Being Evel Page #3

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the edges of the envelope.

they're forgiving

about some criminal activity,

but they don't

particularly like criminals.

tonning:

he had three kids at the time.

he threw all of his

burglar bags in the river

and decided to go straight.

so knievel gets this job

selling insurance

for combined

insurance company,

and it was run by this guy,

w. clement stone,

who wrote a book called

"success through a positive

mental attitude."

i feel healthy.

i feel happy. i feel terrific.

jay tamburina:

i think it really changed

his thinking drastically.

i mean, he was that way

to begin with,

and it just intensified it.

he was a legendary salesman.

when he was selling insurance,

he was selling insurance,

and he was selling

a lot of it.

tamburina:
i remember he went

to the mental hospital

in-- in--

i believe it was deer lodge.

and he wrote 271 policies

in this hospital,

mental hospital.

this was a super record,

nobody had ever written

that many policies

in a week ever.

and he talked to the president

of the company at that time

and said, "i'll break

every record in the company,

"every single one

that exists,

and you make me a vice president

after i do that."

and mr. stawn says, "sorry,

that isn't gonna happen."

well,

knievel didn't like that.

knoxville:

so he picks up his family

and moves

to moses lake, washington,

where he gets a job

selling honda motorcycles.

gunn:
he was making

a good living at it,

but it wasn't

good enough for him.

he says, "i think i need

to do something weird,

"some kind of a stunt

so it'll get people

to come down here

and see the motorcycles."

so he had this crazy idea

about doing this jump.

he says, "i'm gonna jump over

cougars and rattlesnakes"

i said,

"you gotta be kidding me."

gunn:
my part in

that mountain lion jump

was i wore a white coat

like a doctor,

and evel introduced me

as the veterinarian,

which was a crock of bull,

but...

so he brings 'em down

and put the cougars underneath.

and they're scared to death.

they won't come out.

they were like kitty cats.

but the snakes,

holy -- !

we put them

in a big refrigerator carton,

and they were pissed off.

so he goes around the track,

and then he goes up the ramp.

and, well, the minute

he went up in the air

i could see

he wasn't gonna make it.

by god, he was about

three feet short.

his back tire hits

the refrigerator carton.

and the snakes

go flipping into the crowd.

talk about people running

and getting out of there.

-- !

( laughs )

the poor guy from vantage wants

us to help catch his snakes!

( laughs ) i said, "you gotta be

kidding me!"

and he just rode back

on his motorcycle,

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