Now playing: The Wonderful World of Alain Prieur

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The late Evel Knievel is, obviously, the world’s most famous daredevil. But is he history’s greatest? Not even close. That distinction goes to French stuntman Alain Prieur, who in 1977 set the world record for a motorcycle jump by flying over 16 buses for a distance of 195 feet. At around the same time, Evel was unsuccessful in two 1975 motorbike jumps of 13 buses (Wembley Stadium, London) and 14 buses (Kings Island, Ohio), hitting the last bus on both attempts. Connoisseurs of daredevilry debate to this day whether the second one counts or not; although Knievel landed on the 14th bus, he didn’t crash and he made it successfully down the back ramp.

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