Evel Knievel dead at 69

[p8ntball72]

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

http://www.the-planets.com/star-biography/Evel_Knievel_Biography_2.jpg

[warpig13]

He looks like my shop teacher.

[Triangle]

I'm out of clever, smart *** things to say.
Someone pick up my slack.

[MedicDVG]

"They started out watching me bust my ***, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

I met Evel once when I was in Vegas for a conference. Of all people he was the one that the company hired as a motivational speaker. It was surprising that he was actually a very motivating and inspiring person. His "look death in the eye and spit in it" attitude and his desire to be know by every human being as the greatest daredevil of all time, which he damn near accomplished (especially in my generation) despite failure, pain, near death, and frequent bankruptcy, was actually a very inspiring talk. He then signed autographs at $40 a pop... lol

I remember as a kid bugging my parents to let me watch him jump the Snake River in a home made rocket on TV. I was crushed when he didn't make it.

[Mind'sEye]

We watched Evel Knievel pull off astonishing world record jumps, and we witnessed his spectacular failures, all attempted on a rather crude Harley Davidson XR 750 flat tracker. Knievel was a man for the times. The United states was still sending men to the moon and we believed that there was value in exploring the limits of our greatness as a nation. Knievel was part showman part daredevil, part snake oil salesman part culture warrior. I guess it's easy to be cynical about him today, but his indomitable spirit will be missed by a generation, RIP.

[TnDeathInc]

I used to love playing with my k'nevil toys when i was a kid i had the stunt crashing cycle.

[ClassicMagger]

Never met the man or legend. He may of been a bit of an snake oil salesman, but I guarantee you that his cojones must of been 5 pounds of brass apiece.

-ClassicMagger

[Geronimo7]

After all the crap that guy went through, I can't believe he died because of a blood transfusion. I mean c'mon I thought doctors were supposed to be better than that.

[Dark Side]

I think it's pretty damn funny the Maxim ran a story about him for this month's issue saying basically "still alive despite everything".