Early Whizzer prototype...

Raely Whizzer prototype...

E.J. Potter, also known as the Michigan Madman.

Justifiably so.  Ever see his electric drag car?

I like how he solved the cooling issue.

Its easy to kill a bunch of time looking him up and reading about his shananigans. That drag bike there, I guess he couldnt find a clutch to handle it so it went direct. Had in on the kickstand, pegged the throttle and kicked it off the stand. There is video of it. 

And what he did with i think it was allison airplane engines. 

Apparently there is MANY different stories about how he died. But he was still alive. Just did so much wacky dangerous stuff people had him killed off many times. 

TJL said:

Its easy to kill a bunch of time looking him up and reading about his shananigans. ...

Yes. So far this old home movie is one of my favorite finds in the rabbit hole. E.J. Potter is at about the 1:00 mark.

EJ Potter died of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2012. Probably giving my age away but saw him run the bike and a couple of his other creations at Detroit Dragway in the 60’s. Probably several clicks of normal but a great showman. 

I saw a guy at New England Dragway years back that had a Buick Nailhead lodged sideways on a bike frame. It was certifiably insane. V8 bikes RULE.

He was as Grassroots as they come.
 

And yes, even his electric car was Allison powered-

Does that make it a hybrid??

And then he decided to take it easy and get into riding tractors.




...of course, with an Allison, as well.  "Ugly Tractor" was born.


But that wasn't enough, so he built "Double Ugly", with?

You guessed it TWO Allisons.

I have been fascinated with him since my dad told me about how he would cram a greasy junkyard engine sideways into a Harley frame with a Whizzer tank on it, rev it to 3K or so, and kick it off the centerstand.