Today marks the 35th anniversary of Evel Knieval’s famed Wembley Stadium jump in London where he attempted to jump 13 buses in front of 90,000 people. The motorcycle daredevil didn’t make the jump but as his oldest son recalls, Evel refused a stretcher and walked out despite a broken back. “Then he came back six months later and jumped further. That’s was just the kind of man he was,” says Kelly Knieval.
Even at home the daredevil had that same fire witnessed by millions. “He was can do, Evel Knieval from the second he woke up in the morning, to the second he fell asleep at night,” says Kelly.
In a storied career that spanned a decade, Evel worked without managers, marketing people or a schedule.
Kelly spoke to WRN from the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee which will open an exhibit in July dedicated to his father.