Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas

As we’re driving along I-70 in Kansas, we see a billboard advertising the Evel Knievel museum in Topeka, Kansas. Wow! Who knew there was such a museum?

For children of the 70s (and 60s and early 80s), Evel Knievel was the ultimate daredevil hero. He represented fearlessness, doing the impossible, and reaching for the stars to a whole generation of young people.

We most certainly needed to stop at the Evel Knievel museum!

Who Was Evel Knievel?

For those who may not know, Evel Knievel was an American motorcycle stunt rider throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and even 1980s.

He was the ultimate showman and entertainer, wearing flashy white sequin outfits (not be confused with Elvis Presley!), complete with a white cape.

He attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps throughout his career, including jumping over police cars, buses, semi-trucks, and and even rivers throughout his motorcycle jumping career.

He made most of the jumps, but not all, having wrecked in many horrible crashes seen live on television throughout his career.

This all added to the allure of the daredevil motorcycle rider, who may or may not land each jump. But everyone was mesmerized and had to see what his next act would be.

Opening of the Evel Knievel Museum

The Evel Knievel museum is fairly new, having opened in 2017. It is founded by three big Evel Knievel fans who had collected much Knievel memorabilia over the years.

Knievel himself is actually from Butte, Montana, but these three Knievel fans have developed a beautiful museum for all people to enjoy the legacy that Knievel offers.

Apparently there was once an Evel Knievel museum planned for Las Vegas, but it never came to fruition. The Evel Knievel museum in Topeka has the originally planned layout of the Las Vegas museum on display.

According to the staff with whom we spoke, several of Evel’s family members have enjoyed visiting the museum. It’s great to see homage being paid to an American icon and I’m sure his family members appreciate the level of detail and high quality displays at the museum.

The museum is very well designed, with two floors of displays, details of Knievel’s many jumps, and interactive displays, including a virtual reality stunt jump. It is located adjacent to the Historic Harley-Davidson building in Topeka.

There is a large parking lot behind the building in which we were able to park our 27 foot Airstream without any problems, so if you’re traveling in an RV, park in the back of the building and you shouldn’t have any difficulties.

A sign advertises the Harley-Davidson building and the Evel Knievel museum.

Evel Knievel Museum Entrance

As you enter the museum, you will see a statue of Evel Knievel that was formerly housed in a liquor store in Butte, Montana.

The statue was made for Evel as a tribute to his 14 bus jump at Kings Island in 1975.

The museum tells the history of Knievel’s life, starting with his early life in Butte, Montana.

One of the earliest images is of him riding a tricycle at age 3. Little did his family know then what life had in store for this little daredevil!

There’s also a cute drawing Knievel did of the Man “O” War horse for his mother with a note attached about his injured arm.

How Evel Knievel Got His Name

The museum displays detail how he got his moniker of “Evel Knievel.”

It turns out that little Bob Knievel dropped out of high school in Butte, Montana after his sophomore year in 1954 to work in the copper mines.

He was later fired and got in trouble after a police chase on his motorcycle in 1956. He was jailed under his given name, Robert Knievel.

But when the jailer came around to check on inmates one evening, he noted that a man named William Knofel who was known around town as the rhyming name “Awful Knofel” was jailed along with Bob who he nicknamed “Evil Knievel.”

The name stuck, but Bob changed the spelling to “Evel” to appear less sinister than “Evil.”

As a young man, Evel Knievel participated in local professional rodeos and ski jumping events.

The museum has the original ribbon he received for winning the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men’s Ski Jumping Championship in 1959.

Later in his life, but before his motorcycle stunt career really took off, Evel Knievel sold insurance for the Combined Insurance Company of America. His boss, W. Clement Stone wrote a book about the power of a positive attitude that Stone suggested Knievel read.

Knievel has been cited as saying that he credited much of his success in life to Stone and his book.

Evel Knievel Motorcycle Jumps

The museum does an excellent job of chronicling Knievel’s motorcycle jumps, including videos, photos, programs, newspaper clippings, and other media about each event.

The Evel Knievel museum displays do an excellent job of profiling each jump and classifying them as either a “success” or a “crash” with details about each event.

The museum also has a display and details about all of Knievel’s motorcycle jump attempts, starting with his first jump in the summer of 1965 in which he jumped a tethered mountain lion and a crate of snakes.

The result of this first jump — Knievel struck the snake crate.

The final jump on the display is from March 1, 1980 at the Miami-Hollywood Speedway. This jump was a success, as was most of the jumps listed on this inventory of his motorcycle jump attempts.

Motorcycle Displays

The Evel Knievel museum also has on display many of the motorcycles used for Knievel’s jumps.

For example, these include a replica of the 1967 Triumph T120 TT Special 650cc used for wheelies as Evel’s Caesar Palace event.

The museum also has on display Evel’s original 1969 Laverda American Eagle S Model 750cc motorcycle which he jumped 13 times during a two-year span.

He landed this motorcycle successfully seven times while crashing six times.

According to the museum, this is the most dangerous motorcycle Knievel jumped throughout his career. It was discovered in an unrecognizable condition and restored by the Historic Harley-Davidson team in Topeka.

Knievel’s 1972 Harley-Davidson XR 750 Alloy Head “Wembley XR” motorcycle is also on display at the museum.

Evel debuted this new paint scheme in 1974 at the Wide World of Sports at Green Valley Raceway in Texas.

The paint scheme was done by George Sedlak and it is the actual Sedlak painted tank used by Evel on his motorcycle during his attempted jump of 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London in which he crashed.

The museum also does a good job of explaining how Evel’s motorcycle equipment worked.

For a solid science, technology, engineering and math lesson, be sure to read all the details about how a 4-stroke motorcycle engine works.

Evel’s “Big Red” Mack Truck

One of the museum highlights is Evel’s original Mack truck named “Big Red.”

He used this truck to haul around his motorcycles, ramps, and other equipment.

It even had living quarters for Evel.

The truck is a large part of why the museum is located in Topeka, as its restoration led to the owner of the Historic Harley-Davidson in Topeka. Big Red was found in extreme disrepair in Florida and has been lovingly restored to its original condition by a large team of restoration experts.

Given that so much work went into restoring Big Red, the museum has detailed the restoration in a Big Red restoration documentary film.

This 18 minute video details the intense two year effort to rebuild Evel’s 1974 Big Red truck, coach, and trailer.

While watching the film, museum attendees are surrounded by the actual sheet metal that was removed from the coach and trailer for restoration.

The museum also has original photos of the before and after restoration of Big Red.

Evel Knievel’s Snake River Jump

In 1974, Evel attempted to jump the mile-wide canyon over the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho in a specially designed steam-powered rocket motorcycle. (This is the same Snake River in Idaho where we camped at a rest area overlooking the Snake River.)

Despite large attendance and a huge promotion event, the skycycle failed to make it to the other side of the Snake River successfully.

Evel landed in the water and survived with only minor injuries.

The museum has the wrecked rocket motorcycle on display for museum visitors to see.

Evel Knievel Museum Interactive Displays

One of most interesting and unique aspects of the Evel Knievel museum is the level of effort they have put into creating interactive displays for museum guests.

For example, the Bad to the Bones interactive display lets visitors learn more about all of the bones that Knievel has broken throughout his life.

Visitors can select parts of Knievel’s body to learn about which bones he has broken, along with details about each of the jumps that caused the broken bones.

Videos of the jumps are included, along with the wrecks that broke Evel’s bones.

This area also has a humorous letter from one of Knievel’s doctors that says that his medical problem is “extremely complex because of the fact that this daredevil cannot afford the time (estimated at twelve to eighteen months) to have the bone graft for his right radius and be followed up in a conventional manner with a long-term cast and so forth.”

The museum’s interactive Jump Planner display lets visitors choose the type of motorcycle that Evel will jump with, the ramp height, the speed of Evel’s motorcycle, and the type of vehicles that he’ll jump.

The display then models what would happen if you attempted a motorcycle jump with that criteria. Spoiler alert: Most of mine crashed.

The museum also has a virtual reality experience for museum visitors for a $5 cost in addition to the price of museum admission.

Wearing a virtual reality mask and headphones, visitors sit on a vintage 1972 XR 750 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and attempt to jump 16 police cars in downtown Topeka.

This jump was completed by Doug Danger in 2016 wearing multiple cameras on his helmet to capture his vantage point from atop the motorcycle. Riders get to feel as he did when he performed the jump.

Evel Knievel’s Fashion Statements

Many of Evel Knievel’s iconic outfits worn during his jumps are on display at the museum.

Other fashionable choices by Evel are on display, including several very interesting choices. It was the 1970s, after all!

This display includes a video of Evel’s appearance on the Donny and Marie show in 1976.

The museum also has outfits worn by the Evel Knievel team who helped put on the motorcycle events.

This one seems to be sponsored by Olympia beer.

Evel Knievel Images

Throughout the timeline of Evel Knievel’s life, the museum has large blown up images of the daredevil himself.

Evel Knievel Fan Mail

Evel Knievel received large amounts of fan mail during his career.

After a 1977 crash, Evel broke both arms and was hospitalized.

The museum acquired over 300 letters that were sent to the hospital to Evel, but were never opened by him.

The letters were sent by children and adults from all over. Several of these are on display at the Evel Knievel museum.

Evel Knievel Newspaper Articles

Evel was a huge celebrity during his heyday. He was profiled in countless newspaper and magazine articles.

The museum has taken a sample of these and covered several walls in a hallway with articles about Evel’s escapades.

Evel Knievel Movies and Television Show

Two movies and a TV show have been made about Evel Knievel. The Evel Knievel museum has a viewing theater in which these are shown.

In 1971, the movie “Evel Knievel” was released with George Hamilton playing the role of Evel. The movie provides a flashback viewing of Evel’s life.

In 1974, Sam Elliott played the role of Evel Knievel in a pilot TV episode that never made it to the air.

In this pilot episode, Evel faced off in a battle of the sexes contest with a female motorcycle jumper. Too bad it never made it to a full series!

In 1977, the movie “Viva Knievel” was released with Evel Knievel playing himself.

This star-studded movie included wild plot lines such as drug lords’ attempts to kill Knievel, along with the requisite motorcycle jumps and crashes.

Evel’s Indy 500 Connection

A racecar sponsored by Evel was driven in the 1977 Indianapolis 500.

The museum details the connection between Evel and the racecar owner — J.C. Agajanian — and how the racecar came to be painted in Evel’s familiar red white, and blue star-spangled paint scheme.

Evel’s Vehicle Collection

Evel himself was quite the collector of vehicles in addition to motorcycles.

He owned yachts, helicopters, airplanes, motorhomes, and more. The Evel Knievel museum has images of these on display, as well as one of his original cars.

Evel Knievel Product Licensing

According to the museum, Evel was the first person to use his fame to license his name and likeness to a large amount of products, ranging from toys, to beer, to hot sauce, to automotive products to all kinds of items.

Evel apparently made far more money from the royalties of the products he licensed and endorsed than from his actual motorcycle jump events.

Evel was the first living person to be featured as a “super hero” action figure, and toys were his largest revenue sources.

The museum has a large number of these products on display.

Most visitors in the 40-60 age group will likely remember some of these from their childhood.

Evel Knievel’s Death in 2007

Unfortunately Evel passed away in 2007 due to complications from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis.

Evel had apparently developed a friendship with the actor Matthew McConaughey, who gave the eulogy at Knievel’s funeral.

Send the Museum Your Bicycle Jump Photos from the 1970s

The Evel Knievel museum staff recognize the impact that Evel Knievel made on the lives of children in the 1970s.

The museum invites people to send in photos they may have of themselves in the 1970s performing an Evel Knievel type stunt on their bicycle.

The museum will display these photos on their wall.

Evel Knievel Museum Souvenirs

As you leave the Evel Knievel musuem, you’ll enter the adjacent Harley-Davidson store with which it shares a building.

If you proceed straight ahead as you enter the store, you’ll enter the souvenir shop area for the Evel Knievel museum.

Here you’ll find all kinds of fun Evel Knievel products, including clothing for adults and kids, coffee mugs, coffee, blankets, action figures, and more.

Historic Harley-Davidson of Topeka

As you exit the Harley-Davidson store, you’ll notice that they have a cafe by the entrance where they serve breakfast and lunch, in case you’ve worked up an appetite during your perusal of the Evel Knievel museum.

There’s also a small Harley-Davidson museum downstairs that is free to see.

It has lots of interesting old motorcycles with tidbits of details about the motorcycle empire’s development.

As you leave the Yesterdays Motorcycle Museum, you’ll notice a new “Modern Evel” Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a custom paint job.

Final Thoughts on the Evel Knievel Museum

Any child of the 1960s, 1970s, and even 1980s will love visiting the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas.

We had a fabulous visit and loved reminiscing about Evel Knievel’s daredevil life and the impact it had on us as children.

The museum staff are very friendly and eager to help explain any of the exhibits to visitors.

The museum has done an outstanding job creating a great visitor experience, complete with historical displays, videos. technical geek-out information, and even interactive displays to keep you entertained.

We highly recommend visiting this museum as a destination, and most definitely stop in if you’re passing through Topeka!