Younger Knievel plans jump over the canyon

Michelle Rushlo

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 9:47 a.m.

PHOENIX - Daredevil Robbie Knievel plans to launch his motorcycle over a portion of the Grand Canyon, a stunt not even his father ever attempted.

To make the jump over part of the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai Indian Reservation west of Grand Canyon National Park, Knievel will have be going at least 100 mph. He does not plan to wear a parachute, said Jeff Androsky, supervising producer for Tri-Crown Productions.

The jump, scheduled for 5 p.m. MST on April 29, will be broadcast live nationally on Fox.

The motorcycle jump, which would break his world record of 223 feet, will be east to west over an area where the Colorado River bends. Failure to clear the canyon would send Knievel plunging 1,200 to 2,500 feet.

The exact distance he will cover is uncertain, although it will be at least 200 feet.

Crews are building ramps and removing as many obstacles as they can, Androsky said Tuesday. He said cactuses, shrubs, snakes and other wildlife are being moved for the jump but will have to be returned to their exact locations as part of an agreement with the Hualapais.

Knievel, 36, will have to drive around a few cactuses that are too big to be moved, Androsky said.

Lonnie Wilder, assistant planner for the Hualapai Tribe, said Knievel visited in late March, and the tribe gave him the needed permission.

"All that's left to do is for him to jump," Wilder said.

Knievel gained notoriety in April 1989 when he jumped the fountains at Caesars Palace, a jump that nearly killed his father, Evel Knievel, 21 years earlier.

Evel Knievel had talked about jumping the Grand Canyon but could never get National Park officials to agree. Androsky said that if it had occurred to the elder Knievel to contact the Hualapai Tribe, Evel might have tried the jump.

Evel did unsuccessfully attempt to cross the Snake River Canyon in Idaho using a rocket in 1974.

His parachute deployed too early and he failed to make the 1,800-foot jump. He suffered only scrapes and bruises but had to be fished off the craggy, rock bottom by a helicopter.

Androsky said Robbie Knievel will not wear a parachute during his Grand Canyon jump despite a request from his mother to do so. Robbie is refusing, in part, because a parachute is what foiled Evel's Snake River jump and because he wouldn't have time to pull the cord anyway at 100 mph, Androsky said.

The younger Knievel's most recent publicized jump was from one hotel tower to another at the Jockey Club on the Las Vegas Strip. That jump in February also was broadcast live on Fox.