Evel Knievel Museum Jumping to Las Vegas

Posted on: May 14, 2024, 03:09h. 

Last updated on: May 15, 2024, 08:45h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The Evel Knievel Museum, which opened in the late daredevil’s hometown of Topeka, Kansas in 2017, is motorcycle-jumping to downtown Las Vegas.

Evel Knievel famously attempts to jump the Caesars Palace fountains in 1967. (Image: Associated Press)

The museum will be the main attraction of the brand new Mission Linen building, at 1001 South 1st St. Its groundbreaking was announced by Las Vegas developer J Dapper on Tuesday.

No opening date for the Evel Knievel Museum has been set, though the Topeka location will close in October to prepare for the transition.

Evel Las Vegas

Las Vegas was the site of one of Knievel’s most famous stunts. On Dec. 31, 1967, he attempted to jump his motorcycle 141 feet over the fountains of Caesars Palace. It would have been Knievel’s longest jump at the time, if it hadn’t ended in his launching over his handlebars and skidding into the Dunes parking lot next door.

The crash resulted in a crushed pelvis and femur, multiple hip fractures, two broken ankles, a concussion, and a lengthy hospital stay. It also made him a legend. Evel died in 2007 at age 69 of pulmonary disease, not his many serious injuries.

I can’t think of a better place to display the legacy of Evel Knievel than Las Vegas,” said Evel’s son and family brand owner, Kelly Knievel, in a statement. “With guts, charisma, and showmanship, he built himself a legacy that’s still going strong 50 years after that crash at Caesars Palace.

“We’ve got all of my dad’s memorabilia, plus the latest and greatest razzmatazz.”

Well, Not All His Dad’s Memorabilia

A rendering of the Evel Knievel Museum. (Image: Evel Knievel Museum)

Though the museum’s collection features most of the other bikes that survived to tell the tale, as well as Knievel’s original leathers and helmets, it does not include the Triumph Bonneville T12 that Knievel used in his Caesars stunt. That bike disappeared decades ago and is believed to be somewhere in the American northwest.

The Las Vegas museum will also feature a virtual reality experience, a display of Evel’s nastiest X-rays, and a room dedicated to Knievel’s second most famous jump. That was over the Snake River Canyon in 1974, and it also failed. The room, called the Snake River Experience, will feature Knievel’s actual Skycycle X-2.

“We are thrilled for the opportunity to relocate the Evel Knievel Museum from Topeka, Kansas to Las Vegas,” said Mike Patterson, who co-founded the museum with Lathan McKay, and James Caplinger

In addition to the Evel Knievel Museum, the property will also house a Mothership Coffee Roasters, and a heavy metal-themed pizza concept by Las Vegas hospitality entrepreneur Branden Powers.

Powers was also behind a pizzeria dedicated to Evel Knievel, Evel Pie, which he opened downtown in 2016. That restaurant, which Powers no longer owns, features memorabilia donated by Kelly and the estate.