Evel actually was the best jumper! Not in the way of skills, but just an all around better performer. First there was Evel. Then the rest of us got on the bandwagon. Sure, we jumped farther and without as much publicized crashing, but that's not what the public wanted. We were always filler, a half time show, an exhibition at the local drags or stock car races. All the while Evel was selling out venues. WHY? Because the odds were he was going to crash, we weren't. Spectators back then wanted the gore. Something they couldn't find on TV. They knew if/when Evel crashed, he'd be back, bigger and better. The closest anyone got to Evel was "Super" Joe Einhorn. He to would crash and come back. Joe was a novelty, a cut rate Evel. This is in no way diminishing Joe's career or value to the jumping world. It's just the way it was. All the rest of us except Gary Wells fell below "Super" Joe in recognition or national publicity. Gary HAD it all and then for some reason lost it. I have always said Gary Wells was the best jumper technical or otherwise out of all of us. Gary's problem seemed to be his attitude on or off the stage. That's not my opinion, but it is the opinion of many fans, writers and newscasters around the world.
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