Knievel, agencies explore possibility of 1974 repeat

At age 48, Robbie Knievel’s already pursued his daredevil career longer than his father, the late, famous Evel Knievel. But there’s one jump the younger Knievel hasn’t tried. In 1974, Evel Knievel brought spectacle and, by many accounts, chaos to Twin Falls when he attempted and failed to jump the Snake River Canyon on his “skycycle” — essentially a large rocket. On Monday, Robbie Knievel asked local-government agencies and tourism groups to let him try his father’s failed feat, with a jump proposed for the same site on Fourth of July weekend in 2011. “I don’t ever think I’ll be too old to push that ‘fire’ button, but let’s get it done,” Robbie Knievel told reporters after the meeting. Knievel faces a number of hurdles if he’s going to pull the jump off, including a range of agreements with city, county, state and federal entities. He’ll also have to overcome any bad feelings lingering from both his father’s visit, when biker groups rioted and Evel allegedly skipped town without paying some debts, and his own attempt in the early ’90s to stage a second jump, when Twin Falls County commissioners threatened to secure a court injunction against him...more