Talk:Evel Knievel

Confederate flag jumpsuit

I could find no information that his jumpsuit was inspired by the Confederate flag. I think it is a blemish to his character to tie him to the Confederate flag in any way.05:31, 18 May 2021 (UTC)05:31, 18 May 2021 (UTC)05:31, 18 May 2021 (UTC)~

• Yeah, even though WP:BLP doesn't apply anymore, one should be careful. The Confederate flag is hardly the only piece of American iconography that uses stars, red white and blue, etc., given it's part of the US flag too. 70.73.90.119 (talk) 23:52, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

German Ancestors?

German guy here. I'd like to see the region in Germany where the name "Knievel" is allegedly from. I don't believe that such a place exists. "Kneifel" I could believe. Maybe the spelling got changed by some American bureaucrat? At any rate, the proof on this whole matter is pretty thin. --BjKa (talk) 19:06, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

It's true that many people's names changed when moving to America from Germany (and other places) - changed by bureaucracy, or changed by their own choice, possibly under pressure from someone else. (Some people in fact got a completely different name.) Some of the changes might improve English-speaking Americans' pronunciation (such as Oberquell -> Oberkfell), others were easier for Americans to spell (or someone thought so), but unfortunately some of the changed spellings seem to have been stupid mistakes. It wouldn't be a surprise if the name "Knievel" (which looks wrong in German) has had its spelling changed, maybe more than once, maybe by someone who didn't know what they were doing - and maybe its pronunciation has changed too.

(It also wouldn't be a surprise if there was an invented story here, hiding some other name - who knows?) TooManyFingers (talk) 15:51, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

Additional commercials

There's a section on posthumous commercials featuring Evel. I also clearly remember in the 1980s he appeared in an ad for a pain reliever (not Aspirin but something like Tylenol), which he claimed he used to deal with chronic pain caused by his many injuries. What stood out about the ad was it began with slow-motion footage of his Caesar's Palace crash (likely the footage shot by Linda Evans). Without the name of the advertiser it's not something to add right now, but maybe this sparks a memory in someone with other info. 70.73.90.119 (talk) 23:49, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

Japanese motorcycle imports

"During the early 1960s, he and other dealers had difficulty promoting and selling Japanese imports because of the steep competition of their auto industry, and the Moses Lake Honda dealership eventually closed." Does this mean that potential buyers of Japanese motorcycles started buying Japanese cars instead? Can anyone help clarify the wording, provide a citation, or both? Tameware (talk) 13:28, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Nitroglycerine speech

Did Evel Knievel once preface one of his stunts with a parable about putting nitroglycerine in a gas tank- that it enhances performance at first but damages the engine in the long run? 2600:1702:1D00:9A80:30C1:1AB:650:A9C6 (talk) 16:42, 18 August 2024 (UTC)