Travis Pastrana pays homage to Evel Knievel by attempting three jumps with the Indian Scout FTR750 at History-backed Evel Live event on July 8th
Travis Pastrana, world-renowned motorsports champion and owner of the equally notorious Nitro Circus entertainment brand, will be once more in the spotlight on July 8th. He teams up with Indian Motorcycle and History, and will appear in History’s Evel Live event this summer.
Pastrana will attempt to recreate three of the most famous jumps of legendary stunt rider Evel Knievel within the three-hour span of the Evel Live event. If successful, Pastrana will become the first person to complete all three jumps in the same event (and timespan), using a motorcycle that’s similar to what Knievel used back in the day.
These jumps include the length of 52+ crushed cars, 16 Greyhound buses and Evel Knievel’s Caesar’s Palace jump in Vegas, which left him with fractures in his pelvis, femur, hip, wrist and both ankles, and a 29-day coma.
The jump over the Caesar’s Palace fountains have since been successfully completed by riders such as Knievel’s son Robbie in 1989 and Mike Metzger in 2006, who also did a backflip. However, completing all three jumps in three hours in still an exploit that awaits its hero.
Pastrana is a master of motorsport stunt action, but this will be the first time he will jump a V-twin bike. “It has the power I need and handles well, but I’m only going to have a few days to get comfortable on it, not to mention I’ve never jumped a V-twin before. I’ve got my work cut out, but we’re used to going big at Nitro Circus, so we’ll make it happen.”
The Scout FTR750 is a bike that’s been developed specifically for flat track racing, and uses a conventional 43mm front suspension, with an adjustable Ohlins shock absorber in the back.
That is, the FTR750 is radically different than the lightweight motocross machines Pastrana is used to jump for the Nitro Circus. For what’s worth, none of the machines Evel Knievel used were engineered for jumping, but for flat track speed and control in the dirt.
Stay tuned for more info on this bold attempt, as July 8th could be a date when Pastrana and Indian write a new page motorcycling history book.
