Tech Talk: Scott Truax

Scott Truax will give a talk covering the work of his father, Robert Truax, on the Evel Knievel’s X-2 Skycycle, and Scott’s subsequent work on The Evel Spirit, culminating in the successful jump across the Snake River Canyon.

Scott has been surrounded by science and technology his whole life. His father being Robert Truax, one of America’s pioneers in rocketry, you might even say it’s in his DNA. Born in 1967, one of his first memories was of men walking on the moon. Not long after that, he had a front row seat as his Dad built the X-2 Skycycle for Daredevil Evel Knievel In the family’s garage. This rocket and its subsequent failure in clearing the canyon would have serious implications later in his life. In his teen years he also developed a keen interest in cars buying his first hotrod at 15. Over the years he would come to build and own many realizing that he really had a knack and a passion for fabrication. In his 20s He worked for his father’s company Truax Engineering on the SEALAR project, an acronym for SEA Launched And Recovered rockets, for the USN where he put his fabrication skills to work building rockets and support equipment. After completing that contract he continued in aerospace manufacturing running the shop at the Peregrine Falcon Corporation who specialized in working with the strategic material, beryllium. With the aerospace market taking a dip in the early 2000s and the residential home market on fire he decided to start his own construction company in the Silicon Valley Artisan Homescapes, building and remodeling some of the area’s finest homes.

In 2008, with the crash of the real estate market, he set his sights on his most ambitious project to date: successfully re-creating Evel Knievel’s ill fated canyon jump and proving to the world that his Dad’s rocket would’ve worked had the parachute not deployed too soon. In 2016, that dream was realized as his rocket, The Evel Spirit, carried Hollywood Stuntman Eddie Braun across the Snake River Canyon. Their exploits became the subject for the award winning movie “Stuntman” currently available on Disney Plus. His latest noteworthy achievements have been in the field of literature where he gathered his father’s memoirs and published the book “American Rocketman” and then wrote a book on his own life, focusing mainly on the Evel Spirit project called “Return to Snake River” both available on Amazon.

The event video is available on our youtube channel here: