“Kids wanted to be like me, men wanted to be me, and the women wanted to be with me,”….. Evel Knievel

Robert Craig Knievel who once raced at Ascot (#51 in third photo) realized early on that running in the middle of the pack wasn’t going to support the life-style he had in mind. His scheme was to approach entrepreneur and racing-promoter extraordinaire, Mr. J.C. “Aggie” Agajanian, with a well thought out plan to gain the fearless motorcycle rider national television exposure.

Evel’s plan worked and soon after, the career of the greatest daredevil that ever lived was launched at Ascot Park Raceway on March 25, 1967 on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Evel forged a close relationship with his new friend calling J.C. Agajanian his favorite promoter and giving him a gold fob that carried a solid gold nugget the size of a walnut attached to a medallion inscribed ’To Aggie Your Word Is As Good As Gold”.

With Aggie’s help Evel went on to sponsor motorcycle racing legends Gene Romero and Gary Scott. He also sponsored one of J.C.’s own Indy Cars that raced in the 1977 Indianapolis 500 driven by Gary Bettenhausen.