One year ago today, the motorsports world lost one of its great characters, EJ Potter. We look back at a truly singular individual.
Elon Jack Potter was born on April 24, 1941 in Ithaca, a tiny town 120 miles northwest of Detroit, nearly dead center in the Michigan hand. He lived on the family farm all his lifewhen he wasnt out touring the world as the Michigan madman. His father was both a farmer and a chemistry professor, two trades that explain a lot about EJs unique ensemble of talents.
As a teenager EJ experimented with farm machinery and motorcycles, including a Harley flat tracker and a Vincent Black Shadow. In 1960, only 19, he built his first V8 bike, cutting apart a Harley big twin with a torch and wedging a 283 Chevy within the frame tubes. After attempting to cobble a centrifugal clutch, he gave up and hooked up the Chevy direct drive.
When the local police ordered the mechanical menace off the streets, EJ hauled it to a local drag strip where, by pure chance, he met Art Arfons. The Green Monster racer told EJ that if he could manage not to kill himself, he could probably made a good living doing exhibition dates. Art generously loaned EJ his little black book of drag strip promoters and a career was launched.
EJ built a total of seven Chevy-powered bikes, the first three known as Bloody Mary and the last four also raced under the Widowmaker name. They were refined over the years but all employed the same basic schtick: EJ started the engine with the rear wheel propped up on an axle stand. With the revs up around 5000 rpm or so, he rocked the bike off the stand, smoking the rear tire the length of the track, steering with the throttle, and crossing the finish line at 155 to 160 mph. Fans couldnt get enough of the colorful act. Those who saw it wont forget it.
After surviving over a dozen years on the road with this show, EJ retired the two-wheelers and launched a second successful career as a tractor puller. All the tractors were powered by WWII-era Allison V-1710 aircraft engines, a lifelong passion for EJ (his daughter was named Alison). Fabricated with theatrical roughness, the pullers carried the names Tractor, Ugly Tractor, and Double Ugly, and won two national championships. Along with the bikes and tractors, some other EJ Potter productions:
+ A three-wheel motorcycle powered by a Fairchild J-44 jet engine that originally powered a cruise missile. After crashing the 200 mph trike, he sold it to Evel Kneivel.
+ Nightmare, a 1957 Plymouth four-door sedan with an Allison V12 engine, a tugboat clutch, and a Chevy one-ton truck rear axle. Driving the Plymouth from the back seat, he ran the quarter at 145+ mph.
+ The Super Slot Car, a gutted English sedan with a giant electric motor that got its juice via cables laid the length of the drag strip. An Allison aircraft engine (what else?) powered the generator.
+ Nightmare Too, a Dodge Dart station wagon also powered by an Allison V-1710. When the Darts exhibition career was over, he removed the aircraft engine, welded the floor pan back in, reinstalled the stock drivetrain, and put it back on the road for Mrs. Potter to drive.
You can find some of these creations in the slideshow below. For more, see EJs wonderful autobiography, Michigan Madman: As Told to You. Its out of print but worth the searchwith his dry, self-mocking humor, hes just as much fun to read as he was to watch. EJ passed away at age 71 on April 30, 2012, due to complications from Alzheimers Disease. We wont see his likes again.
Bloody Mary 2
Allison Dart under construction
Widow Maker at speed
EJ Potter Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary 2 Autorama Extreme 2009
Bloody Mary 2 intake setup
Nightmare Allison-powered 1957 Plymouth
EJ Potter Bloody Mary 3 on stand
EJ. Potter Widow Maker engine front
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/30/16 04:10:56PM
