Travis Pastrana made history on Sunday Night with not one, not two, but three record-breaking jumps. His stunt spree is in tribute to Evel Knievel, the legendary stuntman of the 70’s. Those that think his jumps were easier to land due to advances in technology would be interested to know Pastrana used the same style of bike that Knievel did – the Indian Scout.
"I got on the Indian [Scout] and it was like, 'Holy cow, it's like jumping a tank.' Now I understand why Evel crashed so much," Pastrana said
The 34-year old Pastrana successfully landed a jump over 52 crushed cars (two more than Evel’s 50), 16 Greyhound buses (two more than Evel’s 14), and the vaunted Caesar’s Palace jump that nearly killed Evel. When Knievel tried to jump the fountain he came up short, crashing at 90mph (144.8 km/h) leaving him with a fractured skull, broken hip, ribs, wrists, ankles, hands, and crushed his pelvis. Evel was reportedly in a coma for a month.
First jump of the evening was the 52 crushed car jump:
Following that jump, Pastrana upped the ante by jumping 193 feet through the air – approximately 50 feet further than his first jump – over 16 Greyhound buses.
Finally, Pastrana landed the jump that made Evel Knievel, the one that almost killed him in 1967 – the jump over Caesar’s Palace fountain.
(H/T History Channel)
