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- [00:00]
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The following program is a podcast one.com production he started in a small town in Texas, worked his ass off to become one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.
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We're gonna take care of business tonight. And that's the bottom line.
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And now he's dominating the world of On Demand Audio. And he's doing it for the working man.
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This is a damn good outlet for me to spew the off my brain.
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This is the Steve Austin Show. Unleash.
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B
All right, everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin show, why I'm coming to you from the mean streets of Los Angeles, California. Today. I'm sitting here in my office with the window open, and I got a nice cool breeze blowing through the window. Southern California weather. It's probably 65 degrees at most here today. The breeze makes it feel a lot cooler. Over here to my right on the carpet is Hershey the Wonder Dog, my prized chocolate lab. She's stretched out, she's sleeping, and she's probably dreaming about eating a big bowl of dog food. She is my security force, and she is not doing her job. Once again, I will fire her after the podcast. Hershey, stay asleep. Hey. I talk about how nice this Southern California weather is, because it wasn't. But just a day ago, I jumped into my Ford Bronco, loaded it up with everything I was going to need to travel for a couple of days, went down to Pomona and picked up my silver rv, loaded everything in that thing, and I blasted out of Pomona, California and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, and getting ready to have a great conversation with American daredevil legend, motorcycle whiz Robbie Knievel, son of the one and only Evel Knievel. I was an Evel Knievel fan from way back in the day. I was born in 64. And of course, I guess Evil started really jumping stuff in 61. The Caesar's palace crash was in 67 and all the other stuff. I remember Snake River Canyon like it was yesterday. So I followed all Evil's career and I followed Robbie's career because I just always liked seeing what those Knievels were up to next, what they were going to jump, how they were going to jump it, Would they make the jump, hopefully, or would they crash and try tumble down or up a ramp and just destroy their bodies. So I was a huge Knievel fan. I was looking forward to talking to Rob in Knievel. So I loaded up my rv. I wanted to talk to the man in person, not on Skype. So what happens is I get in My damn rv, and I get down to Duck Creek RV park right on the outskirts of Las Vegas. If you guys, anybody listen to my voice. If you do any rv' ing and you're passing through Vegas, try the Duck Creek RV Park. They treated me like absolute gold there. It was a wonderful facility, and I had a great time. Only problem was the Internet was a little bit slow. So, anyway, back to the story. When I rolled into Vegas, it was hotter than hell, probably. It was 108 degrees. Now, Robbie had already told me, steve, it's hot out here. Is your AC unit good? And I said, yeah, it's good. And what I did was I ran my generator all the way from Pomona to Las Vegas with my back air conditioner running. And as soon as I got there, I plugged in my electricity, hooked up my water, kept my AC going, and tried to keep that thing cool. And I'll tell you what it was. When you're sitting on pavement and it's 108 degrees, it's a dry heat. I don't give a damn what kind of heat you call it. That's hot. So anyway, I had a window of opportunity to interview Robbie between about four and nine. And that's when I was set, you know, to have a conversation with a man and talk to him face to face about all the things that he'd lived through in his life. And I'll be danged if he didn't get a business call and he had to go take care of some business while I was trying to record, so he had to go take care of business. And then by the time he got hell, it was late, so we grabbed a hamburger together and I had a couple of margaritas. And we figured we'd try to get the podcast done the next day. Well, the next day I got up and started talking to Johnny Mantell for my Tuesday show and got that sent in, got all my reads and everything sent in. And I'll be danged if I didn't get a call from my wife. And once again, believe it or not, Shona, our black lab has got all kinds of discombobulation. Her nose is bleeding like a faucet. So my wife, who can handle any situation life throws at her, you know, she's a little perturbed at all this stuff, and I need to get home and help out with that dog. So I told Robbie, I said, man, I'm going to have to put this thing in the wind, and we'll just have to talk on the Skype. You Know, it was just we missed each other on that business meeting and I got to go, and so I left. And I tell you what, I put that RV in the wind and I was driving, I think it chips out at about 86 miles an hour. And I hauled ass. And I tell you what, there's some idiotic drivers out there between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, California, and there's some idiotic drivers out there between wherever you're going. So whenever you are driving somewhere, put your seatbelt on, keep your head on a swivel, and by God, for God's sake, please use your turn signals, your directionals, your indicators, whatever you want to call them. Hey, get that chopper out of here. I'm trying to record a podcast. I'll tell you what, it ain't about the awards anymore. I'm pissed off about the helicopters. I don't know what I got to do to talk to the mayor of Los Angeles to see what I get to do about getting a no fly zone over my damn house here. Whether it's the cops, it's the traffic, helicopters or whatever, I gotta be able to take care of business without these helicopters messing up my flow. It's a good thing I had my coffee. It's a good thing I had my alpha brain to keep me laser focused, regain my composure, as Gordon Sully would say. But anyway, I missed recording a conversation with Robbie for the podcast. We told some stories. I ate a hamburger, had a couple margaritas, and then it just got late and I had to haul ass because I had to get back here and help out with the situation of my dogs. The conversation you're gonna hear today on this podcast was recorded this morning after I saw and met Robbie in person. We did connect over Skype. I regret the fact that we couldn't record in person, but sometimes things in life pop up and that's what happened on this trip. But nonetheless, I look forward to seeing Robbie get back on his motorcycle. He's got a couple of jumps he's looking to make. In a couple of months he's going to give me a heads up and when he's going to try to make those jumps. I think one of them might be in Dallas, Texas. So anyway, Robbie, it was good talking to you and I thank are going to enjoy this conversation.
- [06:53]
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Select homes only.
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B
Evil jumped Caesar's palace in 67. The horrific crash. What year did you jump it?
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I jumped Caesars in 89. It took me a lot of years to talk him into doing it. Gary Wells tried. It was the only guy to try it after my dad. And he ran around and mouthed off how easy and what a lousy rider my dad was. And then he missed his whole landing ramp, splattered off the wall, and almost died. And then they weren't ever gonna let anybody jump it again. And Dick Clark called me and my dad and said, what's Robbie up to? Why don't you guys come to LA and meet with me and we'll talk about what he wants to do? And my dad said. We sat down, my dad said, robbie wants to jump the Snake River. I said, yeah, but first I want to jump Caesars. And my dad looked at Dick and says, oh, anybody can jump Caesars. And Gary, my dad Crash almost killed himself. And Wells almost killed himself. And Dick Clark says, I know Henry Gluck, the President. I'll set up a meeting tomorrow if you want Evil. He says, all right.
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B
Let me ask you a question, Robbie, because I've heard a few people discount your father's riding ability. Now, I. I grew up with Evil. In the prime of his career. I was born in 64. 74 was his biggest year. Obviously, Caesar's palace, all that stuff happened earlier, but I was a huge Evel Knievel fan. He was a hero for me. And then when he stopped, I followed your career, and you became that guy who would defy death and do all the legendary stuff on the back of a motorcycle. But some people discounted your father's riding ability. And I think they're crazy because, I don't know, it's like, I love UFC and mma, but I don't know how to technically do it. When I look at your father, the XR750, what he jumped on, that was not A jump bike. That bike. Eddie Kidd, your nemesis, said, that bike has three inches of travel. It was not built for jumping, but that's what the man jumped on. I thought your father was an amazing rider. And people have said that you maybe had more talent than your father. It was the Caesar's palace crash that really launched your father's career. How would you assess your father's talent compared to yours as you looked over the years at you duplicating some of his jumps and surpassing many of his jumps?
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Well, let me try and put this in a nutshell. My dad was an excellent rider. He was an excellent athlete. He was a semi pro hockey player. He was a semi pro ski jumper. He, you know, he just, he did a lot of sports when he was young and when he grew up, he grew up in the mining Mountains, the Rocky Mountains in Montana, and he climbed hills every day. And, you know, he rode all over the place and on the bikes back then, I mean, I think he was riding Honda's Yamahas, you know, Honda 500 scramblers. We used to travel the west coast and he raced flat track, half miles. We lived in Orange county when I was four years old, my brother was in kindergarten. I remember my first memory, I remember asking my mom, my first memory, sitting there in the dark at Ascot Speedway. Which one's dead? She said, he's in the black, in last. But, you know, he would travel the country and he was, he was racing with the pros. And you know, I grew up with him riding trails and stuff. And my dad was a great writer. But the thing was, over the years, when he got into his career after Caesar's, he shoved his hip into his pelvis. One leg was shorter than the other, forever. He had a hip replacement late 90s. And you know, that took away. He had staph infection all them years and he was always injured. I don't remember growing up with my dad when he wasn't hardly walking on a cane or crutches. It's like, geez, my dad's always injured. And you know, that, that put a dampener on his riding for sure. And you know, when I grew up, I rode every day right out of the backyard, into the Rockies, over the mountains. 3 hour, 4 hour loops by myself. And I climbed all the same hills he did in the mines, the big Berkeley pit. There was just tons of hill climbs. But my dad always said that I was a better rider than him. But I rode every day. I put my whole life into it. And I started way younger and I, of Course they had better bikes. And when you measure my dad's shocks, they were 8 inch shocks, but the motor, the V twin motors and stuff, they were so heavy. His bike, my bike's 125 pounds. My dad's were 225 pounds. My dad's were 295 pounds. So that's quite a difference. But his jumps were 100ft. On an average, Caesars was the longest gap distance my dad had ever tried at 120ft. When I jumped it, it was 30ft further. When you go out and start jumping 90ft and stretching the ramps 10 more feet, the big difference. But no, I had a better bike. I had a tighter Runway. I didn't think I was going to make it across. And you know, he, there's no way to go around Caesar. So he just, he gave it one shot. His first big jump on ABC was at Ascot Speedway where he used to flat track race. And then when he jumped Caesars, Linda Evans and John Derek filmed that. Linda shot the landing and John shot the side. But he came up a foot short at the beginning of the safety deck. And it just ripped the handlebars right out of his hands. I've watched it and I barely made, made it to the. My rear wheel hit my safety deck and my front wheel hit the landing ramp and I just had the pillars to deal with. So, you know, it's. My dad was a great rider. When he jumped 13 buses, you know, that's like 101ft. When he jumped 14 buses, you know, that's one more bus.
- [13:57]
B
Yeah, but let's go back to bikes. He did go back to Caesar's palace when you jumped it because your father was the guy that had to talk you into a safety deck. He says, he says, robbie, if you're going to come up short, that safety deck is going to save your life. And you.
- [14:15]
A
Wait, wait. He never did talk me into a safety deck. I use safety decks ever since I started jumping. And I don't know why my dad said that. I have no idea. Some of the things he said. I know some of the things he said on television, I think maybe he was still on some morphine or something. I have no idea. Okay, then look, from his surgery, then let me ask. But some things he said, I don't know why he said them, but I always used a safety deck and I always argued that with him. Why'd you say that? I always use the safety deck and he'd have nothing to say.
- [14:51]
B
Well, then let me ask you what was your relationship like with your dad? Because obviously, as a kid, you idolized him. He was your hero, and you were born into the business. That's what you wanted to do. But then as you. You got introduced. Shoot, what was it? The show in Toronto when he introduced you and Kelly, and he basically went on tour with him from then on. But was there a competitive dynamic or was he always coaching you up? What was the story with you two?
- [15:16]
A
You know, not with me. The first show we did was in Madison Square Garden with him. I was 8. And then I was wheeling across the football fields when I was 11, live on ABC with him. And my brother was a year and a half older than me, and he just quit doing shows because he'd go riding with me, and he says, wow, I'm gonna play golf. My brother has the eye of the tiger, and I don't want nothing to do with this. And so I kept going with my dad, and we. We did. We got back together. I left home at 16. I got in some trouble robbing a music store, so I had to move back home on probation. And, you know, I just. I wanted to get away from my dad. He was. He was always in pain. He did a lot of hollering and screaming. And when he went to jail for breaking the guy's arms with the ball bat in 78, I was out. I was 16 years old. And then I had to move back. Then we got together, and he took me to show me the ropes. He took me to the small stock car tracks, and I did jumps that he did years ago over a few more trucks or vans, and he would just do wheelies and do a speech and stuff. And he took me all down the west coast and he says, we're gonna go to Australia. I got a tour over there. We shipped two of the semis over there, two of the Cadillac pickups, and me and him and an entourage went over there for about a month and did shows with stunt people from all over the world. Then we went to Puerto Rico and did nine shows, five across the island in Salinas. Then we came back to Roberto Clemente Stadium and did four more. And then me and my dad came back to Florida, the Pontiac Silver Dome, and did some shows together. And then I moved out for good and moved to Arizona when I was 19. So I kept. I kept that name going forever. And my dad always said I was a better writer. We had a turbulent relationship, but it was no different. I don't think that many fathers and their sons, you know, we argued we had our arguments and I never won the arguments. And my dad, my attorney that I've known since 9 did all my dad's toy deals, did all my contracts through the years. And he says, robbie, your dad loves you. He knows you're very talented. He's, he's still Evel Knievel and he just doesn't want to pass the baton. So that's another reason I moved out. And, and, and what I do, I struggle up and down all the time. And then I walked into Fox by myself one day and they wanted to do a show. Stunts go bad. So I was just an extra on that stunt show. And then I talked him into doing a live show because my dad's shows were on abc, they were tape delayed. But Fox says, okay, we'll do a two hour stunt special. So they did an hour and a half of other stunts and then they did my last half hour when I jumped to 30 limos at the Tropicana and they said, your rating was huge. We want to do your next show, one hour, just you live. So I've had eight live hour specials now, five on Fox, two pay per views and a live show where I jumped on the USS Intrepid for the troops live on tnt. And I just keep going and keep going. Everybody said, after Caesars, what's he gonna do next? And I came up with all kinds of ideas. The part of the Grand Canyon, the volcano, the limos, the building, the building jump, you know, the head on steam engine train jump. I mean, it's all going to be on my documentary that comes out September. We filmed for a year. It's all done, but they're editing right now. It's going to be out in September of 2017. Excuse me, I'll do a junket tour in January. The talk shows promote that and my book. And it's a 75 minute movie they call it because it's over an hour. And it will show everything from me being on the front of my dad's bike when I was 2 years old and starting riding at 4 years old, the trailer house we lived in till I was 12. And then everything turned from trailer trash basically to yachts, Learjets and Ferraris. So it was a shock. When I was a teenager, there's not a kid in this world, not even my brother traveled with me and my dad to Australia and all the places we went that saw the life that I saw. When I think about it, there's just nobody that lived that life. And I'm excited about the documentary because it's life and redemption. I said, I don't want a bunch of people feeling sorry for me because I'm evil. Evil son. But it's going to show that I made it on my own. Yes, I have the name of the. But I was my dad's biggest fan and I wanted to keep that name going forever. And now I'm 54 and last October I jumped 56ft further than I did at Caesars and almost cleared my landing ramp and broke my spine. My vertebrates and they smashed him into a cage. And I'm just waiting for that to heal up because I'm ready to go again this summer.
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B
I want to ask you about the crashes and the landings and the dynamics of flying through the air. But. But first you touched upon that just then. Pretty much when you guys started out, it was meager beginnings. I don't want to say rags to riches, but it was rags to riches and then back to reality. Because man, after the thing with Shelly Saltman, after your dad broke his arm with a book, you know, Shelly wrote the book and your evil didn't like a thing in that book. And he took a baseball bat to the man and then I guess broke probation or parole and then they put him back in a. But you know, back in the day when he started jumping and had all that success when all the toys came out because I had the stunt cycle and you guys, Evil was making millions and millions and millions of dollars and he was spending it just as fast as he could make it. So what was it like for you as a kid to grow up from meager beginnings all of a sudden to be the lifestyle of the rich and famous and your dad is an absolute rock star.
- [20:59]
A
Well, I was only 12 when I moved. We built a house when we left the trailer on eight acres on the golf course. And all of a sudden we had these beautiful thoroughbred horses and Tennessee Walkers and I was cleaning the horse stalls with my mom. We had the hunting dogs because my great grandfather raised my dad and took him hunting all the time. And he took time out in his prime time when we were young kids to take us hunting, fishing. I mean, we went down a dirt road in his convertible million and a half dollar Ferrari. Back then it was probably a sixty thousand dollar Ferrari, but now the original Daytona Spiders, he had five of them, five Ferraris, he had Lamborghinis, he had two Learjets. And the press had asked him, why did you buy two Learjets? We always lettered everything in gold leaf and he says, I just want to fly next to the other one and see my name on the side. But of course he'd fly his friends to Florida. We had a house there all of a sudden the ranch in Montana on the country club on a hill. And then we had. He had a fed ship 118 foot. He had a custom built 85 foot broward that he designed a 45 foot Chris craft. And these are all sitting on in front of the house on the intercoastal. And Jackie Gleason used to come by and I'll never forget, he got, we got in the boat. He says, I'm driving evil. They were good buddies. He come over on his Cheekwood yacht and the cops pulled us over. Jackie says, how many times have I told you guys, don't ever pull me and my friends over. We're having fun. And he nailed the throttle and he just yelled at the cops and away we go, you know, I mean, this stuff was happening all the time. Every day there was something exciting going on and I could never get away from that life and I kept living it forever.
- [22:46]
B
But you, so, I mean, you're obviously an adrenaline junkie, but was your dad teaching you, hey, hard working, you got to do your chores or it was all the show business all the time and it was on to the next show and, and working shows.
- [22:59]
A
He had me and my brother out in the yard all the time on the eight acres. I was either painting white fences or cleaning the horse stalls or taking care of the dogs with my mother. But yeah, there was time to run around the golf carts course and get in trouble with my friends and you know, there was just. I did everything a young kid to do and you know, and I got in a lot of trouble and, and I just, I wanted to leave home because I wanted to be free and be on my own. I just, I got, you know, I would talk him into. Let me bring all my homework and fly to Florida and help stand on the yacht whenever they were painting it or something. I was just always traveling. So I traveled my whole life and to live that kind of a life with that kind of a man. He was a great father. I remember him, you know, wanting to lay in bed with us and say prayers before we, you know, went down to our rooms and went to sleep. I remember going to the Snake River Canyon like it was yesterday when I was 12. I mean, he was the biggest, fastest overnight success out of anybody in a 10 year period from like Caesars. He started jumping in the 60s. But Caesar's at 67. And his last big jump over the 14 buses was in Kings island in 1975. And I've been in this business like 46 years now. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows.
- [24:21]
B
If I'm lying, I'm dying.
- [24:23]
A
This is the mindset. Free. This is the mantra.
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B
Free.
- [24:27]
A
This is the mindset. Mindset. With movies like Interstellar Dreamgirls and Gladiator, why are you not entertained?
- [24:35]
B
And TV shows like Survivor Science, SpongeBob.
- [24:37]
A
SquarePants, the Fairly Odd Parents and Ghosts.
- [24:40]
B
Pluto TV is always free.
- [24:42]
A
Huzzah. Pluto TV stream now pay never.
- [24:48]
B
So when he first bought your first bike, what did you grow up riding? Was there a preferred brand of motorcycle that you liked? He's jumping Harley, but you're riding the newer technology stuff that's lighter and more nimble.
- [24:59]
A
Well, when I was real young, I started on Honda 50, of course, when I was 4 or 5 years old. And I jumped a Hodaka 100 and a Baja 100 Harley off his ramps for the first time when I was nine, I only jumped like one car. And then I started doing the wheelies and I got on CR125s and I raced flat track on a CR125 for a while. Then I went into motocross first. My first race was at Snake River Canyon when I was 10. And then I grew up, got onto can ams. Harley sponsored me on 250s SXS, which were bikes with lights and just, they were junk. And that's what I jumped when I was 13, 14, went to Australia, rode their motocross bike and their, their motocross bike didn't last long. But Harley, I always wanted to sponsor me, but they never would. My dad did the baseball bat deal, broke the guy's arms. Everybody says there's some guy said he beat the hell out of. He did. He just broke his arms. He had somebody hold his arms because he was in the hospital with two casts on his arms. And the reason he broke his arms, he said, now write a book, Abby. He was kind of sticking up for the celebrities amongst us, so to speak, and the press, you know, he said they would violate. So fragrantly violate, you know, people's privacy and certain things. But, you know, I, in the book, I never read the whole thing, to tell you the truth. I was so young when it came out. It was called On Tour with Evel Knievel. But it was a lot of truth. I mean, my dad was huge. He was like an atlas on a motorcycle traveling around. And every woman in the country saw something in Evel Knievel that attracted it to him. Attracted them to him.
- [26:47]
B
How did that set with you? Because, you know, I know you have a great relationship with your mother and Evil Caller, the most beautiful woman in the world. And yet, you know, when he was on tour, he had a few vices. Maybe Wild Turkey 101 was one of those vices, but so was women. And you had a hard time with that because, you know, obviously you're a young man, but you know that he's cheating on your mother. How did that set with you? And did you ever say, hey, dad, this is wrong, because that's Evel Knievel you would be talking to?
- [27:17]
A
You know what? I never did say anything to him, but it killed me. My mom is a perfect angel. And everybody that knew her, from Frank Gifford to any sportscasters, Howard Cosell, they loved my mother. And I was the only one traveling with them. So my brother didn't even see this stuff. He found out later on. But when I was 16, that's when it first struck me. And I was just like, wow, dad, this is. This is terrible. Like any kid, it'd be if he had a great mother and father. So it was. It was hard for me to comprehend. And I just. I went through life and the travels overseas and. And all over, and that's what I saw. And that was my dad, and it was what it was, And I was the son, so what was I going to do, beat him up? I don't think so.
- [28:05]
B
But you followed in his footsteps, you know, jumping motorcycles. It was your passion, it was your calling. You loved the adrenaline of it and the challenge of it. And so you're much like your father. When you would achieve your greatest fame, your notoriety, all of a sudden you have this huge following. You're married, you have kids. You must have followed in your father's same footsteps with regards to the women, the vices, etc.
- [28:33]
A
No, I didn't. I'll tell you why. Because my mother was such an angel, and I had half of her in me. I had half my mom and half my dad. There's a little evil in all of us, I always say. But mostly me. I. You know, I just. I wasn't a dog. I had a lot of friends and a lot of people around me that were dogs. And that's just how guys are. People are. And women are the same way these days. I mean, it's just. Things were way different when I grew up, and I just Wasn't that way. And I continue to be the same. You know, I'm good to my girl and the girls I've been with. Yeah, way back in the day, I might have cheated on one or two, but that's life.
- [29:14]
B
So not. Not. But not like evil. I mean, his shenanigans were so.
- [29:20]
A
I don't know how many women he had. He might have had as many as Gene Simmons, for all I know.
- [29:26]
B
Okay, but let's talk. Let's talk about a few of the other vices. I mean, because I spent my fair share of time on the road. And, Matt, your guy been on record as saying you used to love your whiskey. How bad or how hard would the whiskey take its toll on you? And how bad did it possess you? Or you just used it? A lot of it. Because it seems to be. I don't know. That was your vice.
- [29:51]
A
Well, I drank a lot. It went with my job. I mean, anybody with high adrenaline. I never consider myself an adrenaline junkie. I started so young, it just came natural. Of course there was adrenaline. I mean, after a jump, it took me two days to come down. Because your adrenaline, you just risked your life. You could be dead in a second. And I have lucked out so many times and haven't got killed from jumping where I've come. Had so many close calls. But, yeah, the drinking, it was there in the 80s. All my friends were partying. Everybody I knew was partying. And so, you know, I had my days with it. And. And I. I grew up. I saw my dad get a liver transplant. My grandpa quit drinking. My dad's dead 15 years before he died. My dad quit drinking almost 15 years before he died. My uncle, my dad's brother quit drinking before he died. So everybody's different. And yes, I had a problem with drinking and I got in an accident. Nobody got killed, luckily, over a year and a half. About a year and a half ago, and I just woke up. My pancreas gave me problems for 16 years. I had acute pancreas. I had pancreatitis and acute pancreas problems. So I was in the emergency room once a year for pain. And after the accident, I just said, I'm done. And I quit for a year and stayed completely sober for 11 months. My buddy, Grizzly Adams died. I had a couple drinks. Now I have a drink here and there, but I do not let it get to me. It's almost like my body's rejecting it because I took it out of my body and brain for so long. You get to an age I did anyway. That said, I just don't care about this stuff anymore. It's not what I need. But I was so used to drinking every day for years and years. It just. It just went with my life. And I was a fun drinker, but I didn't get drunk and go cause problems or start fights. You know, I did when I was broke, when I moved out, when I was young, get drunk and go rob the music store two years in a row, you know, and spent some time for that. And then I moved away from home, and I says, I got a business now. I got a manager. I got to try and make it. For years and years, I was up and down. And then I got low blood sugar in the 90s. I couldn't drink at all. And then, you know, I just. It's just you get to a certain age and things happen, and you see what happened to a lot of people, and you go through meetings, you go through outpatient treatment. You learn so much, and it finally hits you that alcohol, if it gets a stronghold on you, it's time to get away from it. That's anything. My dad never did drugs. He hated drugs. The only drugs he was on was pain medication in the hospital. But, you know, he caught me smoking pot when I was a kid, you know, 16, 17 years old. He was gonna break my leg, so I stole the truck and tried to run away. All these stories are in my documentary, so it'll be good.
- [32:55]
B
Well, tell me about, then. Tell me about your relationship with Payne, because I've experienced my fair share in the business of professional wrestling, y'. All, Your father, yourself took it to a whole new level. Because when I go back and I've seen the Caesar's palace crash by Father, and that was probably the crash that really launched his career into the stratosphere. And then the Wembley crash in front of anywhere between 70 and 90,000 people, which was horrific. And that's when, after that crash, he said, hey, I'm never going to jump again. He would. But nonetheless, both of those. Nonetheless, both of those crashes captured in slow motion, and I watched them a hundred times, and I've seen you have the same type crashes. And the Grand Canyon jump, you made the jump, but due to whatever happened after you hit the bottom of the ramp, that berm flipped you off the bike. So I guess what I'm asking you is, what is your relationship with pain? Because you've experienced it at the extreme highest levels, is it something you just accept and you just live with high tolerance to Pain or you're immune to.
- [34:04]
A
You know, I can't answer that. I hate pain and everybody's different with pain. So I don't know how it affects me, but I hate it. I can't stand it. I don't like a paper cut and now I have arthritis that kills me. I take glucosamine. It's the only thing that's helped me from my separated, you know, shoulders dislocations, to my knee surgeries, to all the torn ligaments in my body. I mean when you watch me crash, when people compare my bike to my dad's, Nobody ever did what my dad did back then. He stood on the seat and was doing stand up wheelies in the 60s, it was unheard of. I was doing no handers jumps in the late 70s nobody ever saw and heard of. And a lot of these kids doing tricks today, they weren't even born and they got an 80 foot jump on an average, doing their backflips or whatever and landed on dirt. When you see my bike come on an average my dad was doing, he'd always say he was going 100 miles an hour, but for in reality he was doing 60 to 70 miles an hour on a heavy bike. When you see me hit the pavement at 85 miles an hour, I mean I'm going way faster and I'm going almost twice as high because I got a higher ramp and I mean I'm splatting down on the pavement and people will see my dad's slow motion and they'll see my jumps on this documentary, you know, I'm hitting the pavement way faster. Yeah, I'm on a better bike, but I'm going higher and twice as far. My average jumps are close to 200ft.
- [35:41]
B
You know, explain to me about the jumping process, just I guess the physics of it. Because when it comes down to designing a ramp, when I watch your father's old jumps, you know, the ramps, he was trying to hit at a high rate of the speed, as you just said. And then to me the ramps had a flat trajectory. And I'm thinking, why don't they build a higher ramp? But with that I'm assuming comes the trade off, you're going to fall further. And with the three inches of travel, the eight inch shocks that he had, the landings were absolutely brutal and he broke his back I don't know how many times. Same with you. Just take me through the dynamics of how do you set up a ramp, gauge the measurements of it, the trajectory, and talk to me about flying far Further rather than higher. Because what's the lesser of two evils? I mean, you don't want to come down too hard, but you got to make it to the other side.
- [36:34]
A
How do y' all decide the further you go? If you're thinking my dad, in my dad's mind back then, only he was. And the further you go, he says, I'm going to jump 15 cards for a world record at Ascot Speedway in 1966. Maybe it was 65, I don't know. But, you know, he was on a. I think he was on a Norton or he might have been on a 500 scrambler, I'm not sure. But he. He had to build a higher ramp to go further. So he would build these 8 foot wide takeoff ramps that were 6ft high and my ramps 10 foot now, so it gives me more distance. But the beginning of his ramp, I learned from him. The late. Him in the late 70s, I would start building an approach ramp that I'd pull up on the bottom of the ramp. So when I hit it, it would take some of that boom. He would hit the bottom of the ramp. It would slow him down and cross him up. And if you look at most of his jumps, it would slow him down enough where he would hit that little safety dick and it would spit him off. And there was some jumps. He almost cleared the ramp. But, yeah, you know, it's just the ramps he used to use. And then by the time he was doing his big jumps, like 13 Mac trucks in Toronto, Canada, I noticed his takeoff ramp had a lot better takeoff at the bottom, but he'd still get crossed up because it wasn't. It wasn't good enough. And mine just. Mine changes degree and it's higher. It goes from like 8 degrees, you know, down towards the first part of the bottom where you take your hardest impact a quarter of the way up the takeoff ramp, and it turns to 15 degrees at the top. So you really can't even see it when you're looking at the ramp. But yeah, for him to drive down the strip at Caesar's palace and go, I want to be the first gladiator at this hotel. And he walked in there and says, I want to make you guys famous. I want to jump your fountains. I mean, what was he thinking? I don't know what he was thinking. And then all of a sudden, he's in a bar there. Why don't you jump the Grand Canyon? Okay, so he heads to the Grand Canyon with a bike with jets and wings on it. And he could Never get permission because the north side is, you know, government land national park, and the south side is all Navajo and Wallapai Indian land. And that's what I had to do. I had to go to the south, south rim with the wallapies and jump part of the canyon. There's no way you're gonna make it over the canyon unless you got a rocket. That's why he went to the Snake river and he bought a piece of property. And the other side was Bureau of Land Management. And it still is. And they will not let anybody go. You're just gonna get in trouble and do right your ticket. But anyway, I've been working on the Snake River Canyon forever. I want to go back to Wembley and jump to Harley just to show people I can jump the Harley. I'd rather have two cylinders banging a piston than one, believe me. Because when you're headed for that ramp and your piston sticks, you're done. If you land short, too short, you're going to. No guys ever lived. Except one guy tore his legs off landing underneath the ramp without cars in it, on the grass, you know, through the canyon. And I want to do Wembley just to prove to myself and people that, you know, I can jump to Harley.
- [39:52]
B
Further, let's talk about the Snake River Canyon jump that your father attempted in the X2 sky cycle. The chute deployed on takeoff. But the biggest question I have for you is how old were you at that time?
- [40:08]
A
I was 12 in 1974. September 8th.
- [40:11]
B
What was running for your mom? Because I know your mother was nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Because this was an evil, quite frankly. Admitted that he thought he was going to die, but he gave his word that he was going to jump that canyon. And so he did. The chute deployed. But here's my question. What was the state of mind between you and your brothers and sisters and your mother before that jump happened?
- [40:35]
A
Between me and my brothers and sisters, we thought my dad was going to die. He thought he was going to die. I never saw my dad so apprehensive on an interview before the. Before he did that anywhere. And I hung around the engineer's garage when they were building the first DX1 in Southern California. And he was a chief engineer at NASA for years. Bob Truax. Yeah. And there's nothing my dad wanted to do but successfully land on the other side. And the first shot went without a chute at 3,000 pounds of thrust. A big ball of steam that sits right behind you. That's heated up to a certain temperature. So the only way it could have blown up as if there was a leak in the ball. The engineer explained all this to me later, and I remember it a lot when I was a kid. But he had to put it off for two more years because, you know, they just weren't ready. And he was, you know, trying to get enough money. And they fired a second test out with a dummy in it at 5 in the morning, just when it got light out so no cameras could get it because that was the first time they raised the ramp. 100 foot long steel track ramp that it had to go on. And zero to 450 and three and a half seconds. The engineer told me, almost straight up 57 degrees and you know, and it was going to go. It was designed that that much thrust, 5,000 pounds of thrust, 5,000 pounds of total impulse, zero to 450 in three and a half seconds. He was worried about, you know, blacking out or he couldn't pull the chute. And the second test shot went off and the chute blew out the exact same way. And the engineer told me that he wasn't sure what happened. I mean, they weren't sure what happened back then. He says, evo, we need to fire another test shot. I don't know what happened. Maybe we should take the canister off the top of the parachute. There's electrical wires running everywhere in that thing. And then my dad says, I'm out of time, I'm out of money. Take it off automatic pilot. I will pull the chute. Because the second test I went perfectly straight on automatic pilot. And when my dad did it, as soon as it fired, the chute blew out before the thing even went 10ft.
- [42:54]
B
Correct.
- [42:55]
A
You know, it just like a shotgun shell, it's just the thrust just blew it out. And the last thing my dad wanted to do was take a chance on landing in the river. The second test shot landed in the river because the wind was hardly blowing. But every day at that cannon, it was blows from the BLM to the right into your face. Every day. I mean, not every day, but it's that afternoon it was blowing hard, and if it would have went a half a mile over it might have caught the edge and stayed on that side. But he blew down. He thought he was going in the river. He had a shoot on his chest. He was struggling trying to get out to pull that shoot because it was so heavy. And the guys down there in the boats, they wouldn't have got my dad out before he drowned. And he couldn't get the straps off because the G force, it just snagged him and locked him in. They. They just tightened up, and he could not get it off. So he lucked out and blew into the wall, bounced into the rocks on the one side. Talk about one lucky guy, man.
- [43:52]
B
And I remember watching that live. It was absolutely incredible.
- [43:57]
A
Crying that he was going down in the river and he was gonna drown. So, yeah, we thought he was dead. And then he comes up with a bloody nose because he read it out. He didn't blackout. The G force rushed all the blood to his head. And the engineer told me years later, I go, how many GS did he take? Because I used to go up in the weir jets and practice G force when I was a kid, but I'd only take, like two or three GS. And I was like, enough of this crap. But the engineer told me it was between six and seven of the toughest GS you can take. Neither. Neither, negative or positive in the middle. So I really don't understand that until I get a G suit on and start practicing, you know? I mean, nobody's ever made that canyon. Nobody's ever been back there since. I'd rather jump a bike any day of the week than getting that sky cycle.
- [44:47]
B
And he said the same thing in an interview. He goes, hey, man, that canyon's still there. And I haven't seen anybody line up to take it on the question on the back end of the Snake river canyon. Jump that jump. The failure of that jump, because it wasn't his fault. It was a mechanical failure, and he'd rather go down in flames or have a crash and not let the people down. But. But that setback, I mean, that really devastated Evil. It took a toll on him.
- [45:12]
A
Oh, totally. He. And he never wanted to go back there. You know why? Because it was the craziest thing he ever did. It was just nuts with the parachute technology today. People say there's never been another sky cycle built, and you still got to have the thrust. And I would do it the same way with the steam. I would just hope that we had a chute system that we could figure out. And I'll guarantee you, if my crew chief still alive and you're still alive, and my scent coordinator, Spanky, my buddy, still alive. A few guys that I can trust, I'm gonna have you guys standing there with remote controls and a few. I black out, you guys count to one and then pull that. Shoot just like an ejection Seat. Freaking jet. All right, I'm there.
- [45:59]
B
What was his. What was his conversation with Bob Truex? Because he really felt that.
- [46:06]
A
No, they got along. My dad always said Bob Truex had a little bit of an ego with his building, but the guy was an engineer. He designed a sky cycle for Evil Knievel. My dad had an eagle, for Christ's sake. Everybody had an ego back then. You know, 60s, 70s, 80s. I remember going to Hollywood and wanting to do stunts, and then egos were just flying for years. And, you know, I always said Truex had a little bit of an ego, but I always found Bob Truex to be the nicest guy in the world to me. So, you know, it was a. It was a lot of building. My dad was in that garage for years. And then the test shots at the side of the canyon for years. It was just. It was crazy to just even. I couldn't even fathom what my dad was doing, let alone on a bike and then getting in a rocket. I thought he was nuts.
- [47:02]
B
The.
- [47:02]
A
I just. I loved my dad. I didn't want to see him die. I was crying like crazy when I saw that chute come out. I thought he was going in the river. And we just got in an accident. Two years back, before we took my mother's father duck hunting. We just bought a six man raft and we're floating down the Madison river and it's 12ft deep at the time. And we come around the corner and there's a fork in the river and we hit a log and the boat tipped over. I was in the front or in the middle of the boat, or my dad was in the middle. My brother was in front. I was in front of my grandpa in the back, and my grandpa shoved me as hard as he could. My dad grabbed my brother and threw him into the bushes on this island. My grandfather, I felt him shove me as hard as he could and I grabbed the branches. Well, my grandfather had waiters on. My dad had chest waders on to go get the ducks after we shot him. But the river was so deep, my grandpa went down underneath. He's hanging onto the bushes for, I don't know, at least 10, 15, 20 seconds. And we see him pop up and he grabs this log and his coat was off, so he must have took it off in the bushes. And my dad's yelling, hang on. He started to go out on the log and my grandpa had to let go because his boots were full of water. And my mom, it's her birthday on a Sunday, and she's waiting down at the bridge. Anyway, they, they found her. Found him. Still cracks me up. It just traumatized me for the rest of my life. And, you know, just the whole drowning thing. The canyon came up and it was like, almost like, oh, God's gonna, their dad's gonna drown, like grandpa. And because of this accident, it was just a weird, weird deal for the whole family.
- [48:43]
B
Hey, man, you got to take me through the process of the mental prep or physical prep before a big jump. What are you thinking at the top of the ramp to gain speed coming down the ramp or zipping through the Caesar's palace the way you did? What are you thinking? If you're taking a couple of run ups and you were a field guy and you would go when it felt right, not everything wasn't a scientific thing is, whenever you felt right, that's when you would go. But take me through the process. Are you visualizing success? Are you seeing yourself fly through the air? How do you prep for what you're about to do? Because case in point, your Grand Canyon jump, when you were at the top of the ramp, you couldn't see across the other side to where you were landing. So you know the ramp is there, but you're jumping into the unknown. You're super experienced. I gotta ask you, wtf are you thinking at that moment?
- [49:41]
A
They're all different. You can't see the landing ramp because it's a slope and you know it's there on every jump. But that's why my dad started building safety decks so he could see the front of the landing ramp. And if he landed a little short, he had something to hit. He created the safety deck. He created what he did. But you know, when I. Sometimes I get butterflies, I say, and sometimes I get cockroaches. Different jumps, different feelings. The building jump was only about 20 car distance, but it was the scariest offset jump I'd ever done. Being up there, 13 stories, Caesar's, no run bys, nobody ever made it. And I'm making run bys and shutting down. And I didn't, I didn't think I had the speed. And I made five runs where I usually only make three. And people think you're just psyching the crowd up. No, you're making speed runs. My dad, when he started, used to have a stand there at the side, watch him go by and pull up to us and go, think I'm going fast enough? I think you got it. I don't know. You're the one pulling the trigger and you Know, I do the same thing. No speedometer, no tachometer. And after years, I started having a guy stand by my ramp and just radar me. So I would get within 30ft on an 80 foot long landing ramp. The Grand Canyon ramp was 100ft long because it was way higher. And I would sit and look at that every day. And all I saw was this huge open canyon. Get wider and wider every time I look between the ramps over that hole.
- [51:13]
B
Yeah.
- [51:13]
A
And it was, you know, it was a long ways down. And so it looked like a longer jump. And I couldn't make run by Zerk. As I promised the Native Americans I would build scaffolding all over all their cactus. And that lump that came out so everybody know was a rock and it was part of the canyon edge. And so I didn't want to dig that up. And I just thought, well, I got plenty of room. And then they built the producers, you know, there was 18 cameras, I think, on my jump, but they built a camera stand way down at the end and put hay bales in front of it. And until I came out of the motorhome that day up by the. The ramp, because it got postponed the first year, I knew how far the jump was. And I all of a sudden I see this camera standing. Hey, Bills, I got. I'll deal with that later. And I just went as fast as I could, and I went way too far and my rear wheel hit that rock little ledge there, and it just kicked me up. And I said, I ain't gonna stop. So I grabbed the front brake and bailed off and just flip flopped, stretched everything in my body, tore my or broke my ankles, tore my ligaments and had a concussion and broke a couple r. Man, it was a hell of.
- [52:25]
B
Fumbling that hay bale. And I was thinking, man, why didn't they take that berm down? Because if you could have just rode it out, put the hay bales maybe another hundred yards further, you could have just eased into the hay bales. But you got launched off the bike. It was a horrific spill, but you made the jump. And to your point, yeah, you overshot it, but that's dang sure one that you don't want to undershoot or you're going in the canyon.
- [52:46]
A
Yeah, well, even if you undershoot any of your jumps and hit the front of the ramp. Well, I've hit the front of the ramp and bounced over. We're half on, half off, like in Hawaii. I hit the front of the ramp and just bounced over. Destroyed the ramp. Had a piece of scaffold pipe go right through my swing arm, which is a thick aluminum swing arm, and missed my body and sprained my back and went out there the next night and did it. No hands. But, you know, it's just any jump you land that short. If I would have landed three feet shorter, I'd be dead because you're hitting a wall, basically your safety deck or a car, and, you know, you just. You're gonna snap your neck in half, just. Just like everybody has. I mean, a big handful of guys have landed short, and they're. They're all dead.
- [53:33]
B
I was listening to your dad break down just the basics of a jump, and I'd like to chime in and give me your two cents. He, you know, he says, on your starting position, you want to be on the balls of your feet. You want to make sure you're straight on the ramp or. Because if you're crossways, you're going to miss your landing. You want to be in the power curve on takeoff. And then you can rev the bike in air to adjust position or hit the brakes. Tell me about the dynamics of flying through the air. Would you concur with that? And what does hitting the brakes and revving the motorcycle while you're in the air, how does that change the pitch or angle of the motorcycle?
- [54:12]
A
I think my. My dad never did use a break on any of his jumps. He was either nose diving or crossed up, or he was, you know, getting back too high. But the back brake stops your rear wheel because it's spinning so fast or slows it down. You don't want to stop it because then you have twice as much weight coming down because you kill the motor. But, you know, I just tap it. When I did long jumps, my jump contest, I nailed it twice. Boom, boom. And I didn't kill the motor, but it speared me right down. It brings your bike back because that rear wheel is driving and spinning so fast. It's bringing the front end up because it's. It's driving down. You know what I mean? So you hit the back brake to stop that rear wheel, and it notches you forward. So I've used that on a lot of jumps. The last jump I did, I. I hit it so hard because I was getting so straight up and down because I launched so high, because I didn't have a good takeoff, and I missed my fourth gear a little bit, and I hit fifth, and I just said, nail it. Keep it on. And it just launched me and I jumped 56ft further than I did at Caesar's palace and almost cleared the ramp and ended up with a major back surgery where they crushed my vertebrae, the bones removed a couple. What do they call them? Discs. Herniated discs. And they smashed those bones into a cage that goes from two number nine to lumbar number one. And, man, this is the most crappy thing I've ever gone in. As far as injuries, besides knee surgeries. I had the major knee surgeries.
- [55:44]
B
Yeah. But I want to touch upon that back injury because as Evil said, and you just said, the landing to me seems to be the toughest part. Just because of the sheer impact on your Caesar's palace jump. The announcer made a point of the fact that. That those were knobby tires. Those weren't built for the kind of asphalt you're going to be running on, the cement on the backside of the jump. But you said to him that those knobbies help cushion the bike's impact on the ground more so than a street tire. So your thoughts on that, and then tell me, describe to my listeners what it feels to come down from 45ft and land on a motorcycle. Because from your father's films, from your films, some of those impacts are so dynamic. You were both launched so high, it just looks like. It feels like pure hell.
- [56:38]
A
Well, you know, Dave Dial or not Dave Dials, the announcer, he used to race. God, what was his name? He used to be around racing his whole life and race also. But he was talking about the knobby tires and all the times I grew up, the longer jumps, this and that, people would say, what are you doing with knobby tires? Well, who's the professional here, guys? You know, my dad. It's like, if it's too slick to jump with a knobby, it's too slick to jump. So I got an extra inch almost out of them knobbies when I hit, so it cushions my suspension a little more and I'm coming down. My dad was probably 15ft at his wheels. In the air, I'm more like 25ft. And when you go out and, you know, just think about getting on a motorcycle almost on top of a telephone pole and just dropping straight down, you're gonna take a hard hit.
- [57:35]
B
Yeah.
- [57:35]
A
When you're going 85 miles an hour, like my last jump, and you come down from 25ft at your wheels, where your head's about 30ft in the air, it's like, you know, it's a hard hit. And my dad broke his back three or four times. He never had a back Surgery, he always broke it outwards instead of into his spinal cord is what my mother told me. And. And he lucked out that way. But I. I totally munched. And. And I. It took. I was five, ten and a half. Now I'm like five, eight. And the doctor said he put an inch back on me, put a tool in there. And he cranked this cage, or cranked my spine, my actual spine, up where it was bent. I sent you a picture of the X ray. I mean, it's. My back is bent, dude.
- [58:25]
B
It's wicked. Here's the thing. People ask me all the time from 15 years of pro wrestling, hey, man, how you feeling? Hey, I feel pretty good. Let me ask you that same question. After all the years of jumps, all the successes is all the hard landings, and then on top of that, the crashes, and then on top of that, you know, back in the day when the whiskey was running hot, how do you feel? How's your body on a 1 to 10, say a 1 feels like crap and a 10 feels like a million bucks. Where are you on that scale?
- [58:52]
A
I'm just hoping my back's going to heal up to the core. Everything's going to be strong enough to jump again, because I don't want to quit. Everybody wants me to quit. They can't believe I'm still jumping as far as I'm jumping at my age, but I'm still going the distance. I'm still jumping further in Caesar's palace at my age, every time. But the doctors told me, I said, I've cleared ramps before. How come My back broke, you know? And they says, well, when was the last time he cleared a ramp? I said, I don't know, 40 years old. They says, well, every year after 40, everybody's back starts getting weaker every year. And so as strong as my back heals, it's still going to be weak at the age I'm at.
- [59:31]
B
Your father right there. Towards getting. Towards the end of his career, he felt that people had high expectations for himself. It was almost like he was a comic book superhero and he could never live up because people wanted him to jump further and further. But he also said that your mental attitude deteriorates as you get older because of the pain and the healing process when you're flat on your back for months at a time. When did you start seeing the end as far as your dad being an active jumper and how hard on him was that? He couldn't live up to expectations. But also he was on the backside of the prime of his Athletic career?
- [60:08]
A
Well, yeah, he was way on the backside on the athletic part. I've stayed. I get on my bike today and my crew chief looks at me and says, holy cow. Well, I haven't been on my bike since October, so I'm just waiting for my back to heal up. But mentally, I feel way stronger in my head. And a lot of what I do is mind over matter. Of course, probably the same. Same with you and the physical, definitely going away. And my dad was smart enough to quit. He. His last jump in 75, he was probably 36 years old somewhere in there. And he did a couple small jumps over like eight vans with me. We did criss cross jumps down in Florida. And then he said, I'm done. I just don't have the guts to pull the trigger anymore. And I think he was worried about getting paralyzed because he's seen it happen to so many guys trying to emulate him. So I think he was maybe just smart and said, I just want to play golf the rest of my life, and I can't do that in a wheelchair. And I'm saying the same thing. And I'm believing in my God, keeping my faith. And I think God's got a meaning for us all. I don't want to quit this, and I think it's my meaning.
- [61:19]
B
Your dad said in an interview that you'll be the luckiest kid in the world if you don't end up in a wheelchair. What are your thoughts on what he said?
- [61:27]
A
He's gone now. Quit repeating him. But he's the guy I don't want to. On interviews, you go, I don't want to be the father. Standing there at the end of Caesar's palace and pick up a bloodied, crumpled, paralyzed son or dead son, like she's dead. Cool. Anyway, you know, yeah, that's the. That's the risk you take. And what we do, and I do what my dad did, like a lot of kids want to do what their fathers do. Anyway, you got into.
- [62:01]
B
You got into the. The motorcycle daredevil business, the sport, because you were born into it, man. Your father was a hero, and you follow in his footsteps and big shoes to fill, and you had your own run at the end of the day. And I know you want to have a few more jumps left in you, but you got it because you were born in it. Now when you look back, you had the money and the fame, you had your dad's approval. You're in the shoes that you're in right now. You've got another jump that you want to do in a couple of months, the documentaries coming out. Do you feel like you've gotten everything you've got cut out of your body? Has it been the run you expected? Maybe. Is the backside? Was it all worth it because we didn't sign up for a ballet class? You signed up for the life that you signed up for, and it was a hard living.
- [62:47]
A
Yeah, it's. It's not what I thought. And nobody knows that until they get older. I should have been dead a zillion times, whether it was jumping for money or just out there drinking and riding, you know, just stupid stuff. And it's embarrassing now. It's stupid. And I'm gonna be what I've learned my whole life. I'm gonna take all that professional learning and put it together on every jump I do, because I just don't want to quit yet. And I want to keep that name, the most famous on two wheels. And so far, I have done that. And there's a lot of jumps I just want to do. I'm running out of ideas, but the Harley jump is one of them. And, you know, I go to these Native American casinos mostly, and I'm picking and choosing the jumps I want to do now, but I just hope my back heals up if I jump tomorrow. It feels like it'd break right now.
- [63:44]
B
But is it now for the. For the money, for the rush, or just because you love flying through the air?
- [63:50]
A
It's definitely got something to do with money. I've made hundreds of thousands where my dad made millions. And it's. I got a website, Captain Knievel with a K, if anybody wants to book me, that's where I'm at. But, you know, I just love people. I loved our fans. My dad was always stopped and signed an autograph. He never turned anybody down. And I stand up and take pictures with the man, sign their autographs, because they all got a camera with them these days. But, you know, it's just the people that walk up to me with a Robbie doll still in the box from when I was 13 and asked me to sign that. That's hilarious. And then they. I mean, my dad's toys outsold GI Joe. I was the kid riding on the back on his toy commercials. You know, I never made a bunch of money off that. My dad made millions because his toys were so great.
- [64:43]
B
He said he came along, he was the right guy at the right time with the right Persona, dare I say gimmick, as we would use in the wrestling business. The White, the red and the blue. It was America. So in hindsight, though, after the Shelly Saltman incident, when he beat him with the baseball bat and then Ideal pulled the toy line, and then again, with respect to money, that really put a damper on your earning power because of all the deals that were yanked due to those actions. Would that. Would I be correct in saying that?
- [65:15]
A
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
- [65:17]
B
He threw a big monkey wrench in your plans.
- [65:19]
A
I was named after my grandfather. I was the second. Same middle name. Thank God I never got called Evil Junior all my life. And, you know, I'm the second. So I never made the money, got the marketing deals, but hopefully I bring all that back. Hopefully the brand name and the years I've been out there, I hope a toy, a game, a lot of that stuff just comes back and my name stays out there, and it can still use my footage, the jump footage, to do commercials. You know, I'm hoping I live the rest of my life, and I don't want to make millions if I do great, rich or poor. My dad always said, better to be rich. But, you know, if I made 10,000 for the rest of my life, once a month, I'd be happier in hell. Just drive around in my bus, go to a campground, and go fishing and play golf.
- [66:12]
B
I was watching an interview from many years ago. Yourself and Evel Knievel, your father, and Pat Sajak was the host, and you were about to do the Caesar's palace jump. And he says, what do I call you? Do I call you Robbie or Evil 2? How long did it take you to outgrow the fact? I mean, you're always going to be evil, son, but you had your own career. When people would make that, a statement like that, I would imagine that would rub that. Rub me the wrong way. How did you take that? How did you put up with that?
- [66:46]
A
I had to. I had to laugh. You know, I just went along with my dad. He was. He was the boss. He said there can only be one boss. He put Evil Knievel 2 in the Showtime contract. I should be able to use that name, Evil Knievel 2, Whenever I Want, because my dad gave it to me back in 89. But he wanted Evel Knievel on everything. But there was a number of Roman numeral 2. So the semi trucks, all of a sudden going to Australia had evil knievel2 on them. My red truck, I drove around Vegas for a year and a half, had Evil Knievel 2 and Gold Leaf, and. And my dad would sit in Caesars he was a promoter from. You know, promoter from L. He would. He would have the guys. I caught him one day, he goes, jim, go over to the house phone, page me. These guys paging him all day long in the casino. Evil. Can you telephone? Telephone. That was my dad, you know, he wanted his name to live forever. And I'm keeping it out there, Robin.
- [67:55]
B
Wrapping this thing up through everything that you've done. And you're looking forward to getting back on your bike once your back heels up. Why do you figure you were put here on earth?
- [68:05]
A
That's a good question. I think my belief. I think we're all fallen angels. I think we might have followed the high angel. Devil himself was a high angel. And I think God just wants love too. And it's like our second chance, as in the blood and flesh to come back. I think we were spirits way back from the beginning. But that's kind of my belief. And I just feel like I'm in this spot and life is short. So don't do everything stupid and. And be an idiot, you know? I mean, be good to people. Love people before you die.
- [68:47]
B
Robbie. In and up. What's the timeline on the back injury? I know that you had some impending trips, maybe to Missouri, maybe to Texas to talk about jumps. What's next for you if everything goes well with the back?
- [68:59]
A
Well, I'm looking at some commercials for a car dealership and a jump for them for that commercial in Dallas, Texas, at a big deal diva ship, the Coolies and New York. I got another jump. I hate to say until they're signed, but the contracts are in the. On the emails, and that's Niagara Falls and casino up there. September 4th on a Sunday, and then October 8th, Charlotte Motor Speedway wants me for the first time for a big NASCAR race. I do jumps. I've done jumps at dealerships, casinos, all over the place. And then I got a guy in Florida. It's 20th anniversary since I jumped for him in New York years ago and shut all the highways down in upstate New York. Dilly Fusillo, big Kia dealer. So I don't know, maybe I'll get a key out of this deal along with some cash.
- [69:51]
B
You know, speaking of speedways, I met your old crew chief, Bill Rundle, at Texas Motor Speedway about a year ago. It was last November. I was at the race and I announced the drivers. Will you assemble the O team? Will you bring together a new team and put together a new bike? How will that process go?
- [70:09]
A
Well, they quit making my bikes. I'm still jumping a 1998 CR500, they quit making them an 01. And I have one of those. So I have a backup wheelie bike. I get the suspension stiffened up a little more and I still bottom out. Every time I do a 150 foot jump, my rubber is on the bottom of my fenders. So talking about suspension and the heights, I come down, I still bottom out and I just gotta hit the right spot at the top of the landing ramp. So I'm, you know, not as high coming down and I get myself in a crouch just like you're landing on a ski jump. I think that's where my dad got all his, you know, jumping the bikes just from ski jumping.
- [70:52]
B
One more question then. Your dad jumped a four stroke, you're jumping a two stroke preference over the two. I mean, what's obviously the power curve to me or the power band of the two stroke is different. Would you ever consider jumping some of the newer four stroke engines that is being used today in the dirt bikes?
- [71:11]
A
I like the noise, the louder noise. I like the, you know, it's just, it's a more powerful bike. The CR500, the big bore, it's light, you know, you get into a four stroke, you get a little heavier and it just don't make any noise. I don't like it. It's just like playing a guitar to the drums. You want to hear them. You want to get on a Harley and hear the pipes, you know, so the Harley jump is going to be like, wow, this is going to be cake. I'm looking at, you know, 120, 130ft with two cylinders. I'm not even going to hesitate. So. But I prefer the CR500 just because of the distance to quickness and the power band. And my gearing is so tall. My bikes are geared to do 95. And when you get going down the highway and thinking about hitting a 4 foot wide, 10 foot high ramp at 85, 90 miles an hour, I mean, that's fast. When I did the jump contest, I was pinned at 95 and I still hold the longest distance record with a 10 foot high ramp. When I jumped against Eddie Kidd, you know, we made the rules. And who are we to make rules? Well, he was the Evel Knievel in the uk. I'm Evo Knievel's son. We made rules and agreed on the height ramp we wanted. And nobody since 1994 has beat my 223 foot record. I jumped 231 at the Grand Canyon, but I had A higher. My ramp was way higher on the other side, so I don't count that.
- [72:36]
B
What about this new generation of jumpers? Robbie Madison's Ryan Mace, I might be getting his name wrong. Travis Pastrana. What do you think about the new generation that came really kind of out of the freestyle stuff that seemingly to me through Larry Linkogel, the metal militia guys, started riding motocross. Brian Deegan, he started doing the freestyle stuff and went to the extreme sports. Well, Evil was the grandfather of extreme sports. You were a predecessor to it. What do you think about the new school of jumpers?
- [73:08]
A
I think Pastrana and Robbie Madison are excellent. They look at my jumps, old school and no dirt and the pavement and the height of my ramp and they're like, wow, I don't know, that's pretty ballsy. And there's only, there's only a few of these guys that cut me class compared to my father and myself. Not to brag, but we speak from our hearts. We love people and we have something good to say to not only the people and the kids, but to the press. I mean, we have good things to say. These guys go out and do a jump, they have no show and they have nothing good to say but brag about themselves and they just aren't showmen. I turned my show into 30 foot flame projectors, concussion bombs. It cost me 10 grand to put on a pyro show. When I go do a show, you know, I put on a show with music and everything else and do a good wheelie show and dedicate it to, to the troops.
- [74:08]
B
Every time when you, when you get together to put on a show, you want to give some words of encouragement and get some words to the crowd and leave them with a message.
- [74:17]
A
Right? Exactly. And I do every time. I was a showman with my dad since I was a little kid and my dad was a huge fan of the great Wallenda, the Wallenda family, the circus people. And he took a circus and put it into a one man show and that's what he was and that's what I am. And I'm very happy about it.
- [74:40]
B
You know, part of the showman, part of it. I mean, your father just absolutely loved Liberace. The way he would come in suspended on a cable, fly over everybody, have the fancy robes and just put on a fantastic show. So maybe he borrowed a few ideas from Liberace because I know he's certainly an inspiration to your father.
- [75:00]
A
Yeah, he, he, he loved Elvis. Him, Elvis and him were together one time and Elvis got the idea, vice versa. Maybe the belt buckle and the cape, they. They traded them ideas and they both started wearing them. Both, but one of them had the belt buckle, one of them had the cape, and. And they both started wearing both of them. But yeah, the marachi, my dad always just thought was a great showman, you know, I don't know what my dad did. I don't know what human being would ever think. The thoughts he was thinking with Caesars in the Canyon and the promotions and the jumps, I mean, he is still the number one watched rated television show in the history of Wide World of Sports and Frazier and Mom and all. You were second. My dad had more viewership. But it's just so sad about Muhammad Ali. I got the privilege of being at his house and spending a couple hours with him, with my dad. What a humble, nice man. I just really looked up to that guy.
- [76:09]
B
He was amazing. What was he like to hang around with?
- [76:12]
A
Just, he was just humble and mellow. I ran into him in an airport in San Diego once, and he sat there and talked about to me for 15 minutes back in the mid-80s. Just a great guy. And my dad told him in 79, we went to his house, are you gonna fight again? And always says, nope, I'm done. No way. My dad says, oh, yeah, you will. And they said, toss up back and forth for a few minutes. And then he fought holmes again in 1980, and that was his last fight, I think.
- [76:41]
B
Was there anybody you looked up to, Robbie, other than your father? Just from an adult.
- [76:51]
A
I really enjoyed hanging out with you, but just Sugar Rays, Ollie, Sugar Rays, Hearns, Haglers, you know, Boom Boom was my buddy, you know, just all the fighters. Evander Holyfield took golfing once before his title fight back in 89. Just great guys, all of them. I thought Mr. T, he was just amazed that he was shaking my hand. I was like, are you kidding me? You're my hero, man.
- [77:24]
B
Rob, out of all the places that you've been, you ended up in Las Vegas. How did you end up in Las Vegas?
- [77:30]
A
Oh, I lived here 27 years ago when I came here to jump Caesars. My dad's been bringing me here since I was a kid, L.A. i grew up all over. I used to hang out at the Rainbow and Roxy on Sunset with all the old rock and roll guys back in, way back. And. And I always wanted to be a rock star. I played the drums, I played the guitar. And I'm glad I quit that and did what I did. Well, maybe I'm not now. But you know, I, I did get to be a rock star. I've sang with Bret Michaels twice. I've sang with Brian Howe and Bad Company walked away from the microphone at a concert and let me sing Bad Company. After a jump. I sang with Marshall Tucker Band. Dee Snider rewrote Born to Be Wild for my reality series Knievel's Wild Ride. I sang that with him in Daytona. So I got to live the rock star part two along with. I call our, my show a, you know, hippie comic friggin fun tour. You know, all we do is laugh and tell her sometimes until our guts fall out because there's so many stories and we all get together on the road. My crew, my same crew chief, Spanky Spangler, the X Green Beret, Golden Gloves stuntman for years is still lining up my ramps and making sure they're built right. I run around and do the PR for a week like no other entertainers. So I promote everywhere I go.
- [78:53]
B
Hey, man, it was good hanging out with you and it was good talking to you.
- [78:56]
A
All right, Steve, thanks a lot.
- [78:57]
B
All right, everybody, give me the Go home Q. It's time to wrap up his podcast and ride off into the sunset. But before I do that, let me give you guys something to watch. All you got to do is get onto YouTube and if you want to watch anything Evel Knievel, just googling the man's name and you can watch the Snake river jump. You got The Evel Knievel 1, 2, 3. All the stuff I watched Robbie Knievel videos. Just type in Robbie Knievel. It's got some of his best crashes, his worst crashes. He's got highlight videos. The Caesar's palace jump. The Grand Canyon jump was a phenomenal jump. Crashed at the end because the Native Americans didn't want that bump move. So they honored their word. And he ends up going over the handlebars, crashes into a bunch of bales of hay. But he made the jump. If you're into anything motorcycle related or you like daredevil stuff, check out anything Evel Knievel or anything Robbie Knievel on YouTube. That's what I use to look at all my stuff. And like I said, I grew up an Evel Knievel fan and Robbie Knievel fan from way back in the day. It was a pleasure to get to meet Robbie, shoot the breeze with him and have a hamburger with him. I'm sorry that we couldn't conduct the interview in person, but business got in the way and then my dogs got in the way and I was able to skype with him and it was what it was. Appreciate Robbie's time and a big shout out to all the people at the Duck Creek RV park for taking such good care of me. I got a badass T shirt from them and they treated me like a rock star over there. Swig a beer to the Duck Creek RV park right there in Las Vegas, Nevada. Henderson, Nevada. Whatever it is, I had a good time staying there. Hey guys, if you want anything Steve Austin related, whether it's a T shirt, a Broken Skull IPA, or a Broken Skull knife, all you have to do is go tobroken skull ranch.com and there's a link to everything I got right there on that site. Just use my Amazon links whenever you're doing any online shopping and Amazon will kick back a couple of bucks to the podcast. It doesn't cost you anything extra. There are no hidden fees or charges. You just buy whatever you plan on buying. You help out the podcast and the process and you can find my Amazon links by going to podcast1.com, clicking on the Killer Deals button on the top right corner of the page, and then hitting the Steve Austin show button. I've got Amazon links for usa, UK and Canada. If you bookmark it, you can find it in one step and it helps out. The podcast helps us pay our production costs. Hey folks, keep listening. The 62nd AP news headlines are coming up next. Until then, my name is Steve Austin and I will catch your ass down the road. Download new episodes of Steve Austin Unleashed.
- [81:34]
A
Every Thursday@podcast1.com that's podcastone.com.
- [81:47]
B
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A
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A
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