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Skycycle X-2

Steam-powered rocket owned and used by Evel Knievel

Summary

Steam-powered rocket owned and used by Evel Knievel

Field	Value
name	Skycycle X-2
image	X-2 Skycycle.jpg
caption	Evel Knievel's X-2-2 Skycycle on display
at the Harley-Davidson Museum in 2010	alt=Rocket with front end tilted upwards and a flight suit in front of it
type	Stunt aircraft
manufacturer	Robert Truax
designer	Douglas Malewicki
first_flight	August 25, 1974
retired	September 8, 1974
primary_user	Evel Knievel
produced	1974
number_built	3

at the Harley-Davidson Museum in 2010|alt=Rocket with front end tilted upwards and a flight suit in front of it The Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket owned by Evel Knievel and flown during his Snake River Canyon jump in Idaho in 1974.

An earlier prototype was designed, named the Skycycle X-1, by Doug Malewicki and retired U.S. Navy engineer Robert Truax. It was tested in November 1973 and dove in the Snake River.

The Skycycle X-2 was designed by Truax and ridden by Knievel in his attempt to jump the Snake River approximately 1 mi west of Shoshone Falls near the city of Twin Falls, Idaho, on September 8, 1974.

A later analysis showed that a design flaw in a mechanical parachute retention cover that did not properly take base drag into account caused the premature parachute deployment. Following the failed jump, Truax and Knievel blamed each other for the failure. Later, Truax accepted full responsibility for the failure.

The jump

Although the parachute deployed early, the aerial photographs show the X-2 cleared the canyon. However, the winds blew the rocket back to the launch side, crashing at the bottom of the canyon, barely missing the river. Knievel stated that if the X-2 had landed in the water, he would have drowned, as he did not have the ability to release himself from the harness.

In order to obtain permission from the State of Idaho to perform the canyon jump, the X-2 was registered as an airplane rather than a motorcycle.

Three Skycycle X-2s were built for Knievel. The first two were used for test flights. Unable to fund further tests, Knievel used the third for the canyon jump. In 2007, the Skycycle X-2-1 was offered for sale for $5 million. The X-2-2 is owned by the Knievel estate and periodically exhibited along with a museum of Knievel artifacts.

In the era before cable networks, the Sunday afternoon jump was covered live by Top Rank on paid closed-circuit television in several hundred theaters and arenas, promoted by Bob Arum with an average price of ten dollars. Taped coverage by ABC was shown on Wide World of Sports later in the month. The ticket price at the launch site was twenty-five dollars.

The jump was pushed out of the newspaper headlines by the pardon of Richard Nixon by President Gerald Ford.

Monument

A memorial to Knievel is located near the Perrine Bridge, which crosses the Snake River about 1.6 mi west of the jump site. The monument was dedicated in September 1985 at a small ceremony attended by Knievel.

Recreation of the jump

Since the 1974 launch, seven daredevils have expressed interest in recreating the jump, including Knievel's two sons Robbie and Kelly. Robbie announced he would recreate the jump in 2010, but the project went no further upon his death. Stuntman Eddie Braun worked with Kelly Knievel (son of Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel) and Scott Truax (son of Robert Truax) to recreate the jump using a replica of the Skycycle X-2. Braun successfully flew his rocket, named Evel Spirit, across the Snake River Canyon on September 16, 2016.

Audi commercial

On July 18, 2012, Audi of America recreated Knievel's Snake River jump in a promotional commercial for the Audi RS5. The commercial depicts the RS5 being driven by a professional driver and jumping the canyon off a jump ramp.

Video

Audi - Return to Snake River Canyon commercial
YouTube – Skycycle test and jump
YouTube – Skycycle X-2 jump
Smithsonian Channel – modern-day video of jump area

References

Levin, Dan. (November 19, 1973). "High-jumping to a conclusion".
Jones, Robert. (September 2, 1974). "Make it or break it".
(September 9, 1974). "Jump fails, but Knievel uninjured". [[The Spokesman-Review]].
Jones, Robert. (September 16, 1974). "'We shoulda run one more test'".
Sellard, Dan. (September 9, 1974). "Evel Knievel's leap at canyon ends in draw". [[The Register-Guard]].
Miller, Hack. (September 9, 1974). "Evel puzzle: what popped chute?". [[Deseret News]].
(September 9, 1974). "Evel fails in mission...but survives". [[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]].
(September 10, 1984). "Twin Falls marks Knievel anniversary". [[Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine).
(September 9, 1974). "Knievel rescued after failure". [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
(September 9, 1974). "Metal fatigue blamed". [[The Bulletin (Bend).
Stuart Barker, Life of Evel Knievel, St. Martin's Press, 2008. {{ISBN. 9780312547356.
"Snake River Canyon jump 1973-EVEL KNIEVEL Awesome video!!".
Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story, History Channel 2005
(September 8, 1974). "Evel Knievel canyon leap today". [[The Spokesman-Review]].
Crowe, Paul. (January 29, 2007). "Evel Knievel Skycycle Snake River Rocket For Sale".
(June 25, 1974). "Is he an athlete, daredevil, promoter, hoax, or a nut?". [[Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
(September 4, 1974). "Congressman says Evel bad influence on kids". [[The Spokesman-Review]].
(September 6, 1974). "Snake River Canyon Jump". [[Chicago Tribune]].
Crittenden, John. (September 7, 1974). "Thundering herd hoofing to some Evel". [[Evening Independent]].
(September 5, 1974). "Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump". [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Sharbutt, Jay. (August 29, 1974). "No live TV for Evel Knievel's jump". [[The Free Lance–Star]].
Gallagher, Dan. (September 4, 1999). "Canyon jump launched generation of daredevils". [[Moscow-Pullman Daily News]].
Squires, Jim. (September 9, 1974). "Pardon for Nixon". [[Chicago Tribune]].
(September 9, 1974). "Ford pardons Nixon". [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Evel Knievel's Snake River Jump Monument".
(September 10, 1985). "No crowds attracted by dedication of monument to Snake River jump". [[Great Falls Tribune]].
(May 9, 2010). "Robbie Knievel hopes to jump Snake River Canyon". [[Billings Gazette]].
Martin, Joey. (September 8, 2014). "40 Years Later And Gearing Up For Another Jump". [[KMVT]].
Loumena, Dan. (September 16, 2016). "Eddie Braun does what Evel Knievel could not: make successful jump over Snake River Canyon". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Harbor, Phillip, "Audi Tries to Jump Snake River Canyon in Evel Knievel Tribute", CarBuzz, September 12, 2012
(September 24, 2012). "Audi: 'Return to Snake River Canyon'". AudideMexico.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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