Running head: LEGEND 1

Becoming a Legend

Kamryn Parkinson

Dixie State University

CE ENGL. 1010

Per. 1A

November 19, 2018

LEGEND 2
Becoming a Legend

Three records. Two legends. One night. Travis Pastrana, the risky daredevil from

Annapolis, Maryland, strives to push his boundaries by breaking some of the world's most

dangerous records. An editor from the official Biography website (2018) stated that he has

established a career in many areas including supercross, motocross, freestyle motocross, rally

racing, and NASCAR, becoming an international icon. Pastrana is most well known for being the

first person to complete a double backflip on a dirt bike (“Travis Pastrana Biography,” 2018). As

he makes his mark in multiple areas of extreme sports, there’s only one thing left to do before he

becomes the best of the best, and that is to beat the legend himself, Evel Knievel. A series of

Evel Knievel records were broken by Travis Pastrana on July 8, 2018 at the event Evel Live,

making him the official stunt legend of the twenty-first century.

Evel Live was the biggest event of summer 18, attracting millions of viewers from all

around the world. According to Missy Sullivan from The History Channel (2018), which was the

main coverage network for Evel Live, Evel Knievel (Figure 1) started the event in the 1960s.

Back in his day, Knievel decided to push the boundaries of freestyle motocross by performing

stunts which seemed completely impossible. As expected, word got around about Knievel and

his crazy jumps; Evel Live became one of the most popular shows of its day. During one of those

crazy jumps, Knievel came close to death after missing the landing ramp (Figure 2). This put

Evel Live to retirement, as Knievel’s stunting career was over (Sullivan, 2018). That is until

Travis Pastrana decided to finish Knievel’s legacy and bring back Evel Live for one more crowd

pleasing show.

Evel Knievel attempted over seventy-five ramp to ramp jumps in his career, but three of
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them specifically caught Pastrana’s eye. The first was Knievel’s jump over fifty crushed cars,

which he successfully completed. The second was Knievel’s jump over fourteen Greyhound

buses, which he also successfully completed. The third one, as mentioned above, was what ended

Knievel’s career. He decided to jump over the Caesars Palace fountain in Las Vegas, Nevada,

and crashed at ninety miles per hour crushing his left hip, pelvis, right ankle, hands and wrists.

The wreck gave him a concussion which put him in a coma for nearly a month (Sullivan, 2018).

The risk level of the stunts thrilled Pastrana urging him to not only recreate them, but beat the

records entirely.

After Pastrana announced he would be bringing back Evel Live for a day trying to break

Knievel's most dangerous records, people were thrilled, but also wondered what his motive was

behind the action. Jake Bright, a reporter from Revzilla (2018), interviewed Pastrana before the

big day. He stated that he “wouldn’t be making a career in jumping motorcycles if it wasn’t for

Evel Knievel,” (as cited from Bright, 2018). Knievel was an inspiration to Pastrana for years. He

continued to explain that his father and him would watch Kievel do new tricks every Sunday on

the television. “This is an opportunity to bridge the gap between my dad and uncles,” explains

Pastrana, “who loved Evel Knievel and everything from his past . . . and up and coming kids who

probably don’t even know who he was,” (as cited from Bright, 2018). In the end, Pastrana

decided to do the jump not only for Knievel, but to connect two very different generations with

motorcycle culture.

Every Evel Live show contained the same four things: A crazy stunt set up, an even

crazier stuntman, a motorcycle, and a crowd full of eager people. Pastrana did everything

in his power to make his version just the same. Every detail was to be identical, including the
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caped leather jumpsuit, the high heeled boots, and the 350 pound motorcycle. According to Gaz

Boulanger, a writer and reporter from Cycle World (2018), Evel Knievel’s bike was a Harley

Davidson but the exact model was impossible to get. Pastrana’s friend and partner, Roland

Sands, helped him assemble an Indian Scout FTR750 almost exactly like Evel’s Harley (Figure

3) give or take a few details. The Indian Scout is not necessarily the jumping type of bike. Sands

and Pastrana worked together and made minor adjustments to the suspension, the seat cushion,

the engine, and many more parts of the bike to increase safety but keep the model fresh. “Travis

is looking to duplicate Evel’s style outside of the crashing part,” says Sands (as cited in

Boulanger, 2018). The goal was to make the event feel like a normal Sunday back in the 1960s.

The day finally arrived. Hour one of the three hour event contained the first jump; two

ramps were located on each side of a pile of fifty-two crushed cars (Figure 4). In order for Travis

to complete the jump he must launch his motorcycle one hundred and forty-three feet through the

air, and he did just that. The Associated Press from ESPN talked to Pastrana after the jump who

said he was “actually feeling pretty good,” (as cited from “Travis Pastrana Successfully,” 2018).

Despite the pressure of millions of people watching him and a broken wrist from practice that

was still healing, Travis Pastrana got ready for hour two of the event.

The second jump of the event was the longest of them all: sixteen Greyhound buses

reaching one hundred and ninety-two feet in length. The day was getting hotter, increasing the

temperature in the oil of the Indian Scout FTR750 (Sullivan, 2018). As a result, Pastrana had to

complete the jump sooner than expected. With no thought in his head, he dropped his clutch and

soared over the buses, reaching the height of a four story building (Figure 5). The crowd cheered
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as Travis was one step closer to making history at Evel Live. Although the jump was the longest

in length, it was not the most challenging. That title was saved for the last stunt of the night.

An Evel Live event always contains a form of gloating. Pastrana decided to take a

traditional lap around the Las Vegas strip with police escorts to boost his energy for the final

jump. His course ended at the Caesars Palace fountain where he would face his biggest

challenges. Due to construction, the space around the fountain was very limited. Knievel had

four hundred feet to accelerate over the fountain and didn’t make it. Pastrana only had two

hundred feet. The risk became very clear, and he decided to use a speed gun to make sure he

reached seventy miles per hour, even if it was not part of Evel’s routine (Sullivan, 2018). With a

shortened ramp and a possibility of death, Pastrana shot the jump and landed successfully on the

other side of the fountain (Figure 6). The crowd went wild due to the fact they had witnessed

such a historical moment for extreme sports. Pastrana finished Knievel’s legacy, and became a

legend.

“It is such an honor to live a day in Evel’s boots,” said Pastrana (as cited in Sullivan,

2018). He celebrates with not only his loved ones, but Knievel’s as well. It was a proud day for

the friends and family of both record breakers. Pastrana finally began to realize what he

completed at Evel Live as he talks to a History reporter, saying that “this was the most iconic

jump in stunt lore . . . because he never landed it,” (as cited in Sullivan, 2018). Questions flooded

toward him as everyone tried to get a word with the superstar. All he could say to them was that

“the hardest part was getting the costume on,” (as cited in Sullivan, 2018). Jace Evans from USA

Today Sports reported that Pastrana then leaped into the fountain, celebrating his record breaking

victory, as seen in Figure 7 (Evans, 2018). Pastrana ended Evel Live as Evel would have himself.
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Travis Pastrana became notorious after the night of July eighth. The legend continues to

tour around the country doing jumps on his motorcycle. He opened the eyes of many people,

bringing love and attention back to the world of motorsports. If it wasn’t for Evel Live, many

stunters, like Pastrana, would not have been inspired to push the boundaries of a simple concept

like riding a motorcycle. As years go by, another competitor will bring Evel Live back from the

dust trying to raise the bar Knievel and Pastrana created.

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References Page

Boulanger, G. (2018, July 3). Talking about Travis Pastrana’s Las Vegas Indian Scout FTR750

with Roland Sands​. Cycle World. ​Retrieved from https://www.cycleworld.com/travis-

pastranas-indian-scout-ftr750s-roland-sands

Bright, J. (2018, July 5). Why Travis Pastrana thinks recreating Evel Knievel’s jumps can help

​ etrieved from https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/

motorcycling​. Revzilla. R

why-travis-pastrana-thinks-recreating-evel-knievels-jumps-can-help-motorcycling

Evans, Jace. (2018, July 10). Travis Pastrana nails 3 iconic Evel Knievel stunts in tribute show in

​ etrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/

Las Vegas.​ USA Today. R

sports/2018/07/08/evel-live-travis-pastrana-evel-knievel-stunts/766844002/

Travis Pastrana successfully triplicates Evel Knievel’s iconic jumps​. (​ 2018, July 9). ​ESPN​.

Retrieved from http://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/24043070/travis-pastrana-

successfully- triplicates-evel-knievel-iconic-jumps

Travis Pastrana biography​. ​(November 15, 2018)​. Biography. R

​ etrieved from

https://www.biography.com/people/travis-pastrana

Sullivan, M. (2018, July 8). Cars, buses and fountains-oh my!​ History. ​Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/news/evel-live-travis-pastrana-evel-knievel-three-jumps-las-veg

as
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Figure 1. Evel Knievel in his classic stunt attire. Reprinted from “Evel Knievel,” by

TV Tropes, 2018, retrieved from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes

/EvelKnievel
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​ vel Knievel crashed jumping the Caesars Palace fountain. Reprinted from
Figure 2. E

“Discover Ideas About Robbie Knievel,”​ ​taken by Robert Caudill Sr., 2018, retrieved

from ​https://www.pinterest.com/pin/​410531322255943550/
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​ ravis Pastrana’s Indian Scout FTR750. Reprinted from “Travis Pastrana Recreates
Figure 3. T

Evel Knievel Jump (Not 1, but 3),”​ t​ aken by Ron Leiback, 2018, retrieved from ​https://ultimate

motorcycling.com/2018/07/11/travis-pastrana-recreates-evel-knievel-jump-not-1-but-3-videos-p

hotos/
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​ astrana’s first jump over 52 crushed cars. Reprinted from “Travis Pastrana Lands
Figure 4. P

Caesars Palace Jump in Las Vegas,”​ b​ y Ron Kantowski, 2018, retrieved from https://www.

reviewjournal.com/sports/sports-columns/ron-kantowski/travis-pastrana-lands-caesars-palace-ju

mp-in-las-vegas/
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Figure 5. Pastrana’s second jump over sixteen Greyhound buses. Reprinted from “Travis

Pastrana Nails All Three of Evel Knievel's Historic Jumps,” by Missy Sullivan, 2018, retrieved

from https://www.history.com/news/evel-live-travis-pastrana-evel-knievel-three-jumps-las-vegas
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Figure 6. Pastrana’s third jump over the Caesar’s Palace fountain, completing what Knievel

could not. Reprinted from “Blast from the past: Motorcyclist Travis Pastrana jumps over Caesars

Palace fountains, outdoing Evel Knievel,” by David Montero, 2018, retrieved from

http://www.latimes. com/nation/la-na-caesars-fountains-knievel-jump-20180709-story.html
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Figure 7. Pastrana jumps in the Caesar’s Palace fountain afterwards in celebration. Reprinted

from “Travis Pastrana nails Evel Knievel’s famous jumps in Las Vegas,” taken by ​John

Locker/AP, 2018, retrieved from https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/national/travis-

pastrana-nails-evel-knievel-famous-jumps-las-vegas/wyfolHNJ9njrRmPdZiMufM