E.J. Potter

Steve@Advance · May 21, 2019

Saw the E.J. Potter story on American Pickers last night.

Now there is a man who knew no fear! LOL

Showed some footage of him running the small block motorcycles, direct drive, no clutch, no transmission, probably no brakes! Just wind it wide open, drop it off the stand, hang on for the ride!!!

They don't make 'em like that no more!
E.J. Potter

onefarmer · May 21, 2019

I saw a video where he took a Dodge Valient and put an Allison in it. He had to cut the floor pan out to fit the engine in. He used it for drag exhibitions. When he was done with that took out the Allison welded the floor back in and drove it till it died. Saw him a lot in tractor pulls with his Ugly Allisonv12 and Double Ugly Allison w24 tractors.

steve19438 · May 21, 2019

is that a 8N in the background ?

Michael Soldan · May 21, 2019

I saw EJ at Grand Bend Dragstrip back in the late sixties. He drove in in a beat up old blue Chevy pickup , laid a couple of planks down as ramps and rolled his motorcycle off. His wife helped him and helped him in the pits as well as setting up on the track. Yes he used a kick stand to raise the rear wheel off the pavement , reved it out and dropped it off the stand , smoked the tire pretty much the whole 1320 feet. He made three passes and the rumour was he was paid $1500 to come over to Grand Bend and make the three runs. When it was all over , he and his wife pushed the bike back up onto the truck , loaded their planks and drove out the gate. A very unassuming character , but a risk taker beyond belief.

onefarmer · May 21, 2019

I also heard farmers were putting Allison's on irrigation pumps and when they couldn't get the engine to run right they called in EJ to tune them

rrlund · May 21, 2019

He ended up welding the floor back in that car and his wife drove it for several years after that.

onefarmer · May 21, 2019

Wonder what kind of trade in value it had? LOL

wrenchere85 · May 21, 2019

A friend of mine called to order EJ's book years ago, and EJ actually answered the phone. He was selling them from his home. I seen EJ at a county fair here in Michigan with his turbine powered tractor, he put on quite a fire show. He sure did not spend any money on paint or chrome.

rrlund · May 21, 2019

It's probably still a part of the landscape around Ithaca somewhere. LOL

rrlund · May 21, 2019

He built some turbine outfit that he said would revolutionize tractor pulling and replace the pulling sled. He had it at a local pull in Crystal one time. It had a big turbine,a pair of 30.5 32 tires on it and an old ammo box on the back of it. It would spin the turbine while you were pulling and there was something in that ammo box that gave a digital readout. I don't know if he ever took it anywhere else or not. They pulled a couple of classes with it but it wasn't very well accepted. It didn't make for a whole lot of smoke and noise.

gtractorfan · May 21, 2019

Definitely it's under more controlled and tested circumstances but nowadays there are LADIES running drag bikes that are faster (just under 200 mph in the quarter) than E.J.'s was. On top of that there are top fuel bikes that go upwards of 240 in the quarter, don't know if any ladies ride those though.

rrlund · May 21, 2019

But look at wheelie bar that's sticking out off the back of them now days. They go straight down the track. His was just shove it off the stand and hang on.

DoubleO7 · May 21, 2019

(quoted from post at 13:55:15 05/21/19) Definitely it's under more controlled and tested circumstances but nowadays there are LADIES running drag bikes that are faster (just under 200 mph in the quarter) than E.J.'s was. On top of that there are top fuel bikes that go upwards of 240 in the quarter, don't know if any ladies ride those though.

And just how much $$ per mph capability do those current bikes take to achieve not much more mph than E.J. Was turning?

I would bet the cost factor is around 100:1, lol.

davpal · May 21, 2019

Dart pic.

E.J. Potter

Steve@Advance

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onefarmer

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steve19438

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Michael Soldan

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onefarmer

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rrlund

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onefarmer

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wrenchere85

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rrlund

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rrlund

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gtractorfan

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rrlund

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DoubleO7

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davpal

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