"Kaptain" Robbie Knievel clears a sliver of the Grand Canyon traveling 228 feet to break his own world record by 5 feet. Fireworks erupt and the crowd of several hundred cheer wildly as he soars over the 200-foot-wide gorge at 90 mph.
OK, so he really didn't jump over the Grand Canyon.
Some people on the Hualapai Indian Reservation said it was considered more like a really big hole between two ramps, not even important enough to be given a name on local topographical maps.
"This is barely a wash in this country," chuckled Hualapai tribal member Allan Smith.
And Robbie Knievel wouldn't have plunged 2,500 feet to his death, splattered on the canyon floor as Fox network broadcasters dramatically told a live nationwide audience as Knievel revved his bike's motor for the big moment. Maybe 75 feet and change.
None-the-less, Knievel showed he did have his old man's balls of steel as he broke 80 mph down the takeoff ramp, soared 40 feet in the air, flew well over 200 feet and came down hard, losing control of the bike and sliding into cacti and bales of hay before coming to a stop.
After the dust cleared (literally) emergency personnel, with the help of Dan Haggerty, helped Knievel up. As he attempted to limp back to the ramp, he gave a weak thumbs-up to cheering supporters.
"I'm a little dingy in the head," he told reporters as Fox television cameras rolled.
Today in motorcycle history is a proud supporter of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
