Evel Never Dies
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SPORTS
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Before anyone ever dreamed of the XGames, Evel Knievel bet his life on every performance. Now read some of the last words of an American legend.
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By Pat Jordan
I ask Evel if he still thinks of himself
as a tough guy. “Aw, I don’t know,” he responds. “I’m just me.” He
still keeps a .44 magnum, and he gets up and shows it to me. “I’d
rather have men fear me more than like me. Fear and respect go a long
way. If a guy likes you, that comes with it.” He returns with a beer.
“I was a bitter sunuvabitch when I was younger,” he says. Which brings
us to his son Robbie.
In his 40s, Kaptain Robbie Knievel is the
greatest motorcycle daredevil of his day, but Evel and Robbie have a
strained relationship. Robbie says his father is jealous because he’s
successfully completed most of the jumps Evel failed at. He has not,
however, attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon. “You don’t see no
long line of guys trying to jump that canyon, do you?” Evel cackles
like an old crone.
Robbie has said he was the only member of the
family who had the guts to stand up to his irascible father. “That’s
true,” Evel says. “I admire him for that. Robbie’s a better rider than
I was. He started earlier, and he has better equipment. But I don’t
think any daredevils today, including Robbie, had to bite the bullet
like I did. It’s not so exciting to fans if there’s a 90 percent chance
you’re gonna succeed.”
In fact, Evel’s publicity biography lists
all his crashes proudly, while Robbie’s mentions only “three sprained
ankles.” Robbie even pokes fun at his father in his recent Holiday Inn
Express TV commercial. In it a motorcycle slams into a school bus.
People come running, but the rider turns out to be a dummy. Robbie
appears smiling, as if to say, “I wasn’t dumb enough to crash.” When a
reporter asks if someone talked some sense into him, he says, “No, but
I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” The subtext: Evel
Knievel is that dummy.
“I got my own commercial,” says Evel.
“For a lunch box. It was on in a recent NFL game.” No wonder the kid’s
been battling his old man all these years; the sunuvabitch never quits.
Before
Evel says goodbye, he talks about how he found God a few months ago, in
a hotel room in Daytona Beach. “All my life I was an atheist,” he says.
“I’d tell people I didn’t believe Jesus could walk on water. Then
something happened in Daytona. God spoke to me. He said, ‘Robert, you
got to stop tellin’ people you don’t believe in me. I been takin’ care
of you for years, watchin’ over you. I done everything for you. And you
go tell people you don’t believe in me. You gotta stop it.’”
Evel
puts his hands over his face, then sobs, “I told God I’d never insult
him again.” So did St. Augustine, who also asked God to send him
chastity. But Evel’s not quite ready for that. Maybe later, when he’s
an old man.
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