BIG Ed Beckley billed himself as the "World's Largest Motorcycle Jumper" and there is no denying that Ed stretched his leather riding suit just about as far as leather can be stretched. From the photographs below one might guess Ed weighed at least 300 pounds, perhaps more. It's certain that Ed weighed more than the motorcycle that carried him.

Born in Kansas on July 6, 1950, Ed was inspired to jump bikes when he watched Evel Knievel jump in Hudson Kansas in 1971. Evel made the jump and Ed figured he 'd like to try that. Of course if Evel crashed that day, Ed may have never tried his hand at jumping.

Ed did many jumps over his 20 year career. He has also set a jumping record for a husband and wife team, by jumping over 5 automobiles back in 1984.

Ed still has his Rotax Harley that he rode for the last jump that he performed. The jump took place Jan. 1995 in Amarillo, Texas. He did an indoor jump over 10 cars on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, He couldn't stop and hit the hay bales, and went flying end-over-end up into the grandstand to the 5th row. Ed landed right beside a fat lady who wet herself! That was the last time he jumped.

Ed retired from being a motorcycle daredevil after a very successful career. Beckley is alive and doing well and is promoting Monster Truck Shows in the wintertime and operating Dodge City Raceway Park and Liberal Fairgrounds Speedway in the summertime. Check out his company Checkered Flag Productions.
 
Left: Clearing a long line of cars. Right: Ed and LInda double jumping.
Above: Clearing 10 cars in Dayton, Ohio.
Left: Jumping 15 full size cars in Savannah, Georgia.
Right: Jumping with his TT 500 in Granite City, Illinois in 1981.
Jumping his TT 500 over 11 full size cars.
Today, Ed lives in Texas and promotes monster truck and motorsport events. To see what he's been up to, check out his site at www.cfpracing.com
 
12 car jump at the Dayton Ohio Speedway — 1980
It's certain that Ed weighed more than the motorcycle that carried him successfully, at least this time which was at the old Dayton, Ohio Speedway back in 1980. This jump was ramp-to-ramp over 12 cars on a very windy Sunday afternoon.

Ed was fearless; it doesn't take much imagination to visualize the extent of damage to a body the size of Ed's if a jump was short a car or two. With up to 30 mph cross wind gusts, he adjusted his ramps to take off crooked but to hopefully land straight in the middle of the landing ramp. By the looks of the photographs below you can see Big Ed hit his mark.

The question that comes most quickly to mind is this: "What prompts a man this size to get into this line of work?" It's a question that Ed would simply answer, ÒWell back in Scott City, Kansas where I am from there was not much demand for a 300 pound male prostitute so I had do something for a living!"

— All Dayton Ohio Speedway photos of Ed Beckley are from Ed's personal collection and are shot by Ralph Bray.
It was a high banked asphalt track with about a 35 mph cross wind. In Kansas they call that a breeze. Anyway it got really slideways across the middle of the jump and he thought he was gonna miss the whole landing ramp but he fought it and got her back straight and landed hard amost all the way down the ramp.

Ed never did the "under the safety ramp" thing so it was a launch for that TT 500 Yamaha. That same motorcycle is now sitting in his reception area in his office in Texas and his Harley Rotax 600 is still on his credenza in his office. The TT 500 and Ed made over a million dollars and he had a blast touring the country from race track to race track. He would do 55 plus shows a year.
Big Ed makes the jump and almost over shot the landing area. In this last photo look how hard the bike landed, with both tires flat and all the suspension used up it was Beckley's huge arms and strong back that held him onto his motorcycle.

A special thanks goes out to Big Ed Beckley for the use of these photos and for the 20 years he gave to all the motorcycle jumping fans out there.