the precious time of their childhood summers emulating this master of the impossible, the improbable, with well worn Huffy's and dirt ramps. We suspect that a great many of those wayward hoon-igans have found refuge here. Given the passing of such a momentous figure, we feel it necessary to pay tribute in some manner and to ask for your help. We would like you, the reader, to do your best to photoshop St. Knievel's final jump into the great beyond. Only "appropriate" submissions will be accepted which are sent into the tips address will be considered for the vote by you on the final tribute. Have at it — Evel'd want it this way.