It Got Ugly When Someone Tried To Expose Evel Knievel

"You have fear? I am not scared when I go off of that jump. Let's say I have some concern but I don't think I've ever been afraid of anything." When Daredevil evil can evil heard what Sheldon Saltman revealed in his book about him, he was furious, but no one expected his unhinged reaction. When he was eight, Robert Caneville's grandparents took him to a Daredevil show featuring Joey Chitwood. It was a moment that changed his life forever. As a teenager, he dropped out of high school and started working in a copper mine in his hometown of Butte-Montana. Whilst operating a huge earth mover, he attempted a wheelie and drove the machine into a major power supply, leaving the entire city without electricity. He was fired, but now Caneville had tasted the thrill of danger, and he wanted more. In 1959, he married Linda Joan Bork, and they had a son. Needing money to provide for his family, he did what we've all considered doing when times get tough. He joined the motocross circuit. Despite having some success, the money wasn't quite good enough, and things got even worse when he broke both his shoulder and collarbone in an accident. The doctor told him to take it easy for six months, so Caneville started selling insurance to make ends meet. He was a good salesman, but when the company wouldn't make him vice president after just a few months, he quit. His boss, William Clement Stone, suggested he read a book he'd written, success through a positive mental attitude, and it had a huge impact on him. Caneville took what he learned from the book and decided to follow his dream. He was going to put on his own Daredevil show. He did everything, from renting the venue, to writing the press releases, to selling the tickets. Now all he needed was a gimmick to entice the crowds. His idea to draw an audience was to jump over dangerous things on a motorbike, and he realised he needed more money to make the show as spectacle. He approached Bob Blair of ZDS Motors to sponsor his show, which he wanted to call Bobby Caneville and his Motorcycle Daredevil's Thriller Show. Blair was interested, but he had a request. He wanted the show to be called Evil Caneville and his Motorcycle Daredevil's. Caneville was against this as it gave off the wrong image. As a compromise, they settled on an alternate spelling of evil. Caneville's new show began touring on January 3rd, 1966, in Indio, California. In February, the show reached Barstow, and Caneville ran into trouble. He tried a new stunt which had him jumping over a speeding motorcycle while spread eagled. His jump was late, and the motorbike hit him in the groin. So what really made him feel bad was disappointing the fans. When he got out of hospital, he went right back to Barstow and completed the jump, this time with his groin intact. Caneville knew that there were other daredevils out there, and they were jumping over pools and animals. He decided to stand out from the crowd by jumping over cars. This proved to be a huge draw. As he added more cars, customers kept coming back. Then he added one vehicle to many. For exclusive perks like early access to new videos, priority replies to your comments, and to have your say on future content, consider becoming a factinate member. On top of that, your support helps keep the channel going. Click the link in the description for more details. On June 19, Caneville was in Missoula, Montana, where he was preparing to jump over 12 cars and a cargo van. Unfortunately, he didn't give himself enough room to get his speed up, and ended up in the hospital with a broken arm and ribs. But something good came from this crash. Word spread about Caneville's fall, and people could barely wait for him to recover and jump again. He did not disappoint his fans. In March, he successfully jumped over 15 cars in Gardina, California. Graham Washington was the site of his next leap, and it was going to be the same number of vehicles, 15. This time, he only made it over 14 and crash landed on the last one. The outcome was a severe concussion, and once again, he pledged to return. After recovering, Caneville did return, and fans were ready to see him conquer the leap. What they actually saw was a repeat of the previous failure, and this time, he got more than just a concussion. He'd broken two ribs, his right knee and left wrist. The strange thing was, the more he crashed, the more famous he became. In the late 1960s, Rat Pack member Joey Bishop launched his late night talk show, and he was looking for odd guests. Caneville joined him on March 18, 1968. This TV appearance catapulted Caneville to a new level of fame. When he visited Las Vegas for a boxing match, he took one look at the fountains at Caesar's Palace and had an idea. It'd be fun to jump over them. The CEO of the casino was persuaded to permit the jump over the fountains on New Year's Eve, but Caneville wanted more. He wanted ABC's wide world of sports to provide live coverage of his stunt. ABC had no interest in filming the jump, but said that if Caneville arranged to have it filmed himself, they might broadcast it later. Caneville decided to sink all his money into the Caesar's Palace jump. He hired director John Derrick and even Derrick's then-wife Linda Evans as a camera operator. The day of the jump arrived, and even though he was now broke, Caneville felt lucky. He walked into the casino, bet $100 in a blackjack game, and promptly lost. After seeing his last $100 go down the drain, he hit the casino bar. Caneville was finally ready. He got on his bike and accelerated toward the fountains at Caesar's Palace. He later said that he felt his bike start to lose acceleration as he approached the take-off ramp. Unfortunately, it was too late to abort, and he crashed. Eventually, he came to a stop in the parking lot of the Dune's Hotel, and it was off to the hospital once again. On the list of broken body parts were his hip, wrist, and both ankles. He also crushed his femur and pelvis and got another concussion. Caneville wanted to keep up his fame and needed to do another jump. After giving himself only five months to recover, he attempted to soar over 15 Ford Mustangs. This was another failed attempt, and resulted in more broken bones. This time his right foot and leg. The word "quitting" didn't seem to be in his vocabulary, but he seemed to be getting bored. Then he had an idea for his next jump, and it would be spectacular. The Grand Canyon. He couldn't, could he? Well, no, he couldn't, because the US government was never going to allow that to happen. But that didn't stop Caneville from talking about it, to garner publicity. In Ontario, California, he planned to leap over 19 cars, a world record. Not only did he pull it off, but there was something else special about this jump. He was actually doing it for a movie. George Hamilton became interested in Caneville when he was writing a screenplay about a daredevil. After interviewing him, Hamilton realized that Caneville's story was way more interesting than fiction, so he decided to make a movie about the man himself. After being blocked from jumping the Grand Canyon, Caneville set his sights on the less impressive but cooler named Snake River Canyon. This was going to be a gap of a quarter mile, and the canyon floor would be 500 feet below him. If he failed, he was probably going to be, well, dead. But he had a plan. He wasn't about to fly over Snake River in a conventional motorcycle. For this leap, he went to an aeronautical engineer for help. The engineer came up with a rocket-type bike, which they called the Skycycle, powered by a steam engine. The engineer installed a parachute that would open, so Canevil could slow down when he hit the other side of the canyon. Ironically, it was this shoot that came between Canevil and success. During the jump, the shoot opened too early, slowing down the sky cycle. Canevil had crossed the huge gap, but a gust of wind blew him back into the canyon. The breeze was so strong that it blew him all the way back to the site of the canyon that he'd started on. Then he started plummeting to the ground. Canevil was stuck in his harness and couldn't get out. If he landed in the water, he was sure to drown. Luckily, the sky cycle landed on the rocks, and Canevil sustained only minor injuries. The stunt had been a disaster. In 1975, Canevil decided it was time to delight audiences across the pond. Wide world of sports had finally agreed to televised him, and the event would take place in London's Wembley Stadium. Canevil announced that he would jump over 13 London buses. Some people were disappointed that it wasn't the iconic double-decker buses, but these little guys. It didn't matter because he crashed anyway. After the accident, he insisted on talking to the audience to make an announcement. He said he was retiring, and then proceeded to walk out of the stadium, despite having a broken pelvis. After the shock wore off, Canevil soon realized he had no desire to retire. He recovered from his injuries and set up his next jump over 14 greyhound buses. The distance was 133 feet, and if he succeeded, it would be a world record. ABC broadcast Canevil's Kings Island Jump, and 55 million people tuned in to watch. This time, Canevil made history. It was the longest jump ever. In 1975, Steven Spielberg's jaws had made America go shark-crazy, and then 77, Canevil wanted to capitalize. He planned to jump over a tank filled with 13 sharks. If he didn't make it, he'd end up being fish food. Well, not quite. An expert from the aquarium who provided the sharks later said that they had suffered so much trauma during transport, that they were unlikely to bite Canevil if he ended up in the tank. During the rehearsal, Canevil crashed into a cameraman and broke both his arms, and the jump was cancelled. That same year, the popular sitcom Happy Days, likely because of Canevil's proposed shark jump, featured Fonsey water skiing over a shark. His thought that Fonsey skiing over a shark was ridiculous, and soon jumping in the shark referred to any artistic work that had run out of ideas and was heading into the absurd. The real question was, had Canevil's career both literally and metaphorically jumped the shark. After the infamous shark jump debacle, Canevil slowly wound down his career. The public still wanted more, so Warner Bros. began planning a movie with Canevil playing himself. Viva Canevil hit theaters in June 1977, and featured big stars like Jean Kelly. That's when Canevil sabotaged his own fame. Sports and entertainment promoter Shelley Saltman released a book about Canevil containing inside information, obtained whilst accompanying him on tour. The book was full of references to Canevil's drinking, pill popping and general debauchery. Canevil was not happy, and he was going to get revenge. Saltman was the president of Fox Sports, so Canevil paid him a visit at their studios, bringing some reinforcements along with him. One of Canevil's friends held Saltman down, whilst Canevil repeatedly hit him with a metal baseball bat. When Saltman's own mother heard about the incident, she had a heart attack that later proved to be fatal. Canevil pleaded guilty and received a six month prison sentence and three years probation. He lost his sponsorship deals, and the judge ordered him to pay Saltman $12.75 million. He declared bankruptcy in 1981, and Saltman received none of the money. Canevil never apologized for his assault on Saltman, and even called it "frontier justice". In the early 90s, Canevil separated from his wife of over 30 years, and his life as a single man didn't look good. In October 1994, police officers entered a bar in Sunnyvale, California, and arrested Canevil. He'd allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, Crystal Kennedy. Instead of pressing charges against him, Canadi agreed to marry him. The ceremony took place at a location where Canevil had had a serious crash, the fountains at Caesar's Palace. Like that attempted leap, Canevil's marriage was a disaster. They soon divorced, and Kennedy had to get a restraining order against him. Somehow, Canevil and Canadi did eventually work things out and stayed together as his health deteriorated. In the early 90s, doctors told Canevil that he had just days to live. He'd contracted Hepatitis C from the blood transfusions he'd received over the years. As Canevil prepared to end his life at home, the hospital suddenly had a donor for a liver that would save his life. Coincidentally, the donor had been in a motorcycle accident. In 2005, doctors told him that he had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a result of all the body trauma he'd encountered as a daredevil. He died on November 30, 2007 at the age of 69, and was buried in his hometown of Butte. If you enjoyed this fact-to-nate video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more incredible stories. If you want to say in who we cover next, join our membership program through the link in the description for exclusive perks. Your support means everything to us. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in the next one.