Las Vegas Weekly

January 2, 2009 · 9:15 AM

Exclusive Interviews & Photos: Robbie ‘cheats death again’; Rhys faces new fear

By Robin Leach

Robbie Maddison.

Photo: Christian Pondella/Red Bull

For just a few split seconds, open-mouthed crowds literally stopped breathing, and their hearts pumped loud enough to be heard thumping. They were watching young Australian daredevil Robbie Maddison jump 120 feet -- and successfully land atop the 96-feet-high Arc de Triomphe at the Paris Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.

Robbie followed that with a death-defying, 50-foot freefall. His back wheel didn’t land as correctly as he wanted, and the uneven landing shook the handlebars so badly that he broke his left hand holding on to steady the shudders and prevent an ugly crash. Motor sports icon Travis Pastrana was among the crowd with ESPN cameras that presented it all as a live Red Bull: New Year No Limits TV special broadcast around the world.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue, a bit of a daredevil himself, captured this amazing collection of candid photos of Robbie, the jump and the fall. Photos from ESPN and Red Bull also are included.

After the fall, Robbie was taken to a hospital for a checkup, observation and treatment to his left hand. After being released last night, he spoke candidly to me for the first time about what almost went wrong.

Meantime, over at The Rio parking lot, another world-class athlete made history. New Zealander Rhys Millen became the first driver anywhere in the world to backflip an off-road truck.

This just had to be the two most unique New Year’s resolutions on Earth, as both daredevils stared death in its face, broke boundaries and propelled themselves into the history books with what can only be described as the most amazing feats of skill and calculated risk. Certainly I have never seen anything like it -- and all executed almost flawlessly in front of hundreds of thousands of eyewitnesses who added to the tension and emotional excitement.

Having broken the Guinness World Record for a motorcycle jump with a leap of 322 feet over the length of a football field during the 2007 Red Bull New Year’s Eve event, Robbie Maddison had nowhere to go but up -- more than 100 feet up! In front of a crowd of more than 290,000 New Year’s Eve revelers on the Strip, many of them chanting his name, the 27-year-old Australian accelerated to 55 mph and launched his bike 105 feet high, landing on the top of the 96-feet-high and 40-feet-deep replica of the famed French landmark in the driveway entrance of the Paris.

After successfully landing on the top, Robbie swung his motorcycle around and dropped a dizzying 60-plus feet to the landing ramp below. He told me that the immense force of the impact shuddered through his machine and body -- and holding on for grim death to the handlebars ripped his left hand. He was rushed to a hospital for stitches and a hand cast.

“I just cheated death again,” Robbie told me. “Now I’m ready to live another day and am extremely excited to see what 2009 holds for me. The risk level of my jumps was extremely high, and although I was confident in my abilities and preparation, I knew there could have been major consequences, but that is what pushing the limits is all about.”

Fellow stunt star Rhys Millen’s truck backflip was the realization of a 12-month dream that began -- and ended -- in near fatal disaster last New Year’s Eve. During his final practice before the 2007 Red Bull New Year’s Eve TV special, he overshot the landing, resulting in serious injuries, major damage to his vehicle and his forced withdrawal from the live event. But along his road to recovery, the 36-year-old Kiwi kept the backflip in his mind and told me that his dogged determination drove him to again attempt -- and complete -- the feat this year.

During this year’s flip, seen in this amazing time-lapse photo, Rhys’ truck hit a specially designed ramp at 36 mph, and once airborne he traveled a distance of 80 feet at a height of 50 feet. He landed successfully on all four wheels, but with such unplanned heavy impact, the truck rolled upside down. Once again spectators held their breath fearing the worst, but Rhys crawled out unscathed.

Rhys, the lead stunt driver in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, told me: “You come as prepared as you can, knowing all your numbers -- speed, distance and height. But you get only one opportunity to get it right. I landed, but I landed with a twist. Unfortunately, the suspension that is needed to leave the ramp is not the same as to land. There were so many factors to calculate. When Carey Hart completed the first backflip on a motorcycle in competition, he crashed. I really wanted to finish 2008 driving down that dirt pile and pumping my fist in the air, but am very proud of what I did accomplish.

“So although I’m disappointed it wasn’t completely perfect, I am satisfied I did complete it -- and I’m in one piece this year! I’m going to call it 99 percent successful since I’m a perfectionist. I would have preferred to end with it standing upright on its four wheels.

“I knew going into the jump, the hardest part was going to be the landing. We designed the truck with that in mind, but it had to do with seed. I knew to the second on take off, I was going just 1 mph too fast. I knew as the rotation started, I was just a little bit too high, so the suspension on the wheels wouldn’t be quite right for the landing.

“I was comfortable about the rotation. I knew that felt right going into it, and the backflip would come off exactly as planned. It was how the landing would work out. There was no sensation of fear. I knew I could right it as best as possible, but I also knew the suspension wouldn’t be in the exact right position for the landing when the rear wheels touched down.

“I felt secure in the cage with my restraint systems as I touched down knowing the impact of the crash would turn it upside down. I knew I’d be safe, though. There was no pain. The brain isn’t thinking of that because it’s processing so many other things that are involved in such a short span of seconds.”

Ironically, Rhys said he now has to face his biggest fear -- fatherhood! He confided to me that just 24 hours before the jump, he learned that he will be a first-time father this August.

“That was the good-luck charm I carried into the jump with me. I knew that was the omen that I’d be alive and well and uninjured to be able to experience the birth of our first child,” he summed up. “Now handling that when the stork arrives is a whole different leap in life that calls for a different set of skills that I can’t mathematically plan for!”

Click back here to Vegas DeLuxe later today for our amazing exclusive story of how Fox TV executives tried to stop America’s top stunt king Robbie Knievel from making his jump across The Mirage volcano -- and how and why he overruled them.

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