Poteet's 1937 Ford roadster (built by Don Pilkenton)[4] won the 1996 Ridler Award.[5][6][7] This car would go on to take "America's Most Beautiful Roadster", top prize at the Oakland Roadster Show.[8]
In 2011, Poteet drove Speed Demon (built by Ron Main) to 426 mph (686 km/h) at Bonneville,[9] and eventually
breaking both the C/BFS and D/BFS (supercharged fuelstreamliner) records.[10] After making "the fastest piston engine pass ever",[11]Speed Demon was displayed at the 2018 Detroit Autorama.[12]
Personal life and death
Poteet was born on February 22, 1948, in Mantachie, Mississippi. His father was a sharecropper and his mother worked at a garment factory. Growing up, he tinkered on his family's car. He worked at National Safety Associates (later Juice Plus) from 1970 to 2020.[1]
Poteet married Cathy in 1990, with whom he raised four children. He was married twice before.[1]