40 years after Knievel, daredevil will try to jump Snake River Canyon

TWIN FALLS -- Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun grew up idolizing daredevil Evel Knievel. As a child, Braun met Knievel at Ascot Park, the Southern California dirt track where Knievel made his first public jump.

“From that moment on, I didn’t want to become anything else but a professional stuntman,” said Braun, who appeared in the original “Dukes of Hazard” TV series and served as a stunt double for actors Charlie Sheen and Ray Liotta.

On Sept. 17, Braun plans to strap himself into a steam-powered rocket cycle nearly identical to the “X2 Skycycle” used by Knievel in his ill-fated attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon on Sept. 8, 1974. The jump aboard the “Evel Spirit” — expected to reach a top speed of 400 miles per hour — will start from the canyon’s north side, just east of the Hansen Bridge east of Twin Falls.

The canyon is about 200 feet narrower at that spot than the 1,600 feet Knievel tried to clear. The trajectory will be at a higher angle, Braun said, and he expects to clear the canyon wall by 1,000 feet.

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