Evel Knievel has not even been buried yet (he died last Friday) and there is already a fight for his money. I mentioned in my earlier blog about Knievel that he attacked a man who wrote a less than flattering book about him.
Shelly Saltman, a business partner of Knievel, promoted the ill-fated Snake River Canyon jump. During the promotion, Saltman carried a tape recorder with him so he could get details for a book. Saltman said everyone was aware of his intentions, but apparently, Evel didn’t get the memo on that. In 1977, the book, titled Evel Knievel on Tour was published. Knievel was angry, calling the book slanderous, portraying him as “an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite and an immoral person.”
When Knievel saw Saltman in the parking lot of the 20th Century Fox Studios (where Saltman was an executive) on September 21, 1977, he and a friend took a baseball bat to him. Both of Knievel’s arms were in a cast from a jump, but that didn’t stop Evel from hitting Saltman on the arm as his friend held him down. Saltman’s arm was shattered and had to be held together with a steel plate and screws. Knievel was tried for assault and he received six month’s of jail time. Saltman filed a civil suit and he was awarded $12.75 million in damages. Evel said he was bankrupt and some of the award went unpaid.
Now that Evel has died, Saltman, 76, announced he would be suing Evel’s estate for over $100 million, which included the original settlement and interest. He told Associated Press “We are going hot and heavy after his estate. What he tried to do to me and how it hurt my family, I’m owed that.” Right now, it is unknown how much money Knievel left.
Knievel’s family has announced that there will be a tribute to the daredevil in Butte, his hometown. There is a plan for a fireworks show on Sunday and a memorial service on Monday at the Civic Center.