I talked to E J Potter at Connecticut Dragway back in early 70's and watched him run..He ran about a foot off the grass, wanted clean pavement. Ran pretty damn strait, made two or three runs all with in inches of each other. 10.5 @ 150 . Ran a wide oval type street tire that would do all the runs as a slick would melt to nothing in one pass...See him in operation and never forget..
An other neet Drag bike was a Vincent called "Barn Job". https://www.cycledrag.com/remembering-motorcycle-drag-racer-clem-johnson-creator-of-the-barn-job
E.J. Potter passed away a few years ago. He was in his early seventies. It's amazing he lived to that age.
I test rode one of those Chevy 350 powered motorcycles at Sturgis several years ago. Can you spell torque? One gear! They will smoke a tire for what seems like for ever! Don’t know if they detuned them for demo, the man said they didn’t, but I’ve ridden faster bikes. I think it’s adding so much weigh to the bike it kinda counteracts performance. Now, if the 350 was souped up a little, as these were stock crate engines, that might make a difference. Bones
Fred Luther's Plymouth Six powered motorcycle from 1934 More info on the Allpar site https://www.allpar.com/history/plymouth/motorcycle.html
I was at a bike show when those mass produced SBC bikes first came out. There was a salesman standing over the bike showing the controls to a potential customer seated on it. Place was packed, big crowd around the bike. The thing fires up, the poor guy (dressed in full bad ass garb) gets about 20 ft. before dumping it on it's side. Just slightly embarrassing..
Wish I had a pic but unfortunately I don't. I saw a V8-60 powered bike at Good Guys Indy (I think; could have been somewhere else) about 20 - 25 years ago. Anyone got a pic of it?
It could have been one of Corky Coker's builds. They were impressive and he displayed them for sale at select shows for years. Those V-8 60s had to be hard to come by.
Several years ago in Sturgis I saw a guy that put a Lincoln V12 in a bike. Did an outstanding job, but I saw no radiator. I asked him about it and he said “ look at my saddle bags” and sure enough , both of those leather fringed saddle bags housed the radiators. Only saw it one time, took pictures, but lost them. Bones
Brian Chapman's Might Mouse, built in 1966, ran 8.80s, putting many a larger bike on the trailer. Blown 500CC Vincent single.
I have told this story before but worth telling again especially since he is no longer with us. I had been trying to get Potter to come to one of the drag racing reunions I was organizing in the 1980s-1990s but he was always out of the U.S.A. in the Summer months in South America doing maintenance on Allison V-12 power plants and an occasional jet engine, which he was well heeled with. In 1999 he was finishing a autobiography and being the showman he was needed something to help generate interest in the book. He knew where his last drag bike was and made a deal with the owner to bring it out of retirement. He called me to ask if I was interested in booking it for his first exhibition runs at the 1999 Super Stock Reunion. Well, yeah! He was 59 years old and had not been on it in over 25 years. When he pushed it of the stand for the first time he showed no fear and covered himself in smoke just like before. Truthfully, I was a lot more nervous than he was.
Here's the Michigan Mad Man's (E.J. POTTER) bike now. that substitute front wheel just doesn't look right! Gas tank is now painted rather than chromed. It's gone through a few reincarnations, clutch cover etc. And then Another front wheel swap. https://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/ejpotterwhizzerdragbike.html
E.J. was at one of the first York reunions on his book tour. He had a crazy sense of humor. I would have loved to see him on the strip.
Ed Roth Von Dutch The XAVW built by Von Dutch that was recently ‘picked’ by Mike Wolfe of American Pickers, is powered by a flat-four 1200cc VW engine. It’s made up of a shaft-drive Harley-Davidson XA with Moto Guzzi parts and a Honda CB450 tank. While a bit dirty and a little rough around the edges, its legend and ingenuity rank high for us in moto-folk-art status.
I'm not aware that EJ took his bike to the UK or Europe as that's a Ford Transit van in background? If not his here's another SBC bike with a different rear rear frame setup to EJ?
Potter did travel to the UK with his bike but I don't believe that's it. I talked to Clyde Hensley recently to see if he has sold either of E.J.'s bikes he has owned for years. He said he was making a deal with American Pickers for WM #7 and it would be featured on an upcoming show. I love that Lincoln V-12 bike.
I glad you posted the pics of those bikes! I saw the V12 bike at Sturgis several years ago.... or one like it! If you look close the radiators are in those saddle bags.... on both sides! Koolest way to cool I ever saw! The owner was riding around as if on a Honda 50..... I had to stop him and ask..... what the ——-? He graciously showed me every detail! I was impressed! To say the least! Edit: if I remember correctly.... the coolant was directed trough the frame on those bikes!.... Bones
Flat heads ya. Sorry about that Kawasaki, I just didn't want to be the only one with that image in my head this morning. Your Welcome.. Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The close-up of Potter traveling sides ways (we call it drifting today) is a perfect indication of how comfortable he was on it after many years of runs. His expression is more like "what am I having for dinner tonight" instead of "ohhhh shhhhit!!