Robbie Knievel will attempt to jump 17 semis
at Sky City Casino Saturday

Sky's the limit for Knievel jump: Workers race the rain to assemble the landing ramp for Robbie Knievel's record-breaking jump at Sky City Casino. The daredevil motorcycle rider will attempt to jump 17 semi-tractor trailers. (Photo by Jerry Wilson/Independent)

By Jim Tiffin
Staff Writer

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — The son of legendary daredevil Evel Knievel and a legend in the making Robbie Knievel is jumping over 17 Kenworth trucks at Sky City Casino Saturday.

The 18-wheelers will be lined up side-by-side at the south end of the truck parking area near Interstate 40 at the casino and Knievel will jump them as part of an hour-long show, the first such event in New Mexico.

The performance begins at 6 p.m. with a show that promises to deliver entertainment for all ages and all members of the family, Knievel told the Independent.

"I have a whole pyro show with flames and colors and a dwarf that tries to outjump me on his mini bike. That's pretty funny," Knievel said.

Sky City is one of six such shows he is performing this year, the next one is in Tucson in October where he will try to jump 18 trucks, he said.

"My shows span three generations," he said. "I usually have fathers coming up to me saying their fathers were a fan of my dad (Evel Knievel) and introduce me to their sons," he said.

Knievel uses a 500 cc American Honda motorcycle with a lot of added American parts to make the jumps. He has several including three that are like new that he uses only in performances. Those models are no longer being manufactured.

This is his fourth decade of performing. He has made more than 250 jumps and broken all but one of his father's jump records.

Leaving home at the age of 16, he decided to make his own way, he said.

His father would not let him make bigger jumps at the time.

"My dad used to sit in an ambulance when I was little and tell me 'don't do this,'" he said.

So why does he do it? Passion.

"There are people out there who do performances that have nothing good to say to kids," he said.

It is a love of being a performer and bringing entertainment to families, he said.

There are extreme sports figures that are doing backflips and other stunts that he was doing before they were born, he said.

"I am the distance guy now."

Jumps that have put him in the public's eye, and many have aired on national TV, include Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, the 231 feet jump over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the 100th Anniversary of Harley-Davidson in Sturgis, S.D., in 2003 and aboard the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York where he jumped over five F-15s and two helicopters, one that was used in Vietnam.

That jump was dedicated to all American military, especially those American armed forces men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, he said.

He currently residents on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle all the way to Sky City, he said.

The A&E TV network is filming him for a six-part one hour long reality TV series next spring.

"We have completed four shows, they are filming the other two," he said.

Sky City may be well represented on the series because film crews followed him all the way from Washington and have filmed his crew building the ramps and preparing the area he will be making Saturday's jump.

He does the math and figures out the distances using his weight and his motorcycle's weight as well as taking into consideration any headwinds, backwinds or sidewinds, he said.

At one jump there was 17-18 mph sidewind that blew him sideways six feet and he almost missed his landing area, he said.

He is now 42 years old and said he does not yet contemplate retiring.

"I don't believe in bad luck," he said. "I have God on my side."