Motorcycle Jumping: Roger Riddell "Mr. Backwards" Martinsville, Indiana

Motorcycling is one of life's many pleasures. Way back in the 70's, Roger Riddell of Martinsville, Indiana dreamed of being famous as his legend Evel Knievel was. Evel Knievel was well known for his famous motorcycle jumps and falls. The recent Evel Knievel passed away, leaving behind all the daredevil stunts. One of those stunts included a live jump over Idaho's Snake River Canyon in 1974, but it failed. Other jumps were over Greyhound buses and in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, just to name a few. Mr. Riddell would try to imitate some of Evel Knievel's jump only to do them backwards. Yes, I said backwards. It is one thing to jump facing where you are headed but to do the stunts backwards is something else. When Evel Knievel was making the big bucks, Roger wanted to just turn his dream into a money making project. The only thing Riddell got for making his jumps backwards was hospital bills, which left little money left.

Roger Riddell became know as the world's first and only backwards motorcycle riding ramp jumper. Roger Riddell started jumping around three cars backwards. His first jump landed really smooth, so he started adding cars, seven cars to be exact. When Roger did one of his seven car jumps it spanned 60 feet and earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Roger Riddell also was on the Television show "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and also on ESPN. Roger has jumped in several states, once in the Astrodome, while he was working with promoter Rick Case of Ohio, who was also Mr. Evel Knievel's promoter. When Case quit doing daredevil promotions, Roger Riddell booked himself. Roger is a very good friend of our family. Roger has even set a new world record jumping around six cars backwards. And he had a very successful jump.