Evel Live: Did Travis Pastrana pull off all 3 Evel Knievel jumps?

Travis Pastrana attempted to pull of three of the most famous Evel Knievel motorcycle jumps ever in one night, but did he manage to land them all?

There will never be another Evel Knievel, but if imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, Travis Pastrana flattered the legend in fantastic style Sunday on Evel Live. The live special on History saw the motocross icon and Nitro Circus founder attempt to recreate three of Knievel’s memorable motorcycle jumps, including one that his idol never successfully completed.

Even more impressively, Pastrana didn’t use one of the freestyle bikes he’s accustomed to, but a motorcycle as closely designed as possible to the one Knievel used back in the ’60s and ’70s. That’s a pretty serious degree of difficulty. On top of that, he’s actually adding extra cars and buses to the first two jumps, and Las Vegas is much more built up, making the Caesar’s Palace fountain jump harder still.

Did Pastrana manage to pull it off?

Let’s walk through all three jumps …

Jumping over 52 cars

This jump was over 52 crushed cars, two more than Knievel jumped in 1973. Pastrana confidently did both back and front wheelies on his way back to the starting point after just one practice run to check his speed.

With red, white and blue fireworks going off as he flew, Pastrana made the first jump easily, landing perfectly on the far ramp. Pastrana told host Matt Iseman that he felt pretty good afterward, though the second jump would be tougher.

Jumping over 16 buses

In October of 1975, Knievel successfully jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island. The Evel Live version of the jump added two more buses, and to make things even more complicated, modern buses are several inches taller and wider than their ’70s counterparts.

Pastrana once again delighted the crowd with a huge wheelie after his speed run. And again, he made the bus jump look effortless, clearing the 16 buses and setting his back wheel down first on the landing ramp.

Caesar’s Palace Fountains

This jump was one that Knievel failed, and it cost him dearly — he ended up in the hospital for nearly a month, was in a coma and broke numerous bones. It was actually the shortest jump by a pretty significant margin for Pastrana, but it posed special problems because the area around the fountains has been filled in significantly over the past 40 years, meaning he had much shorter takeoff and landing ramps than Knievel.

Without room to make a practice run, Pastrana simply checked out both ramps before he gave the sign he was ready to go. Once again, he made the very difficult look easy, landing the jump that even Evel Knievel couldn’t do, and pulling a front wheelie to help slow himself down.

After the final jump, Pastrana expressed his concern about the temperature of the bike but said he was determined to go through with it.

Three jumps in one night, Evel Live was a success for Pastrana and probably History as well.