Evel Knievel jumps nine cars (three 1971 Ford Mustangs, six Datsun 510's) and a Dodge Tradesman van at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The jump is Day 3 of a four-day engagement at The Garden. July of 1971 is one of the busiest months in Evel Knievel's career, earning him the self-proclaimed moniker of 'The busiest rider in showbizz'.
He opens July with the four jumps in NYC (July 8-11) then goes north to Lancaster Speedway in Buffalo, New York (July 15-17), where each night he jumps 13 cars and, reportedly stays up until 1:00-2:00 in the morning signing autographs, before ending his tour at Pocono Downs Raceway in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (July 29-30). The Wilkes-Barre leaps are over 12 Stegmaier Beer trucks, much to the delight of the sold-out crowds. Stegmaier beer sales for that Thursday and Friday set brewery records. "Bartender, another 'Steg', please."
Evel talked to 'The New Yorker' magazine about the jumps at Madison Square Garden. “I’ll be riding a Harley-Davidson XR 750—a factory-produced racing machine. It uses ethyl gas. The ramps are wooden—four-by-twelves—seven feet wide, with steel supports, set at a thirty-degree angle. Before the jump, I concentrate on what to do—I’m worrying about the sparkplugs, the chain, throttle, tires, the r.p.m. at the takeoff point. I’ve missed nine times, but I don’t have a death wish. Life to me is a bore, really, and jumping has replaced card games, ski-jumping, stealing. How some of the other people survive, I don’t know. If it weren’t for me, they’d have nothing to do—and if it weren’t for them, I couldn’t make a living. If I’m right with the man in the glass [mirror], that’s all that matters. It’s a challenge, like a ski jump. Everything is waiting, and then you’ve done it, and that’s what your life is. I live to beat that challenge.”
The day of the opening, at around four in the morning, Knievel made his first trial jump, landed, zoomed into the wings, and smashed into the wall, injuring himself (one of the handlebars went into his groin; his legs were bruised) and wrecking the front end of his motorcycle. There was talk of cancelling the show, but Knievel decided against it. The motorcycle was repaired, and thin strips of corrugated rubber were taped to the floor of the Garden; these, it was hoped, would slow him down so that he could stop a few feet short of the wall.
Every jump that July, all nine of them, go successfully.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
