Evel Knievel is one of the world’s best-known daredevils. The American showman performed various stunts to entertain and push the boundaries of what we thought was possible.

If there is a modern-day equivalent, then it must surely be Travis Pastrana. The 34-year old American is a motocross rider, multiple X-Games winner and founder of the hugely popular Nitro Circus stadium show.

A tribute

Pastrana wanted to pay tribute to one of his biggest idols and to do so he set himself the task of taking on records set by the now later performer. He dubbed the event “Evel Live”. The modern-day daredevil dressed in Knievel’s signature red, white and blue jumpsuit and rode a similar bike.

In 1973, Knievel traveled 37 metres when he jumped over 50 crushed cars at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Pastrana flew 44 metres as he leaped over 52 crushed cars. At King’s Island in Ohio, Knievel jumped 14 Greyhound buses, Pastrana beat that record by adding two more coaches.

Not intentional, but equally impressive is this MotoGP jump.

For his final of three major jumps Pastrana successfully cleared the 43-metre fountain gap at Caesar’s Palace, which makes him the first person to do so successfully. The same stunt left his hero with a broken pelvis, femur, hip, wrist and ankles back in 1967.

In typical Pastrana fashion, he celebrated by hopping into the fountain he had just jumped over. He did the same after setting a record for the longest car jump in 2009. See that video by clicking here.

“It’s just such an honour to live a day in Evel’s footsteps and literally his boots,” Pastrana said after the event. “To be here in Las Vegas, so much of my history has been here. I proposed to my wife here, I had [the] first Nitro Circus show here. This was definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

Jump One:

Jump Two:

Jump Three: