Robbie Knievel Injured in Cycle Stunt

Stunt motorcyclist Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel, suffered minor injuries Saturday when he crashed in an attempt to hurdle 25 pickup trucks during a stunt at a Cerritos car dealership.

Knievel, 29, underwent surgery at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for cuts on his buttocks, said family friend and neurosurgeon Dr. Lonnie Hammargren, who coordinated medical planning for the stunt. Knievel was released in the evening.

Witnesses said Knievel lost control of his motorcycle as he was trying to clearthe trucks in the 170-foot jump, flipping over the handlebars and sliding 50 feet along his landing ramp and pavement.

“He landed so hard it threw him up in the air, making him basically do a handstand on the handlebars, and eventually he fell over on his back and then slid,” said Bill Stevens, a spokesman for the car dealership. “He had these thick leathers on that just peeled off him, like a banana.”

Stevens said Knievel had trouble gaining traction on a section of slick pavement on takeoff, slowing his speed from the estimated 90 m.p.h. he would have needed to clear the jump.

“He’s had rump injuries before and now he’s got another one, and I’m going to apply for a steel, bionic rump for him,” Hammargren said. “He would have had better control of the bike if he hadn’t been trying to show off and do the no-hands thing.”

The 4 p.m. stunt at Moon Nissan, which attracted an estimated 15,000 spectators, was to be the kickoff of a nationwide tour for Knievel, who is building his skills to prepare for a 1994 rocket-powered jump over the mile-wide Snake River Canyon in Idaho, Stevens said.

Knievel’s father failed in his attempt at the Idaho jump in 1974.