1974

EVEL KNIEVEL ATTEMPTED the Snake River jump in Twin Falls, Idaho. Knievel attempted to jump it in the X-2 Skycycle. The arresting parachute deployed immediately after launch, and the vehicle floated down on the near side, crashing just a few feet from the river’s edge. Knievel suffered minor injuries and avoided drowning, as he might have had he might have done if he had fallen into the water, since a jumpsuit/harness malfunction kept him strapped in the vehicle. He later remarked: “Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try so land it.”