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 power road going and 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 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.
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 out of 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 do it. when caught on camera: the danger zone continues.
Places, but it save maryland i life. saves hi life but barely. i had a major head injury. i had bleeding on the brain. i crushed my right shoulder, broke the collarbone and my shoulder blade in the back. i broke all my ribs, i punctured both lungs, ruptured spleen, i shattered my pelvis and i broke six vertebrae in my back and one in my neck. but other than that i was all right. bubba has no memory of the jump, but ever the perfectionist, he critiques his performance from his hospital bed. i m thinking, it s so obvious i don t have enough speed. it got me to thinking, did something happen, did i black out? what went wrong? as i started watching the video an analyzing it quite a bit more, you can see me mid-air working the bike, i m trying to move it around, so obviously i was totally there, but the only 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
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 wong woke up a day or two later. bubba breaks a lot of bones, not to mention a state of the art helmet. it s a very 1,000 indy car helmet. very lightweight, very space hitch technology material. you are not supposed to break those things. that motorcycle helmet was broken in three different
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. 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.
Anything can happen. on july 4th, 2001, the worst happens. the last thing i remember is putting the bike in gear and letting the clutch up. bubba attempts to jump 22 cars at the del mar fair where he did in 1999. i jumped over 14 school buses. a really cool jump. it went great. it was flawless. i said, we got to do this again. i m thinking, oh, yeah, i got the perfect plan. so my idea was to jump over 22 cars on a harley davidson motorcycle off of a 7-foot high ramp. ever the showman, bubba intends to give the audience their money s worth. so the day started off pretty good. i got to tell you, they paid old bubba to be there, so i made sure i did my job. so what i did is hired a laser light show company and we rocked it. all the cars were white, we wanted them to look really
He can t lift the bucket of water. i learned in school, stop, drop and roll. not run around on fire until you melt. eventually, brian drops to the ground. police officer casually walks over and throws water over him. oh, he s alive. not really sure brian was thinking real clearly on what his goals were with this thing. geez, brian, there s barber college. consider it. this video stars someone you ve been hearing from, who knows a thing or two about pain. dare devil bubba blackwell. in this clip, bubba goes long. and comes up short. independence day, 2001. the man who broke many a record set by evel knievel is in del mar, california, stoking a crowd before the main event, 22-car jump.
i wanted to put on the most spectacular motorcycle jump you had ever seen. bubba hits the gas for his final approach. when i saw the video footage for the first time, to me, it was so clear i wasn t going fast enough. the impact sends bubba spiraling 70 feet like a rag doll, unconscious he is rushed to the hospital where he spends several days on life support. i shattered my pelvis, like a spider web. broke one vertebrae in my neck, crushed my right shoulder, broke six vertebrae in my back, ruptured spleen, punctured both my lungs, broke every one of my ribs. the worse thing is the impact to my head. i had bleeding on the brain. that s not something you normally come out of. hard to believe, but bubba makes a complete recovery. is he back on the bike and continues to wow crowds from coast to coast.
A brave jumper of 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 re immediately bowled over by his southern charm. hi, i m bubba blackwell, harley davidson motorcycle world record jumper. i make 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 re going through your routine in the dressing room and putting on the gear and putting on the leathers and boots and zipping them up part of it kind of feels like, dad gum, this is the coolest job in the world. he d like you to think he s
Is not fish tailing i must be good. i lift my visor up and put the bike in neutral and bow made head and say a quick little prayer. he puts the bike back in gear and that s all he remembers. the jump and it horrifying result are caught on camera. i don t remember getting closer to the ramp or 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 indy car