Travis Pastrana Nails 3 Evel Knievel Jumps In Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, NV — Purists are debating the motorcycle used and other technical points, but Maryland daredevil Travis Pastrana pulled off three feats by the legendary Evel Knievel in Las Vegas Sunday, but in only three hours. Pastrana, on an Indian motorcycle, jumped over 52 cars, then zoomed over 16 Greyhound buses parked side by side, and finally cleared the fountain at Caesar's Palace.

Back in the day when Knievel tried the stunts, two of them ended with frightening crashes that broke his pelvis and back. Knievel never did successfully complete the jump at Caeasr's Palace. The "Evel Live!" event was aired by The History Channel and produced by the network and Pastrana's Nitro Circus. Pastrana grew up in Annapolis and lives in Davidsonville.

Instead of the lightweight dirt bike has used in his motocross-stunt career, Pastrana, clad in a white Knievel-style jumpsuit, rode a custom-built Indian Scout FTR750 with a V-Twin engine that his team says is a modern-day evolution of the Harley flat-track bike Knievel rode half a century ago.

The first stunt re-created was when Pastrana leapt 52 cars, parked 13 abreast, over 143 feet. The History Channel says that in 1973 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Knievel had jumped 120 feet, over 50 cars.

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Next Pastrana flew 192 feet to clear 16 buses, compared with Knievel’s leap over 14 buses and 133 feet in October 1975 at King’s Island in Ohio. Five months earlier at Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel tried to jump 13 single-decker buses, but clipped the last one, crashed and broke his pelvis and his back.

In 1967, Knievel missed the 140-foot jump over the Caesars fountain, crushed his pelvis, broke his left hip, right ankle, hands and wrists, and suffered a concussion that put him in the hospital, in a coma, for nearly a month, the History Channel says.

Pastrana landed hard but completed the jump, which measured 149 feet. The area around the casino is much more developed than decades ago when Knievel tried the feat, the network says, giving Pastrana less of a run-up to gain the speed he needed to safely clear the fountain.

Pastrana, 34, said of his hero, “Evel was never afraid to fail. He never had a regret that I could see… He lived every day to the fullest.”

The 1975 jump was Knievel's last big stunt, and he then retired. He battled diabetes, liver problems, and pulmonary fibrosis in his later years, and died on Nov. 30, 2007.

In one of this last interviews, Knievel told Maxim Magazine, “I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death.”

PHOTOS: Travis Pastrana performs during HISTORY's Live Event 'Evel Live' on July 8, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for HISTORY)

Lynz Pastrana, Addy Pastrana, Bristol Pastrana and Travis Pastrana attend HISTORY's Live Event 'Evel Live' on July 8, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for HISTORY)