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Daredevil Will Attempt To Break Evel Knievel’s Records In High-Stakes Jumps

By Mizuki Hisaka
Published on: 04:16 PST, Jul 7, 2018

This Sunday, motorcycle daredevil Travis Pastrana is going to attempt to break the records set by Evel Knievel on live TV. During a special show called “Evel Live,” Pastrana will attempt three jumps in total, one per hour of the show, in Las Vegas. This will include a jump that “nearly killed” Evel, as described by Maxim.

The first jump will be the car jump. Evel’s best was 50 cars, and Pastrana will try to jump over 52 cars. The second jump will be the bus jump. Pastrana will attempt to surpass Evel’s best record of 14 Greyhound buses, by trying to jump over 16 buses. Lastly, Pastrana wants to do a jump that even Evel could not do, which is to jump over the Caesar’s Palace fountain, according to the NY Post. The attempted jump left Evel with a cracked skull, pelvis, hips and ribs, along with a concussion.

And if you thought that Pastrana would have an edge with a modern motorcycle, he won’t. He’ll be using a bike from Evel’s era, an Indian Scout FTR-750. And to pay homage to the great legend, Pastrana will reportedly be wearing an Evel-like cape. The daredevil explained the reasoning behind the jumps. He also noted that his reasoning behind attempting to break records is also inspired by Evel.

“The only reason we’re adding more is in the spirit of Evel Knievel… He never wanted to do the same thing twice. He always wanted to push the boundaries.”

However, with that being said, attempting these stunts is very dangerous and potentially life-threatening. Moreover, Pastrana is not super well-versed in using the older motorcycle for jumps, which is about twice as heavy as modern bikes.

The host of the show will be America Ninja Warrior’s Matt Iseman, who explained how he feels about the upcoming attempts to beat Evel’s records.

“The reality is this entire show hinges on him nailing it… If this guy has a pulse, if he can rev a gas handle, he’ll go and that’s what makes me love him and fear for him at the same time…. He’s as close to Evel Knievel as we’ve got.”

The jump that’s likely to get everyone’s attention is the third one over the Caesar’s Palace fountain. Even though Evel failed at his attempt, it actually was instrumental in rocketing his fame, as he eventually became a millionaire.

In today’s age, it’s hard to know what effect the attempted jumps could have on Pastrana’s career.

But for those who are interested in catching this potentially historic live TV feed, tune into the History Channel on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.

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