Not sure anybody is reading this thread anymore, I just happened onto it toninte. But fwiw....my chase partner Doren Berge and I happened across this guy while chasing last year in the Texas panhandle. It was sometime in early-mid June. We came around a corner out in the middle of nowhere to do a U-Turn, and this guy Steve Green was off the road in the dirt standing beside his "chase vehicle" which was still sitting on a trailer. To this day, I cannot get his image out of my mind. As I said...the guy was standing...but in reality, he was POSING....I'm quite sure of it. He was dressed in this weird weird shiny outfit...and had his helmet cradled in one arm next to his chest. The pose he was performing was this oh-so-intense look up into the clouds with his head cocked a bit, like he was communing and conversing with God himself...and he held that pose for a long, long time. Why he was doing that, I don't know....because there really wasn't anybody around. Perhaps he had fallen asleep standing up and his crew hadn't realized it yet. My guess is that he poses quite a bit, just in case anybody happens by. The suit he was wearing looked absolutely ridiculous. He appeared to me to be a fairly big and muscular guy, and with this shiny, colorful suit on, my first reaction was that he was dressed in some Super-Hero-Action-Figure outfit and was shooting a television commercial. But once I realized who and what he was about, my instaneous, truthful and heartfelt reaction was a deep embarassment FOR HIM. I actually felt embarassed and sad for him at the same time. Soon after we left the corner where he was standing/posing.... Doren and I had a spirited and lengthy conversation about him....trying to psycho-analyse him and his whole gig. Once we got back to the hotel for the night, I had to know more. I Googled him, and read about him in depth. The next day as we were doing a little transistional driving, we got to talking about him once again. I asked Doren to "give me your assessment in a nutshell". Now Doren is a very intelligent, cerebral man, albeit a totally cool and grounded one who doesn't have an ego problem. When you ask him a serious question in a forthright and manner, it's common for him to take a few moments to silently gather his thoughts. Then you'll get his answer. His assessment: "He's a guy who wants everybody to look at him...and he doesn't mind if he gets killed in the process".
I must say that I agree with his assessment 100%. You know, it's too bad, because I'm putting this guy down pretty badly in this forum, and I shouldn't...because I've never even met him. Who knows, maybe he's a lot like me. He's not a young guy (he's more like me...I'm mid 50's), he's been a racer (he's circle track / I'm into drag racing), he loves powerful racing engines and stuff(man...do I ever) and I'll bet he probably digs the old mid-1960's factory-Detroit made-"MuscleCars" as much as I do (I've got 2 rare ones). Perhaps if I met him, we could become friends. But all that being said.. I dispise his "Johnny-come-lately-gonna-up-the-ante-and-get-even-crazier" attitude that he's selling. I think we'd all agree that the chasing community doesn't need this right now. My late Mom always said "Joel...you suck". No...not really. But she DID say "the pendulum ALWAYS swings back the other direction". With that in mind, I'm hoping that this nonsense is the last bit of insanity and poor taste that we chasers have to endure before the public becomes less enamored with the fringe in chasing, and perhaps chasing in general. Only then can we slowly begin to get back to the way the chase "world" was 25 years ago. You younger guys who never experienced that...man....it was Heaven in many ways. joel