Light show company and we rocked it. all the cars were white, we wanted them to look really uniform and we spent most of our concentration on making sure we put on a fantastic show for everybody. and if i had that to do over again, i think i would spend more time on making sure i got a good ramp. in front of 35,000 spectators and a backdrop befitting a rock star, bubba appears. i get out there and i m doing the show. we got the lasers going and the pyro going. everything was working really good. but i m making all these passes back and forth. i m doing wheelies and it is going really good. what i did was made all these passes and chewed up the water-downed packed surface. it is now like running in sand. i m in fourth gear, i m going to the ramp, the engine is you know, it sounds good, i m in a high rpm, the bike is not
A brave jumper, a legendary motorcycle and a record-breaking attempt all collide in a horrific crash that leaves a crowd stunned and the fate of the rider uncertain. when you meet bubba blackwell you are immediately bowled over by his southern charm. hey, i m bubba blackwell. harley davidson motorcycle world record jumper. i m making a living riding a motorcycle because the mensa club kicked me out in alabama. bubba has been riding bikes for as long as he can remember and he s the first to admit jumping motorcycles for a living is a pretty cool gig. you know, when you are going through your routine in the dressing room, you are putting on the gear, putting the leathers on, the boots on, you are zipping them up, part of me
Thing i can fathom is just the simple fact that as i m going to the ramp the bike is spinning. there s just enough speed being robbed because of the traction issue that i simply didn t make the landing ramp. i wasn t even close. the accident may have broken his body but certainly not his spirit or his trademark self-deprecating sense of humor. now that i am fortunate enough to have all the world records, i ll do this a little smarter. that s one of the things you usually get a pass on because your name is bubba from alabama, but we are having so much fun now you learn from your mistakes. i ve always enjoyed about doing what i do is just the excitement of it and for the longest time that was everything i focused on was just how exciting can i make it for everybody. bubba is still jumping motorcycles, but he s also a father now, something he says has slowed him down.
Fishtailing, i must be good. i lift my visor up and put the bike in neutral and bow my head and say a quick little prayer. he puts the bike back in gear and that s all he remembers. the jump and its horrifying results are caught on camera. i don t remember getting closer to the ramp. i don t remember shifting the motorcycle. i don t remember getting closer and closer and positioning myself for the jump. i don t remember any of that stuff. and i certainly don t remember the helicopter ride that, you know, sent me to scripps memorial hospital, which is where i woke up a day or two later. bubba breaks a lot of bones, not to mention a state of the art helmet. that is a $1,000 kevlar indy
Well, somewhat. before i used to always think, hey, that didn t work out, man, they are going to get quite a show and i laugh it off because i m a good time charlie and i like to have fun, but now i m a daddy. i have a 3-year-old little girl so now my excitement for what i do has kind of changed gears a little bit because i want to make sure that i m going to be safe. but for now, bubba is still loving the ride and he insists he is living his boyhood dream. the terrible thing is i m starting to get a little bit old and it is kind of like, all right, hot shot, you have done it all now, what are you going to do next? coming up, a cowboy finds out that when you mess with a bull you really might get the horns. you are playing with this sort of thing and you get burned. and it is said astronauts can see it from space, but can a skateboarder jump over it? it was so out of the box for somebody to jump the great wall on a skateboard. there are so many things that motivated me to