I know of a guy that flew a Cub around for 20+ yrs with no medical (he knew he wouldn't pass one, but yet drove a car and a motorcycle all over north America with a valid drivers license, so he figured he was safe to fly an airplane). And that was long before Light Sport was even heard of.
I actually used him as an example (anonymously) in discussions with the FAA when we were pushing for a new pilot license (modified Recreational Pilot which ultimately became Light Sport) that would allow us to fly without a medical. He never harmed anyone or himself, or had an accident during that time, and to keep himself from getting in trouble, he did what he could to avoid big airports and big cities.
And honestly, that wasn't a big issue to him as he had sold his 172 but kept his Cub. And being that it was a Cub, grass strips were his favorite place to go anyhow. He commented once to me that he never had more fun (since not having a medical) as he had learned all the small airstrips and airports in the state, and had gained a whole bunch of new friends.
Obviously I will never really know if me telling his story influenced the FAA or not to give the go-ahead on Light Sport. But I'd like to think it did.
And honestly, if it weren't for the violators like my friend, along with many in the Ultralight community not following the rules, I don't know if we would have ever got Light Sport? In some regards it might have taken a bunch of people like that to get the law changed? I'll never really know that I'm sure, as I doubt anyone will ever admit the law was changed because they had to make the violators legal. But at minimum I think that was part of the reason we today can enjoy flying Light Sport without a medical.
And in addition, now that there is a 10 yr history (from the Light Sport pilots) proving that medicals don't keep people from having accidents, I believe it is likely that Private Pilots may get to enjoy flying larger aircraft than LSA's without medicals. If that happens as I believe it will, that would be a VERY large, POSITIVE step for what is left of the aviation community.
I'm not a renegade myself. But sometimes I think that as a society we accept rules too easily. How many thousands upon thousands of pilots have left aviation because of minor medical concerns over the decades? Even worse, all those pilots we lost were probably lost for no valid reason...we learned from the Light Sport crowd over the last 10 yrs that there never was any proven correlation between being safe and having a medical, or not having one.
So it was gross over-regulation all along. That only further proves how sad it is that we still have to work to convince the FAA to let us fly (not-for-hire) aircraft without a medical. The proof a medical isn't needed has been there for DECADES.
And for those that disagree with that viewpoint, just think about this; Every aircraft accident in FAA's history that happened due to a pilot medical condition proves that having a valid medical means nothing, unless of course the pilot was flying without a medical.
Face it, you can be healthy one day, and unhealthy the next. My grandfather passed an extensive physical with flying colors on his 69th birthday, only to die that night in his sleep.
Here's a quote from a friend of mine that is a retired heart surgeon that I think says it all: "We are all ticking time bombs..."