Death Defying Tribute To The Working Man’s Superhero From Butte

One of the earliest toys I can remember playing with was a hand-me-down Evel Knievel motorcycle. It's original owner was my brother, Mark, who was such a fan that he actually suffered a broken arm trying to be Evel on his Honda minibike. I was more of an 80's kid, but my brother was 8 years older than me and Evel Knievel was a big name in my house.

If you're too young to have memories of nail biting during one of Evel's legendary stunts, you should check out some of the many videos available online. He has been described as a working man's superhero and I'd say that's a fair description. Some of the crashes he survived certainly looked like they required him to be more than a mere mortal.

We got some proof that Evel's stunts are still inspiring people of this generation, decades after he performed them. Last week, Travis Pastrana successfully completed three of Evel's famous jumps including the jump over the fountains at Cesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He made it look easy and in fact, it went a lot better for him that it did for Evel Knivel. Evel ended up breaking 40 bones and spent about a month in a coma after that jump. In other words...don't try this at home (or anywhere else for that matter).