Travis Pastrana completes 3 record-breaking jumps in Las Vegas homage to Evel Knievel
- Extreme athlete and modern daredevil Travis Pastrana honored the legacy of Evel Knievel on Sunday with three impressive jumps in Las Vegas.
- Pastrana broke some of Knievel's records, and most importantly, landed a jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace, the site of one of the original daredevil's scariest crashes.
- Pastrana is no stranger to pushing the limits of extreme sports, having already made history on his motorcycle on numerous occasions.
Travis Pastrana is no stranger to death-defying stunts.
With a list of accomplishments that includes the first double backflip ever landed in competition and skydiving without a parachute, it's tough to imagine an extreme feat that might give Pastrana pause.
On Sunday, Pastrana embodied the spirit of a daredevil that came before him, Evel Knievel, breaking three of his records with three successive jumps in Las Vegas.
His first jump was something of a warmup - a casual 143 feet over 52 cars stacked three to a pile. Pastrana completed the feat with ease, landing with plenty of room to spare and breaking Knievel's jump of 120 feet over 50 cars at the L.A. Coliseum.
After that, Pastrana completed a jump of 192 feet over 16 buses, besting Knievel's 14 buses jumped in 1975 and set himself up for the most iconic attempt of the night - a leap over the fountains at Caesars Palace.
Knievel's failed jump over the fountains in 1967 was the most disastrous of his career, with his missed landing leaving him with several broken bones and a concussion that kept him in the hospital for almost a month.
Pastrana however, made the 149-foot jump with ease.
You can watch all three jumps in succession below.
Viewing them back-to-back-to-back might lessen the effect of Pastrana's effort, but the still images go a long way to show the majesty of his accomplishment.
Pastrana was proud to honor Knievel's legacy.
"It's just such an honor to live a day in Evel's footsteps, and literally his boots," Pastrana said. "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."
While we can't be sure of where Pastrana's daredevil nature will take him next, don't be surprised if he decides to give Snake River Canyon a shot in the coming years.