E.J. Potter, I haven't heard that name in a long time. He was a wild man. I grew up with a friend that was into motorcycles, that is how I was aware of who he was. 8 stack injected 327 chevy mounted in a motorcycle frame with a dragster slick on he rear........
Dubbed the Michigan Madman, he earned that name, no one gave it to him.....LOL If i remember correctly, I think he used a kick stand at one time, and got the rear wheel spinning and knocked it off the kickstand, maybe NHRA stopped him from doing that for safety reasons. I never heard about the electric dragster, that's new to me.
The battery thing, last week was Ohio Sprintcar Speedweek, my wife and I usually try to attend as many races in person as possible, I been attending them since 2001 when I moved to Ohio. When gas reached near $5 a gallon I resigned myself to the fact we just wouldn't be able to attend in person this year. Nine races in 9 nights at 8 different tracks is a grueling thing to do. In 2017 we took our camper trailer, pulled behind my diesel dually, and followed them for 7 nights. 800 miles inside of Ohio, never crossing a state line.
Flo racing offers a streaming subscription that I could watch every race from my armchair this year for $12.50 a month, not a difficult decision when gas is $5 a gallon. They had a drone with a camera on it, and got some just fantastic aerial footage of the race tracks from afar, right into the back of the hauler as the crews were changing engines. Over the field as they were running pace laps before the races from above the cars. Now I know that that they can't run above the cars as the wind off of 24 racecars with a 5x5 wing on it would flip the drone over, but I was amazed at how long they were able to continuously film with the drone. I have no idea what kind of drone it was, but it could remain aloft for a really long time. There is my amazement of battery power, and life, in a compact lightweight aircraft.
Electric motor, and power, I worked for a few years for Crown lift trucks headquartered here in Ohio. I fully know how fast those electric lift trucks are, and how much they can move with 2 DC drive motors and one DC lift pump motor. The operate on 36 volts with a huge lead acid battery. Taylor Dunn personal vehicles also were something I've worked on. They're the little 2 person trucks maintenance crews and foremen ride around on in a huge plant setting, they'll pull wheelies.....
from the torque generated. Electric vehicles have their place, but that place probably won't be in my driveway, not a huge fan because of the down time to charge, and the limited range.
The example I gave of following speed week, and camping at the track, would be impossible for me to do with a current electric car, or truck. I'll drive my old and decrepit cars, and trucks until they take away my license, or I can't afford fuel. All the proponents for E vehicles never take into account that 85 to 90% of the electric generated in this country is from fossil fuels. Plus, this comes from Elon Musk, the power grid we currently have, would take 30 years to bring it up to standards to support everyone driving E cars. Common sense says we can't afford it, and the electric infrastructure can't support it.
The rare earth elements needed are held by hostile interests, and the footprint of E cars is larger than fossil fueled vehicles, plus they are mining operations to get the rare earth deposits. I see little advantage to switching. Add to the fact, Pontiac never made one, and in my effort to only drive Pontiac cars, I have no choice. Oil is easier to find, and extract, than rare earth is, plus the US has oil deposits, we have little if any rare earth here.
Reflection is over.......
