Another 'Where are they now?'
Volsfan pictured jumping an abandoned bus shell just outside of Sakon Nakhon, 1987.
Volsfan... What Goes Up Must Come Down.
Throughout Southeast Asia in the 1980's, all one had to say was the name "Volsfan!" and images of a daredevil on a motorcycle, soaring through the air
jumping long lines of cars or small buildings would immediately flash into people's minds.
Dubbed, 'The poor man's Evil Knievel' by the media, Volsfan defied death on a regular basis, whether through his seemingly impossible motorcycle jumps or through the amount of beer he could drink in one setting.
Then in 1989, while jumping a row of water buffaloes in a small rural village in the Isaan area, Volsfan's world came crashing down. A skittish end buffalo bolted and Volsfan's moto landed on it. The result was a severely broken leg from the accident, compounded by the fact that the local villagers nearly beat Vols to death for killing their beast of burden.
Volsfan dropped from sight but his name would continue to surface in rumors...such as the 2006 one that Vols would meet Roberto Duran in the ring as 'Manos de Piedra' made his own comeback bid, or the 2007 rumor that he would enter the 'Coney Island Hotdog Eating Competition' in an attempt to wrest the crown from Joey Chestnut. All the rumors proved false of course.
Today Volsfan lives a quiet life in a small rural village in Thailand. ("I'd rather you not say exactly where, there's still some people in the Isaan area who never seem to get over the past," Volsfan said with a weary sigh).
Designing and selling T-shirts to unsuspecting Thais with English slogans such as, "Save A Tree- Eat A Beaver," "Pierced In Places You'd Love To Lick" and "Smell My Finger," Volsfan is enacting his own form of revenge against the rural Thai's who nearly beat him to death years ago. ''"Som nom na," said Volsfan with a smile.
