Oklahoma's Own Daredevil : Mini Mike Cook
Oklahoma City has it's very own daredevil, in fact if you have watched America's Got Talent recently you caught a glimpse of Mini Mad Mike Cook doing his thing. Mike was a part of a group called Dr. Danger's Daredevil All Stars on the NBC show America's got Talent over the summer. Their first stunt was acting as crash test dummies. They all piled into a school bus, ran it up a ramp and crashed it into two other buses which were standing upright. It was pretty intense. They made it to the next round. The next episode had Mike on his motorcycle bursting through walls of fire, and then up a fire lit ramp and back down again. They unfortunately didn't make it onto the next round. Mike has made several other TV appearances including local Fowler Auto Commercials, MTV’s Jackass Tribute to Evel Knieval, CBS Sunday Morning News and American Daredevils.
Mike Cook was born and raised in Oklahoma City. He was born on November 21st, 1981. He is currently 4ft 2 inches and weighs 108lbs. Mike is a SED Congentia type 2 dwarf. He has endured several surgeries as a child, which included numerous surgeries on his feet, his ear and one neck surgery. His top two vertebrae are fused, and at one time he had to wear a halo for three months. Mike started riding motorcycles at the age of nine, and also started helping his dad hold car parts while his dad buffed them around the same time. Mike started working on cars himself at the age of fourteen. Mike took a break from motorcycles from the age of nineteen to twenty five. In 2008 Mike met Trigger Gumm, who dared Mike to try the walls of fire, which is what actually led to Mike’s daredevil career.
Mike also rode AMA Arena Cross in the pit bike class and made it to the finals in 2010 and 2011. Mike is the first midget to jump a motorcycle over a car, the first tandem motorcycle back flip ramp to dirt (with Travis Pastrana), and the longest tandem Motorcycle jump (with Trigger Gumm) which was 104ft. Mike also has ridden through the most walls of fire on a motorcycle, which was a total of twenty one.
Mike is endorsed by Evel Knievel Enterprises, and the Knieval family to use “Evel” as part of his name. Mike has named himself "Evel Midget", which is actually on his license plate. In fact Mike just recently went to Butte, Montana at the end of July to perform in the Evel Days Festival which celebrates the life of Evel Knieval. Mike was invited to perform by the Knieval Family, and wore a replica of Evel Knieval's jumpsuit. Mike currently works not only as professional daredevil, but also as a custom car builder at Steve Cook Creations, which is his dad’s shop.
Mike says, “I'm not invincible I just know that when my time comes, it'll come. I don't have a death wish, I just like to live and see just how far I can push myself. There's a whole world out there, I want to see it! And if I think I can entertain a few people while I'm seeing it.... Light those walls!”