America lost one of the toughest motorcycle riders there ever lived.

From the Associated Press...

Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundel said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.

Labels: Evel Knieval, Obituaries

I guess I didn't realize that Evel Knieval had his own rock opera.

Jef Bek, a musical director and composer with a small Los Angeles theater company. produced the musical, after obtaining the rights from iconic American daredevil himself back in 2003.

It's a story of Evel's life, from his roots in Montana, to the daredevil jumper, to his Caesar's Palace disaster, and his Snake River Canyon fiasco, all set to 1970's style rock music.


As CNN originally reviewed...

Bek, 40, said he envisions the rock opera as an homage to Knievel and to the musical spirit of 1970s bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Knievel inspired a 12-year-old Bek to become a stunt rider while he was growing up in Des Plaines, Illinois, but Bek said he abandoned that dream after riding his bicycle into a tree stump.

Labels: Evel Knieval

Famed motorcycle daredevil Evel Knieval recently accepted Jesus Christ into his heart and became a born-again Christian at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, CA.

The 68-year old Knieval travelled there and was baptized at the church's famous "Hour of Power" service, and then spoke to the congregation...

Knievel spoke for about 20 minutes to more than 4,000 people who gathered inside the Crystal Cathedral for services, telling them how he'd been a sinner all his life and now things had changed.

Schuller said Knievel had called him a couple of weeks earlier, telling him, "Dr. Schuller, I've accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior."

Labels: Evel Knieval, Religion