New Wooden coaster for Six Flags St. Louis

Mamoosh said:
Considering his checkered past the ride should never have been named for him in the first place.

Aw come on Moosh. Don't forget, this is the midwest we're talking about. Evel was pretty cool when I was a kid. Everyone has their problems.

If it were "madonna" or "rolling stones" the ride, it would be even more evil.

...this is the midwest we're talking about.

Ah, right...so a coaster named after a man who beat his wife and kids is acceptable then. My bad, lol. ;)

Mamoosh said:
...this is the midwest we're talking about.
Ah, right...so a coaster named after a man who beat his wife and kids is acceptable then. My bad, lol. ;)

Aw... come on. Alot of 'american heroes' have done such things. It's just his was publicized. Doesn't make it right. I mean, look at Pres. Bush!!!!!!

Evel might have been huge in his time, but most kids growing up these days will never even know who he was.

I guess naming the ride after him was a better call than naming it "Robbie Knievel" :)

I hear ya Raven, but so many of the 'new heroes' like .. o .. i dunno... Tony Hawk, I mean being legendary or even popular these days is a flash in the pan. "They don't make em like they used to."

Tony Hawk? Oh I forgot Alvey made him famous :)

The problem with naming rides after real people or cartoon characters is that they are eventually forgotten after a generation or two have passed.

Names like Evel Kneivel, Scooby-Doo and Spongebob Squarepants are outdated, or will sound dated soon. Rides named after animals or weather events won't.

J7G3 said:
Aw... come on. Alot of 'american heroes' have done such things. It's just his was publicized. Doesn't make it right. I mean, look at Pres. Bush!!!!!!

And that doesn't make it right either. I've never voted for anyone named Bush, drunk drivers or otherwise - though I was overruled by the majority on three occasions.

Is it too much to wish that Six Flags will see this as a lucky break and a chance to back out of a bad marketing move? They could even turn it in their own favor, noting "out of respect for family", whatever. Come on, guys - change the name. Redeem yourselves.

I am old enough to remember when he was really big, and I remember that only the bad kids liked him. Most of us thought he was an idiot. I am also much older than the age group Six Flags generally aims their product toward. It just doesn't make sense.

Mamoosh said:
Rides named after animals or weather events won't.

So, then M:TR is still a viable option, since it's a little of both? :)

Only the bad kids liked him?
Gimme a break. Or some crack. come on....

Welcome to the party, S:ROS! ;)

Mamoosh said:
Names like Evel Kneivel, Scooby-Doo and Spongebob Squarepants are outdated, or will sound dated soon.

Kneivel I'll agree with, I was born in 1983 and I'd consider his peak in popularity long long long before my time.

Scooby and Spongebob, not so much. I understand the gist of what you're saying but for those two in particular, Scooby has stood the test of time and Spongebob is a bonafide pop culture phenomena and societal touchstone in a lot of ways. Maybe some day the relevancy will wain for Spongebob but I think it will be a very long time from now. CF's Peanuts stuff is still working ok and Snoopy has been around an awful long time, and Batman, Spiderman, and Superman aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Better examples would be Paramount's Wayne's World theming, or some of the less prominent Nickelodeon franchises. I think the key is to find properties that have a strong current relevance but can be easily converted to something else later on down the line, or at least stripped down to look less dated once the relevancy has tapered out.

What needs to happen, is a revamp on the Nickelodeon stuff, with an Inside-Out-Boy swinging/inverting ship.

Anyone else remember inside-out-boy?

Well...

Now the coaster is named after a dead icon stuntman that beat his wife and kids.

Just caught it on msn's homepage that he died today (Friday) at his home in Florida.

I'm off to St. Louis next season to honor this great legend. ;p

Where the hell are my emoticons?

*** Edited 12/1/2007 4:42:34 AM UTC by WildThingNative***

Thanks for another great season, VF!

Do you have feelings? What if I put out a special about all the 'stuff' you have done??? Would you enjoy that? I wouldn't. "To forgive is to be forgiven." Alcohol is a hell of a drug""""

FYI, Evel Kneivel was well known as one of the toughest Americans ever to live. I can't faithfully say anyone on this website is in that class.

Yes, I remember him well, jumping the Snake River, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and many jumps on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

I saw one of his old motorcycles in Ceasars Palace, stashed in a storage basement. That is a national treasure.

But, I do see the complcations of all of this, with his name on a coaster. Of course, if you name the coaster Merle Haggard, Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, G. Gordon Liddy, Clint Eastwood, or Johnny Cash, it would be the same response.

Just ride the damn ride. *** Edited 12/1/2007 3:37:10 PM UTC by Agent Johnson***

matt. said:
Kneivel I'll agree with, I was born in 1983 and I'd consider his peak in popularity long long long before my time.

I was born in 1973 and I remember the kid across the street getting the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle and wishing I had one.

You can still get them today. :)
(828th best selling toy/game at Amazon!?)

I guess my point it that us kids in the late 70's still dug him - the bad ones at least. ;)

Agent Johnson said:
Just ride the damn ride.

:)

coasterimage - lordgonchar

J7G3 said:
Only the bad kids liked him?
Gimme a break. Or some crack. come on....

um - yeah. Only the bad kids liked him. The losers. Were you alive and in 7th grade in 1972? I was.

Knieval's stunts were before my time even but I've learned about the American legend. Who are we to throw stones when we all have our demons? Humans are not perfect and so what he had some problems publicized? It's like Joe America. If the coaster gets a vintage all American look in the American midwest and there are signs to educate the kids about the guy's wacky, crazy stunt lifestyle it could work. It's not Kidd Rock the Ride. It's also not Smoky and the Bandit.

Agent Johnson said:
FYI, Evel Kneivel was well known as one of the toughest Americans every to live. I can't faithfully say anyone on this website is in that class.

Sure, maybe he was physically "tough" and I'm sure it took a considerable amount of bravery to do some of the things he did, but I think putting a ton of respect towards someone who made a living by putting himself in grave physical danger for the purpose of selling action figures and lunchboxes is a bit misguided. There are a lot more Americans out there who face tougher things than driving a motorcycle off a cliff every single day and they never get TV specials and licensing deals.

I mean I have absolutely nothing against the guy at all and my condolences to his family and friends but he was an entertainer who's act pretty much boiled down to "Is he gonna die or not?" That doesn't really strike me as anything close to heroic but certainly pretty cool. It certainly doesn't make him one of the "toughest Americans every(sic) to live." Every soldier currently fighting in Iraq right now (male or female) has more balls than Evel Knievel could ever dream of.