Hey TFS

Damn I miss Teefus.  😞

we all do .... ok except DC and MXSports 🤣

Yep, the more he got to know him and his controlling greed, the more Steve disdained the octopus.

One of a kind and a terrific human being. He is missed.

He was a great guy!

When he checked into the hospital in Huntsville, I was tasked to retrieve his cats from his motorhome. They were assholes and tore me up, R.I.P Steve.

Hi Ed, 
   I hope all is good !! I miss him too, along with all the old heads that used to post here, after they left MotoTalk. Tell the boys I said hello over at NAMF… 🤙🏼

Damn, 2013. 

I found this online. Some good pics of Teef.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/ozark-al/steven-bruhn-5526648

Only 52. I forgot how young he was when he went.

Always enjoyed his stuff...RIP

People and signage!!! 

(good times on the forums back then!)

Kids these days!  Hey get off my lawn!!!

Seat bounce

 Steve ran the board side of Hutch's MotoTalk site from 2000 or so until 2008.    He had a falling out with the US promoters, not just Davey but SX as well, in 2007-2008 when the AMA decided to sell off AMA Pro Racing because the nitwits running AMA ProRacing had screwed up everything (I initially had written a long background for this response, but the site erased because of the ad push.).  

He was a guy who loved a fight, mostly for fun, but being the moderator of MT put him in the middle of the "industrie" people who wanted him to censor critics on that board.   That wasn't in his nature - he was a brawler - and eventually he got sick of it and fought back, in part by advocating that the AMA should sell rights to promote US motocross to Youthstream.  Eventually the AMA sold AMA ProRacing to the Daytona Motorsport's group, which then contracted with MX Sports to run the nationals.   It really was just personal, and although Davey was the public face of Steve's attacks Steve really just was fed up with everyone stateside, MX and SX.

AMA Pro racing had really screwed up a lot in that 2000-2008 period, first trying to side line the SX promoter in the JamSport fiasco, then squeezing the outdoor promoters who made up the National Promoters Group - NPG - which was not a formal entity.

He was capable photographer and pioneered digital photography.  He contributed a lot to the sport in the 2000's.  Most of his brawling was fun until he felt you had crossed him, but he as really generous -  a lot of people who only knew him on the board took too much personally.

TFS Cliff Notes

TFS, aka The Factory Spectator or Steve Bruhn.

His BFFs, Wordnerd, aka Steve Cox, Bauer, aka Steve Bauer, and MXGeoff from Europe. 

Was an active supporter of the privateer via the Wonder Warthog Racing (Scott Kandel) program which later sort of morphed into Ted Parks "The Privateer Journey". Not sure what it is today...

One of two prominent Fresno State alumni on this site. I believe TFS and FTE took the same Debate class at Fresno State where they learned their lifelong debate and language skills. 

Worked for Continental Airlines as an A&P Mechanic. Flew for free to all the races...

Dabbled in the very early days of digital photography and single handedly introduced the technology to moto media - Cycle News, RacerX, and a bunch of others here and abroad were his clients. Got his images quickly to his client while others were still shooting film. 

Started to make some serious coin and quit his airline job to become the first true Photohound driving the SX and MX circuit in his van/trailer. 

Actually installed a very early generation satellite dish to transfer images to his clients from the track (this was before cell coverage of today). 

Bought DV934's (David Vuillemin) motorhome and got rid of the van for a more comfortable life on the road. 

Jumped LaRocco's leap on his Suzuki DRZ. There is a picture of this somewhere...

"Monitored" debates on MotoTalk -  Seat Bounce, Strobe Gate (TOE), TFS vs DC - others???

Became burned out of MotoTalk site so started his own (per FTE post).

Went back to work in Huntsville at NASA.

Unfortunately his poor health caught up and he passed way too early. 

Moto lost a provocative companion with this passing...

Note: All of this is from my memory. Please correct errors or add as needed. 

FTE gave you a great breakdown of Steve’s history in the sport (as well as some of the AMA drama) but to answer your question more specifically: 

TFS = “The Factory Spectator” = Steve Bruhn. Way back before he transformed into a moto journalist, he worked for one of the airlines (or Boeing I think actually) as an engineer. So he was able to fly to the races for free and thus gave himself that Moniker (later affectionately referred to by many as “Teefus”) And the rest is history as they say! Steve was def a kook but genuinely he was a great guy! RIP buddy 🙏🏻