Evel Knievel has passed away

[captmojo]

The thriller is gone. RIP

[EarlJam]

Bummer.

If I still had my plastic wind up motorcycle toy from my childhood, I'd wind it up and perform a 21-Hot Wheels car jump salute.

RIP Evel. Death's been trying to get a meeting with you for years. Kudos for putting him on hold as long as you did.

-EarlJam

[365Duke]

gone:(

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/11/30/kneviel.ap/index.html

[throatybeard]

I find it amusing that I was familiar with no fewer than 3 of his jumps simply because of Simpsons references to them.

[Duvall]

The American doctor-to-daredevil ratio just got a little higher. R.I.P.

[Windsor]

His condo in Florida was not far from me, and he and my husband frequented the same golf course. The one place he wanted to be left alone was on the course - and the club cleared several tee times before and after his so he could play without being bothered. Once he reached the club house he was always happy to hang around and talk.

He was plain spoken (and somewhat uh...colorful) and hysterically funny. You had to take some of his stories with a grain of salt (related to a gladiator...sure Evel!!) I always found him to be kind a gracious. Good to his fans...quick with a laugh. A business trip many years ago took me to Montana and I was in Butte. He was genuinely excited I was going to his home town...gave me a list of places I had to go and who to ask for..."tell 'em you're a friend of mine". Now a woman computer geek doesn't exactly fit in to the Butte Montana biker scene but we did eat dinner at restaurant he recommended (it was off the beaten path...not that Butte has a lot of beaten paths mind you) and the when the server wanted to know how we found them I told her Evel had given me the location...we were treated like royalty and I came home with a list of people who wanted me to say hello to Evel for them. I relayed the greetings next time I saw him...and got an hour of stories about growing up in Butte.

Evel the person was a good soul who lived a life at full throttle with few regrets (the only regret he ever expressed beyond 'I should've gone faster on a couple of jumps' was the relationship with his son Robbie, which eventually he mended). He was, when the cameras weren't rolling, just a kid from a mining town in Montana who had a hard time believing just how far his life had taken him. He was greatful for the life he had lived.

Rest in Peace Evel...