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by RidesAPaleHorse
[graphic: RAPH]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motorcycle. Show all posts
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
American Daredevel: R.I.P.
Name at birth: Robert Craig Knievel
Evel Knievel brought the spirit of P.T. Barnum to daredevil motorcycle jumps in the 1970s. Dressed in his signature red, white and blue jumpsuit, Knievel would race his motorcycle up steep ramps and over obstacles, including the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (in 1968) and a row of 13 double-decker buses at London's Wembley Stadium (in 1975). Often he crash-landed, thrilling viewers while breaking dozens of bones. His most famous stunt was an attempted jump over Idaho's Snake River Canyon in a rocket-powered "motorcycle" in 1974. The attempt failed when the craft's parachute opened prematurely, but Knievel survived. He retired in 1981; his son Robbie Knievel succeeded him as the family motorcycle daredevil. Evel Knievel received a liver transplant in 1999, due to hepatitis C presumably contracted through blood transfusions after his many crashes.
Extra credit: George Hamilton portrayed Knievel in the 1971 movie biography Evel Knievel... George Eads played Knievel in the 2004 TV movie Evel Knievel... Knievel played himself in the 1977 film Viva Knievel.
More Evel photos and career statistics at Evel Knievel
The crippled grandfather of extreme sports inhales deeply. He sits in his leather easy chair, mind clouded by meds, bones throbbing with arthritis. As he watches an NFL game, on which he has bet $1,000, the cantankerous stuntman clutches oxygen tubes supplying life to hardening lungs.
It is a shock to the senses, if not the sensibilities, to see ultra-cool Evel Knievel, 68, looking so feeble, so frayed around his graying daredevil edges, right down to his gnarled knuckles and wobbly gait.
His ravaged, 155-pound body isn't composed of original parts. He has a new liver and a replacement hip, and most recently doctors inserted a drug pump in his abdomen. It gives little reprieve from the excruciating pain in a fused spine mangled by hundreds of perilous, cringe-inducing motorcycle jumps from the 1960s and '70s.
"Ever see one of them before?" Evel asks, lifting a pajama top to reveal a pain-relief gizmo under his pale skin. "This sends morphine and synthetic heroin into my back 24 hours a day. It's awfully strong — it affects your thinking, your brain."
by RidesAPaleHorse
note: mondoreb
[graphics: top-RAPH; bbc]
Sources:
Evel Knievel - who2
Evel Knievel, long retired, frail, feisty, still cheating death - USA Today
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Motorcyclists Terrify Motorists: Like a Bad Movie
A couple St. Louis-area motorists were the victims of a bizarre group of bikers who can only be said were auditioning for a part in the next big B-movie.
Motorists can take heart in the police dispatcher's lament: you can't pull over 50 bikes. Next time you're thinking of getting somewhere in a hurry and speeding:
A throng of motorcyclists terrified two motorists in separate incidents over the weekend and has local police officers at a loss as to what to do about it.
The two episodes involved motorcyclists who were doing stunts as they surrounded vehicles in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Both motorists said that they were almost forced to stop on the roadway because the riders on Japanese-model motorcycles started throwing things at or kicking their vehicles.
The first incident happened about 2:45 p.m. Sunday, when a man was driving his Chrysler LHS on northbound Interstate 270 as it approached Interstate 70 in Maryland Heights.
According to a 911 tape released by police, the motorist pleaded for police to help him: "There's 50 of them (motorcyclists) and they're trying to take over the highway. … This guy just threw something at my car. You gotta get some cops out here. The whole highway is jammed." The sound of motorcycle engines whined in the background
As the man was talking, a 911 call came in from a motorist driving south on Interstate 270: "Is somebody coming? They're kicking this guy's car."
The woman caller gave the same location: Interstate 270 north at Interstate 70.
About five minutes after the first call, the dispatcher sent police.
By the time police arrived, the group of cyclists were gone from Maryland Heights' jurisdiction and were driving east on Interstate 70, toward the city.
The dispatcher called the man back: "I don't know if anyone can pull over 50 bikes. That's the issue!"
Maryland Heights Police Capt. Bill Carson said the motorist did not file a complaint or stop and talk with an officer. The lack of a report left police with few follow-up options, he said.
Get 49 of your closest friends and go for it.
--From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Notes by Little Baby Ginn & Mondoreb
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