Aug. 11, 1974 editions of the Oakland Tribune carried an interview with motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, who was three weeks away from jumping 1,765 feet across the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, ID.
Why was he doing it? "I'm going to jump it because I said I would, and if a man is a liar he is nothing," Evel said. Evel's wife, Linda, backed him up. "Just think what it would do to him as a man if he backed out. He'd just as soon want to be dead as not go through with it."
I never realized George W. Bush and Evel Knievel had so much in common.
Did Evel make it? Nope. According to Wikipedia,
The launch at the Snake River Canyon was at 3:36 p.m. local time. The steam that powered the engine had to get up to a temperature of 700 °F (370 °C). About two-thirds the way up the ramp, the drogue parachute accidentally deployed. The deployed chute caused enough drag that the skycycle couldn't make it all the way across the canyon. The skycycle turned on its side and started to descend into the canyon. The main chute deployed, allowing the wind to carry the skycycle into the canyon wall. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, the wind had pushed it across the river enough so that it landed half in and half out of the water. Knievel survived the jump with only minor injuries.
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