Related Articles
Evel Knievel Days
Many of the crazy car chases and stunts seen in today’s Hollywood movies seem to defy physics or logic in such a way that we no longer expect to see such things happen in real life, except perhaps during one week each summer in a small mountain town.
Each year in the stuntman’s home town of Butte, Montana, “Evel Knievel Days” showcases some of the most extreme motorized stunts around and this year’s main event was a record-setting jump in a semi-trailer cab by filmmaker, producer and stunt driver Gregg Godfrey.
Related stories
- Watch this fighter jet’s insane vertical takeoff
- Watch two guys soar over Dubai with jetpacks (it’s better than Hollywood)
As you can see for yourself in the video below, Godfrey takes the massive earthen ramp constructed on a main street in uptown Butte and clears 160 feet (48.7m) in the air to easily set a new world record.
But the landing is rough. The truck bounces on the ramp and Godfrey blows his front passenger-side tire, which appears to send the truck into a 180-degree spin, coming within just a few feet of taking out the side wall of a nearby building.
What’s remarkable is the almost total lack of a safety perimeter around the landing zone. The only thing separating a flying truck careening in a semi-circle from a parking lot full of parked cars and a number of spectators and passers-by is some yellow caution tape.
I guess when you’re in Evel Knievel’s hometown, it takes more than a flying truck to get you excited. Check it out for yourself and tell me you wouldn’t take off running in the other direction if you were anywhere near that landing zone.
