I read the book the Michigan Madman the two things I learned from E.J potter was 1) always do your own research 2) ignorance applied at the right time can be a powerful tool ...
I think having an understanding wife with a medical kit handy is a big plus too. EJ took some terrible crashes at demonstration events in the south, in one case, tearing himself up so bad he didn't dare take off his driver suit until he got home. Oh ya, EJ crashed in South Carolina, got hurt, loaded the bike and drove home that night. Had to open the shop for Monday morning. Hero, anyone?
Rest in peace Mr. Potter. You certainly Got my attention when I was a kid. Getting in trouble reading about you in Hot Rod magazines instead of doing my work.
Those were the days, I loved it when a fuel dragster smoked its tires all through the quarter. In the mid 1960's, breaking 200 in less than 8 seconds was a great run, and for the spectator, the tire smoke was more exciting than the ET or speed. Potter really knew how to put on a show, as slow as the launch was because of tire spin, the ride through the second half must have been thrilling while that tire was hooking up...great video.
@@TorqTalkOfficial as a teen in the mid 80s , I used to find all kinds of 70s standard bikes for 50$ in backyards thru my lawn mowing job. Best one was a 78 kawi kz650 4cyl. Anyways , the road in front of my parents house looked like a burnout box. I'd do smokeys and let them ride out until the rear tire hooked up. Start a nice smokey in 3rd or 4th and sit there until the smoke started getting you, and release that brake and ride it out. Usually it was anywhere around 50-70mph and 500-700 feet out. Wore out alot of sneakers dabbing my feet to keep balance. Good times. This vid brought back those memories , I don't find much joy in a burnout unless someone has the guts to ride it out like this. My hats off to you for this , very cool.
One of my heroes, not only for innovation and original thinking but mainly for the fact he never gave up. His Super slot car was just one example of his genius/madness and that's what made him special to me.
Really pleased to find this video; first one in years. Saw Potter racing many times in England at Santa pod ..1966-7 . I have photos I took of him in my album. Spoke with him too and he was a very nice guy. Sad to hear he died quite a while back.. That V8 bike was amazing.. Happy memories from 50 years back..
I saw him there too bouncing his way down the strip, my dad took me there when he was a fire officer from Kettering fire station doing fire marshaling, long time ago
I have been a fan of EJ's since i saw him make a run on that bike in the late 60,s in Illinois. Had a brief conversation with him in the 90,s when I called to order a copy of his book. The phone # was @ his house and he answered! He even signed the copy. What a great guy. I would highly recommend buying the book "The Michigan Madman" its a very fun read. Thanks for the video!
My favorite EJ Potter rig was the little mini-car with a jet electric starter motor on each wheel - and the electricity came from a P-40 engine sitting behind the starting line cranking a big ass generator hooked to big conductors on each side of the lane. 2000 hp and you don't have to carry the engine along! Sort of like the old street car system...
E.j. Potter had a bad crash in England when the chain tension axle adjuster bolt broke.. He kept getting more sideways until he crashed.. He spent some time like at least two weeks in a Hospital in the UK .. He said they had Free Health care in UK and that's about all it was worth .. but Shipping his bike back to the USA was cheap because he shipped what was left of it back to the USA as scrap metal ..
I sat and listened to EJ and Richard Wetzel (an equal genius to EJ) argue for 2hrs over who had a better way to get a bolt out with a snapped off head. Then watching them try and prove their way was better was hilarious. Thanks for the memories EJ!
Dang, wished I'd had been there. My brother and I chased the tractor pulling circuit around Michigan in the early 70's. EJ was just coming on as a big deal. Our dad went along one time and mentioned he knew EJ, the guy was always in the shop where my dad worked (on trucks) bumming transmission parts. EJ ran an Allison automatic trans in the the Ugly tractors and was always chewing up clutch packs. My dad was THE Allison trans guy in mid Michigan, so he saved EJ all his 'spares'. For us kids, it was a bit like having your dad mention he had lunch with Al Kaline every Wednesday. Sorry, gotta be from Michigan to understand.
My Dad grew up in a small town about 20 mile from EJ and knew him. Dad's still alive, I guess EJ died about a decade ago.......According to my Dad he really was a Madman. I guess in the early days he tested his creations out on the local roads and was always getting in some sort of trouble with the police.
He came into the Ithaca Shell station once to get a tire on his bike. Cool thing was “don’t use that soapy water on it” lol . Was S and H tire , cheap but worked for him I guess .
E.J. Potter was my Hero from his Tractor Pulling Era,, I really didn't know much about his Motorcycle or Drag car days until I got his Book "Michigan Madman" and his DVD.. I always wanted to make a Pilgramage to Ithaca MI to see his Barn full of Allison Aircraft Engines.. His Son or Daghgter told me that he really enjoyed talking to people about his Projects.. I spoke with him before at Tractor Pulls in the SW MI area, but he was always very busy and didn't want to Bother him.. I saw him win many Tractor pulls before his Competitors started bulding Tractors with 5 blown Big Block Chevies.. He had one Tractor called Double Ugly wich actyally was an experimental W-24 .. two V-12's with a comone crankase these were used in a few large bomber or transport planes.. His Book and Video are a must have.. I posted a link in the comment below
I got to watch him make a couple of runs at Cayuga Speedway back in 1966/67. I remember the smoke ring around his back tire as he crossed the finish line at 162 mph Quite the thrill to watch!
E.J. Potter held the world Record for Motorcycle 1/4 mile Drag time or Trap speed 3 times.. You can run a dry block with Methanol .. but he mixed in some Nitro Menthane to set the record..
The name and the bike has stayed in my memory all these years since first seeing him in a magazine article which mentioned that he had to use fork-lift chain.
Never heard of him, but one 3 minute video and I understand why they call him Madman. He must have been going at least a hundred when he was drifting a little sideway for a long stretch. I said 'holy sh*t!" out loud, lol.
Saw E.J. back in mid 1960's in Okla. City, Ok. At the old Sand Valley Drag Strip Owned by the late Jimmy Nix TF racer. E.J. always put on an awesome show.
Video similar to what I saw in 1971 only he lit the tire up with a torch and when he took off it made flaming burnout. Oh yeah, and it was so out of control he went across all four lanes till he got really going.
That's a a crazy man but heh,,, he loved the unusual and people loved his bikes and the way he rode them,, right up there for biggest balls,, learnt about him on American pickers,, in which they got his bikes for a museum,,, from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
I saw EJ at the Spring Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee. I`m thinking it was 1970, could have been 71. My buddy's uncle took us up there, it was awesome.
I think the bike could go faster if they let off on the Gas some and let that tire hook up .. E.j.. Potter used a controlled spin since he had no transmission.. He didn't use a slick because a slick had too much traction.. He used a good old treaded 15" car tire..
@@TorqTalkOfficial Not that mad. He figured out early on that a slick was a death sentence on that bike. He used a normal car tire because it was absolutely predictable what it was going to do off the line. Watch the video, the rear end Always jumps to the right 75 feet off the line. You can catch it if you know its coming.
@@1MrR He started with a Chevy 283 and finished using a 327 with fuel injection. He probably had in excess of 350 horsepower between his knees as he hit top end. I'm surprised there weren't sparks on the the drag strip from his giant balls hanging...
One of the things I liked to do the most with my KZ 1000 ST was to upshift to 4 th gear on a burnout, let go the front brake and shift 5 th 100 feet further ....700 ft of tire spin. Yeah...the good old days. I can only imagine the pleasure Mr. Potter had doing this. I'd say he was my hero!!
I met him somewhere back in the 90's in Livonia Mi. @ The Barn Show. he had on display a bike called Bloody Mary' and he remarked to me, "That thing never worked right and I'm probably glad it didn't."
A tire that hooked up would have probably killed him. EJ understood what he was doing and the skinny car tire he used always performed exactly the same (well, within reason considering what he was doing). EJ was there to put on an exciting show, not there to get himself killed.
A friend told me guy has SB sideways in bike, gonna run this Sun, Great Meadows, NJ 1964 or '65 EJ didn't want to just burn rubber, he's lookin' for ET & MPH he broke record there, his old record !
EJ was legend around here for his tractor pulling. His ugly unlimited tractor used a 12 cylinder Allison aircraft engine. Then he found out Allison had built a 24 cylinder engine too, so he built a tractor with one of those. Didn't think much about painting anything, so he had both the hardest pulling tractors, and the ugliest. EJ did all his own wrenching and driving, so when it was time to get his trophy and money, and kiss the County Fair Queen, he usually only got two of the three.
@@TorqTalkOfficial It would be interesting to do the math and see how far the tire would have traveled if it just rolled without loosing traction. I'd attempt that but I don't know the tire's circumference, the engine RPM and drive ratios. My guess is 30 miles at least as that's 120 times the track length.
Just saw these bikes on an episode of American pickers.. Imagine building this by hand by yourself out of scavenge parts when you're 17 years old what a genius
THE ORIGINAL MICHIGAN MAD MAD. I ran across a video yesterday of someone else adopting the name. ...but there's ONLY ONE in my book ! I used to have a article (in Hot Rod magazine?) on him and the bike years ago. It stated he used a OEM Harley rear chain .
Was EJ into tractor pulling? I remember a modified called the ugly tractor that was on the circuit in the mid seventies and I believe it was a EJ Potter that ran that tractor too.
I watched him here in England. Can't say when but it must have been late 60's or early 70's. Those were the days when invention and ideas were fundamental in drag racing especially if you were using a non US engine.
Anybody recognize the bike next to his? It's the three engine Yamaha 2- stroke drag bike. Wicked as a nest of angry bee's. Each one making at least 75 HP times three that's 225hp of angry bee's 🐝🐝
