Saturday, December 01, 2007

EVEL KNIEVEL 1938 - 2007



When I was growing up, Evel Knievel was the man. What boy didn't want to be the king of motorcycle stuntman? Thankfully I didn't try emulating him. I did however follow all of his exploits through the attempt to make that mile long jump across Snake River Canyon and beyond. I bought the Scholastic biography. I collected the Topps trading cards. I remember the toy ad that adorned the back cover of seemingly every comic book I read. I owned the stunt cycle toys which exposed me to reality vs the commercial on tv as my stuntcycle never performed the cool stunts the kids in the commercial were able to manage, but I still sent Evel's 8" plastic stand-in on feats of daring with attempts at jumping boulders lining our driveway, and even a couple leaps from the roof. For all its other failings, the stunt cycle toy, and Evel Knievel action figure that rode it were incredibly durable, just like the real man.

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