Ghost Rider is the name of a motorcycle stunt rider (or a group of riders, depending on sources), based in Stockholm, Sweden. He stars in a number of motorcycle movies comprising of journeys through uncontrolled and unstaged roads and highways at obviously highly illegal speeds. One of the most notorious of these journeys is the "Uppsala Run" in Ghost Rider: The Final Ride, 2002. This trip covers 68 km of continuous travel from Stockholm to Uppsala in less than 15 minutes (this equates to an average speed of 270 km/h (168 mph) over the period) on public highways.
The videos can be described as continuous traffic violations, with excessive speeds and improper passing being most prominent. Other incidents include weaving through highway traffic at 180 mph (300 km/h), evading police pursuits and resisting arrests. Another recurring theme in the Ghost Rider videos is the harassment of police officers, who seemingly display little hope of catching the protagonist.
Some say the original motive for making the films was to show the Getaway in Stockholm (an illegal car racing video) team how much better the results would be using a bike. However, in a Hein Gericke promotional section in the July issue of PB magazine, Ghost Rider added clarification:
"We saw a movie called 'Getaway in Stockholm', which is a car chase movie. But it's all made up. We couldn't believe the world was raving about it. The policeman was actually a body builder, he even had baggy pants on. It wasn't real. There's a hardcore of riders and drivers in Stockholm who do this for real, but yet the "Getaway in Stockholm" movie was a rental car pretending to be a police car and it was all in the middle of the night with empty roads. You can print this; it was sh*t. And we made up the Ghost Rider as a big 'you suck' to the car guys."
His true identity is unknown to the public. However, in the November 2005 issue of Slitz magazine, it was revealed that he is a foreign stunt rider who is close to 40 years old.
Motorcycle news recently revealed the true identity of Ghost Rider as Swedish rider Patrik Furstenhoff (a member of the Swedish Wheelie Team - SWT) when he broke the world wheelie speed record, breaking his own previous record by 14 mph to record 215 mph on one wheel.
In a brief interview after the event Patrik said he would be stopping his antics as he had his son to think of but wanted to break the record one last time.
Despite this, Ghost Rider has built up a myth that seems destined to endure: There are many in the motorcycle community that believe the real Ghost Rider died in an accident in 2005, whilst some of Stockholm's youth claim with conviction that he really is a ghost and can ride through walls to evade police.
Despite Ghost Rider's reputation of being unstoppable there have been multiple incidents while making the films; every film has been affected by at least one incident not shown on the DVDs, from crashing into a car crossing the street in the first movie to being busted by cops, (although claimed by the Ghost Rider people that this is not true, there are filmclips and witnesses to these incidents and the clip of the bust can easily be found on the internet, which have been claimed by fans as police propaganda).
Many believe there was never just one 'Ghost Rider' in the movies, but a handful of highly experienced riders. They used identical motorcycles and riding gear to confuse Swedish police. Joakim Karlsson (AKA Iceman) who tragically lost his life at the Isle of Man TT races on May 30th 2005 is thought to be one such 'Ghost Rider' although this has never been confirmed by SWT.
