When everyone was running away from electric cars, Elon Musk invested in them with Tesla. When the government was reducing its commitment to space, Elon Musk started SpaceX. When Nikola Tesla fans said they needed help preserving his lab, Elon Musk stepped up to help. Whatever your opinion of Elon Musk (we've had many), he's undeniably maverick and bold.
So bold, in fact, he agreed to answer your questions, live, right here.
Musk owned a McLaren F1, which itself is enough to warrant him a place on Jalopnik.
After a successful start in Silicon Valley he invested his PayPal earnings in new projects, including Tesla Motors. The company launched the Tesla Roadster — the first electric car anyone could reasonably call "sexy." The company used what they learned from that experience (shit happens) and created the Tesla Model S.
We haven't driven the car yet, but it looks great, has received ample praise, come close to its range estimates, and is quite likely the fastest American-made sedan.
Did we mention space? He's kind of into space. SpaceX is the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. He's also confident we can send people to Mars in 12-to-15 years. He's semi-volunteered to go on that mission.
Most recently, when we mentioned to Musk someone was trying to save Nikola Tesla's lab and turn it into a museum he didn't hesitate to help. The same goes for asking him to come here and answer questions.
"Hesitate" does not appear to be a word in Musk's vocabulary (the F-word is in his vocabulary though, so don't expect him to hold back).
Go ahead, ask him anything you want.
UPDATE: Elon has gone back to his busy schedule of shooting stuff into space and making electric cars. Our sincere thanks to Musk for answering our questions and using the phrase "curtail any urges to pee in a jar" at one point.