The first Chevy powered motorcycle EJ built was a wonder, the frame was heavily modified Harley, square tube engine mounts, a Whizzer gas tank and a starter drive in the end of the crankshaft. A totally inadequate clutch was connected to a number 50 roller drive chain rated at 24 horsepower. Well, you have to start somewhere and it was a start.
They tried various combinations of parts and eventually got to the point where it would run down the street, something the local police warned him had better not happen again. Someone suggested they take it to the drag strip and after convincing the promoter, yes, they really did have a Chevy drag bike, they were off. Art Arfons was there that weekend with his Allison powered "Green Monster," which impressed everyone, but when EJ was supposed to run, he gave it some throttle and twisted the sprocket right off. As EJ looked at his bike in the pits a fellow came up and told him if he worked the bugs out, he might be able to make some money with it. EJ didn't realize it until his friends told him later, that fellow was Art Arfons, which improved EJ's mood and gave him some confidence. The promoter came over and told EJ if he came back, he would pay him $1 for every mph over 100 he could manage. Imagine, making money with his Chevy bike! Thus began EJ Potter's "accidental career" in drag racing.
One of the most memorable features of EJ's drag bikes was the launch. After trying all sorts of clutch setups and continually meeting with failure, they ditched the clutch altogether. Now, raising the rear wheel on the stand, they would fire up the engine, spin up the tire to about 100 mph and one of the crew would push him off the stand. EJ said, "Major leap of technology here."
Though his drag bike years went on for some time and are what many remember him for, EJ liked engines of all sorts. He built a trike with Fairchild J-44 jet engine, interesting in its own right, but the story got REALLY interesting when EJ discovered the design feature that enabled you to start the engine with compressed air at 3000 psi instead of with an electric starter motor. Since EJ had lots of military surplus parts lying around, he rigged up some ball shaped high pressure tanks and connected an old refrigerator compressor to his lathe to spin the thing up. Pressure was building up really slow so he let it run and came back some time later only to find the 3000 psi meter pegged! In a panic, he shut off the compressor and stood there wondering how much pressure was actually in there. In the now silent room, he heard some weird creaking noises from the direction of the tanks.
(via:http://thekneeslider.com)
