He never worked out exactly how far he could jump before a stunt
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Yes, even though his job was to jump over large gaps on a motorcycle, Knievel claimed that the only thing he ever used to gauge whether a jump was possible was his own "guesstimate" about whether it looked doable. Knievel once went as far as admitting that he used no science or math beforehand to calculate trajectory or maximum distance or anything like that, trusting instead his own judgement and ability to not die if things went wrong.
In other words, every time Knievel lined up to do a stunt, he had zero idea if it was even possible … and did it anyway. The reason why Knievel took this risk is because he was often quoted as saying that a man should never go back on his word, which for him meant that, if he told crowds he'd jump over 40 buses, he'd bloody well try and jump them all, even if he had no idea such a feat was possible.
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The untold truth of Evel Knievel