Immortalized in the Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Mr. Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
"I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have" after so many injuries, said his son Kelly Knievel, 47. "I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years."
Though Mr. Knievel dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, the image of the high-flying motorcyclist clad in patriotic, star-studded colors was never erased from public consciousness. He always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years.
His death occurred just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Mr. Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.
He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel's Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 miles per hour behind dragsters.
In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps, and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.
He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains, but the crash landing put him in a coma for a month.
His son Robbie successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.
