Power: MOPAR Hellfire "Lil" Hemi 4 Cylinder Engine
1045 HP - 672 FT. LB. TRQ.
1045 HP - 672 FT. LB. TRQ.
Speed Demon is the name of this streamliner, but it's just as accurate a moniker for the two gearheads who brought it to life. At 65 and 60, respectively, Ron Main and George Poteet have the drive and determination most guys half their age lack, and that's why they're ready to ask four little pistons to each provide 100 mph at Bonneville.
"We're really just a couple of overgrown delinquents," Ron says with a smile. "I used to joyride in cars, but I always gave 'em back. I was actually on probation till I turned 21." George didn't fess up to any such youthful shenanigans, but he's got a fun-loving nature, so we wouldn't put it past him.
It's quickly obvious when chatting with both racers that there's salt in their blood. Despite running a very busy steel and rebar business in Chatsworth, California, there's not much time when Ron doesn't have cars or racing on his mind. "I've got a carcaine habit," Ron explains. But he claims it was our own ol' Dad, Gray Baskerville, who really set the hook in him for building a streamliner.
"Gray came up to me once when I was at Bonneville with my '32 and said, 'You've got one of the wildest flatheads ever created and you put it in this piece of shit roadster!'" Of course, it was just good-natured ribbing from Gray, but it stuck with Ron. It wasn't long before he was looking around for help to build something a little more serious.
His first effort, a little record breaker known as FlatFire, started as an old Bob Meyer dragster chassis reincarnated as a lakester designed to run 200 mph under the expert guidance of A.J. Smith at Aerosmith Consulting & Engineering. The record Ron was shooting for on FlatFire's maiden voyage was easily broken on its first two runs, along with a couple of flatheads. Par for the course, Ron says. As the quest for speed climbed higher, a set of rear fenders was grafted on and the front wheels were moved inside the body in tandem, morphing the lakester into a streamliner. In that trim, Ron claimed the record and hit his goal of a 300-mph flathead with a 302.674-mph record that still stands.
George, a hot rodder extraordinaire and owner of several HOT ROD feature cars, says he's been fascinated with the sacred Salt as long as he's been fascinated with cars. Life, family, and business delayed his arrival, but George finally made it to B'ville about 15 years back, ready to see it for himself. Like so many rodders who've made the pilgrimage, that great white expanse made a lasting impact, and it didn't take much before George decided he wanted to see what the other end of that long, black line in the salt looked like-at speed, of course. He came back with a flathead-powered Deuce roadster, went 120 that first year, and continued to progress from there.
So, you thought you drove “fast” the day that you got your car up to 135mph or maybe you thought you were nuts when you hit 155mph… 175mph? You haven’t seen anything until you have done 435mph and that’s just what the Poteet and Main Speed Demon streamliner (George Poteet) team has accomplished thus far on the Bonneville Salt Flats. To be exact, 436.067mph.
It is being reported by multiple sources that the Poteet and Main "Speed Demon", powered by a Kenny Duttweiler built, twin-turbo, 347ci Chevy on alcohol ran the fastest speed ever recorded by a wheel driven, automotive engine powered car today on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The car recorded a mile speed of 457mph and an exit speed of 462mph. To make things even crazier, George and his team have set out a goal to reach 500mph later this year.
If you’ve ever wanted to know what it might be like to race down the road at nearly 500 MPH, lean back, drop into full-screen 1080p, raise the speaker volume, and watch the Speed Demon fly from every conceivable angle:
