Top 10 Adrenaline Junkies – Part Two
We at BITEHARDER are huge admirers of those who blur the lines athletics and insanity in extreme sports. Here is the second part of our list of Top Ten Adrenaline Junkies, complete with links to some of their craziest feats.
5. Travis Pastrana – Pastrana hit mainstream through his MTV’s Nitro Circus and ESPN’s X-Games, setting dozens of world records in many different extreme sports disciplines along the way. He earned his ‘Certified Crazy’ reputation when he jumped out of an airplane without a parachute in 2007 – sans safety net – and lived to tell about it.
4. Chuck Yeager – Yeager had all the right stuff in 1947 when he became the first person to break Mach 1, the sound barrier. A former US Air Force general and current living legend, Yeager commanded fighter squadrons in Germany and Vietnam during war time, and is among the most decorated U.S. Servicemen in history.
3. Felix Baumgartner – The stratosphere is merely a figment of imagination for the vast majority of people – but not Baumgartner. Felix reached the stratosphere in a helium balloon in October of 2012, and then uttered, “Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.” He paused, took a breath, and said, “I’m going home now,” before jumping to Earth. On the way down he became the first person to break the sound barrier without a vehicle as well as the highest jump record of 24 miles before landing safely. Major credit goes to Col. Joe Kittinger, mission control in Baumgartner’s stunt, who jumped a record at 19 miles in 1960.
2. Jeb Corliss – The sheer site of Corliss flying through the air like a character on the Jetsons is breathtaking. A man in a wingsuit – arms and legs extended like a flying squirrel – skimming the literal edges of where the Earth and sky meet defies logic. But Corliss eats ‘extraordinary’ for breakfast. Jeb’s greatest accomplishment is when he flew between China’s Tianmen Cave, better known as Heaven’s Gate, one of world’s most iconic rock formations.
1. Evil Knievel – (Almost) Every person on this list owes a great deal of thanks to Knievel. The man sold out stadiums in the 60s and 70s, became the first adrenaline junkie celebrity, and grew into a mythical figure through a series of insane stunts, broken bones, and world records. Without him, the landscape of extreme sports is entirely different. Knievel is the consummate showman. His career culminated in a jump on the Las Vegas Strip over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace. Evil didn’t land it, but he landed into the American consciousness when ABC televised the spectacle.
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