Motorcycle Daredevil Robbie Knievel Dies at 60

The Knievel line of daredevils came to an end today with the passing of Robbie Knievel at the age of 60.

The son of flamboyant, trailblazing showman Evel Knievel, Robbie died early Friday at a hospice in Reno after battling pancreatic cancer, his brother Kelly Knievel said.

Robbie followed in his father's footsteps in more ways than one. He began to emulate his father as a child doing stunts on his bicycle. He eventually literally followed his dad by completing some of the very same jumps his father attempted in his career.

The daredevil promoted himself as Kaptain Robbie Knievel and set several records and was also injured several times in failed attempts. In 1992, the 29-year-old crashed into the 22nd of 25 pickup trucks lined up across a 55-metre span in Cerritos, Calif.

His jumps included several at Las Vegas, such as at Caesar's Palace in 1989, site of one of his father's most famous unsuccessful stunts in 1967. Robbie also jumped a row of limousines in 1998 at the Tropicana Hotel; between two buildings at the Jockey Club in 1999; and on New Year's Eve 2008 he jumped during fireworks in front of a volcano at The Mirage.

Evel Knievel attempted to jump Idaho's mile-wide Snake River Canyon in a 'rocket cycle' in 1974 but the chute deployed early and he plummeted into the canyon.

Robbie's canyon jump was more successful, not entirely, but he did make it across. In 1999, he jumped his bike over a 220-foot chasm on an Indian reservation outside Grand Canyon National Park. After a crash-landing in which he broke his leg, Robbie said that his father always wanted to jump the Arizona canyon, but never did.

Evel Knievel died in 2007.