There will likely never be another daredevil like Evel Knievel; the insurers simply would not allow it. He not only made motorcycle jumps, but also failed them. And when he failed and fell, he invariably broke bones — 433 of them, a Guinness record, over the course of his career. But he couldn’t be stopped. Evel never cared for rules and restrictions, not since his youthful days as a high-school dropout. He wanted to keep pushing the limits of what was possible, even if that was impossible.

On this day, May, 30, in 1967, a still relatively unknown Even Knievel made one of this earliest jumps, over 16 parked cars placed side by side at the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA. He took off and landed safely on the opposite ramp, which naturally encouraged him to perform a more challenging and dangerous stunt next.

Not long after his Gardena jump Knievel decided his next target would be the fountains at Caesar’s Palace. Knievel started making calls to the Palace CEO on behalf of his fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and then on behalf ABC-TV and Sports Illustrated claiming interest in the jump. The Palace CEO Jay Sarno finally agreed to let Knievel jump over the fountain during the New Year’s Eve festivities in 1967. Knievel even tried to get ABC to air it live, but the network demurred, promising to air it later if the jump went successfully. Which it did not: Knievel landed short of his ramp and suffered serious injuries. But as he so often did, he recovered, got back on his motorcycle, and kept on jumping.