September 8: Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon on this date in 1974

There was a time in American life, circa 1974, when millions of people would turn on their TVs Sunday afternoons to see if Evel Knievel had died yet. The Montana showman had turned his motorcycle daredevil shows into a phenomenon — and himself into America's most famous stuntman — thanks to his ever-growing appetite for risky jumps, several of which ended with him in the hospital. After clearing 50 cars in 1973, and thinking of jumping the Grand Canyon, Knievel decided to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho — a distance of some 1,600 feet, with the canyon floor 500 feet below. For the jump, Knievel commissioned a steam-powered motorcycle eventually known as Skycycle X-2, which was more like a rocket on wheels than any other vehicle. On this day in 1974, Knievel sat in the Skycycle perched at a 54-degree angle, and at 3:34 p.m. launched, only to have the drogue parachute open immediately. While the Skycycle hit the top of the far rim, winds blew it back across the canyon; Knievel survived with minor injuries, but proved once again he was willing to try any stunt once. "People pay a million dollars to be recognized, but nobody cares about them," he told Maxim in 2007. "They cared about me because I did things other men were afraid to do." No one has attempted to jump the Canyon since, and you can see why below: