Evel Knievel crashes attempting to jump thirteen London buses at Wembley Stadium.
"You are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump," he told the crowd, "because I will never ever jump again, I am through."
A crowd of nearly 60,000 at London's Wembley Stadium witness Evel Knievel reach a grim end to his career when he attempts to jump over thirteen side-by-side London double-decker buses on his Harley-Davidson XR-750. Catching the last bus, Knievel somersaults just after landing and lays unconscious with his bike on top of him.
Evel suffers a fractured pelvis, a crushed vertebra, broken right hand and sustained a concussion.
It was a painful ending to a Monday afternoon in which the audience happily watched other people in danger, including 71 year-old Henri la Moth who dived 40 feet into only 14 inches of water; Roy Fransen, who dived 60 feet into a blazing pool after first setting himself on fire and the Traber family, who walked the high-wire blindfolded, then rode up it on motorcycles, suspending a woman underneath.
That bit about never jumping again? Well, that lasted until October 15, 1975 when he cleared fourteen Greyhound buses at Kings Mills, Ohio.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
