Stormchasing will never again be like it was in the 70's and 80's. Anyone wishing for that return is in for a disappointment. It just isn't going to happen. In those days, you had what was probably 50-100 dedicated people. By the end of the 80's and start if the 90's, the number of dedicated chasers had likely grown to several hundred. Then by the mid/late 90's, after all the tv exposure in documentaries and the movie Twister, the number grew to nearly a thousand. Now, it's untelling just how many people are involved. I would guess the number of people who do chase on a frequent basis is around 1000, but there are far more of the locals who go out these days. So the number of people who may chase in a given year may be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. There's really no way of knowing.
The point is, with the growth of chasing, there is far more chances for bad stuff to happen. When you increase the number of chasers out there x10 or x20, naturally there are going to be more things get noticed. There will be more roads blocked, more cases of bad driving, more close calls and run in's of various types. That would be true of any activity really. The more people you have, the more problems you'll have. That's why a city with a population of 500,000 will have more robberies and murders per year than a town of 20,000. It's just basic math.
I think a good comparison of how growth and popularity has changed things is NASCAR. NASCAR has followed a very similar path to chasing. Even the timeframe is similar.
-NASCAR was likely at it's best in the 1970's. At the time it was still mainly a southern sport with southern fans. So it was a regional thing. Chasing was much the same. Both had a much smaller following, but a dedicated one.
-In the 70's, neither got much media coverage. So the secret was still somewhat there. Both chasing and NASCAR were great at the time. But the lack of media coverage meant that only those truly dedicated with connections to each thing really were heavily involved with it.
Then came the 1980's. The first live race to air on TV was the 1979 Daytona 500. Then during the 80's, CBS and especially ESPN started bringing NASCAR into the homes of people all around the country and world. People who had no prior exposure to it were now able to witness the greatness. Chasing saw it's first documentary in the mid 80's also, with the Nova production. That for the first time brought chasing into homes all across America.
By the late 80's and early 90's, the secret was pretty much out of the bag. NASCAR had a fanbase that was no longer made up of southerners, but people everywhere. With the increased exposure, the growth continued. With the number of chasing documentaries and the movie Twister of the 90's, the same thing happened to chasing. Prior to all of these tv specials, it probably never occurred to most people that they could go out and drive around witnessing these storms. But seeing others do so set off the lightbulb in their brain.
That leads us to the present time. Both NASCAR and chasing have undergone amazing transformations since the 70's. All races today are televised. Pretty much all tornadoes are televised too. I mean a tornado can't touch down anywhere in the Plains without video being aired on TWC or CNN. With the added growth, there has also been a big increase in the money generated by the interest it has created. Both have become much more business oriented activities for many. That's just a natural evolution. And both have more people involved today than ever before. The media that has helped build chasing into what it is also is part of the problem when it comes to certain issues that are frequently mentioned these days. The media also built NASCAR into what it is today, but many of the older fans are not sure they like what has become of it, with such things as losing races at tracks like North Wilkesboro and Darlington to take them elsewhere to greater populations. That's just a part of growth and it effects both chasing and racing.
Today, NASCAR drivers are from all over the nation. Chasers are from all around the world.We have people who come here to chase from Australia, Japan, Europe, etc.
I actually in many ways miss the old NASCAR and would love to see it return to it's roots. But that isn't going to happen. Growth fueled by exposure has forever changed the landscape. So either you find a way to adapt to the changes or you move on. The same is true of chasing. The growth fueled by the books, the documentaries, the news coverage, etc has been tremendous. There's simply no way to change that. The only way chasing will ever be like it was in the 70's again with so few problems is to have a similar size group of people chasing with no interest being generated by the media. Again, that just isn't going to happen. The cat is out of the bag.
-George
