Hot Rod Blues, Episode 15, George Poteet

Hot Rod Blues, Episode 15, George Poteet  
The Hot Rod Blues guys managed to corner hot rodder and ten-time Speed Week Hot Rod trophy winner, George Poteet, to talk about his history. Poteet grew up in Mantachie, Mississippi, where he was introduced to his love of cars at nearby Fulton Dragway. He ended up going to college at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), graduating with a degree in Business. From there, he went on to work for a company developing home water filtration systems that he helped design from a unit found in a trash bin in Canada (you can't make this up!).   His success lead to other successful endeavors, which allowed him to start buying the cars he coveted as a kid. Over the past two decades, Poteet has been one of the most prolific benefactors of hot rod shops across the country. He was the first paying customer of several well-known builders who have gone on to build some of the most iconic custom cars taking some of the most prestigious awards in the car hobby.  Through his love of hot rods and street rods, he remembers looking at the pages of Hot Rod Magazine and wanting to see the Bonneville Speedway. After joining the Memphis Street Rods, Poteet got his first introduction to the Bonneville Salt Flats when his friend Paul Kosma invited him to watch him run. He's had "salt fever" ever since after buying a car on that fateful trip.   If you know anything at all about land speed racing, you'll recognize George Poteet's name as the driver of the Speed Demon, a twin-turbo LS-powered streamliner that has won the Hot Rod trophy an astounding ten times. The trophy is presented to the car with the highest speed at the Bonneville Speed Week in August. Poteet holds numerous land speed records in Speed Demon with a multitude of powerplants. In the process, Poteet has gone over 400 mph (on the ground) than any other person on the planet. The Speed Demon is the fastest piston-powered vehicle on the planet and the team is shooting for 500mph at this year's meet.  Poteet gives the guys a rundown on the whole story of how it all came to be. He is a humble man who is uncomfortable speaking about his accomplishments and rarely does interviews. The Hot Rod Blues crew extends a sincere thank you to Mr. Poteet for sitting down with us and telling us his story. One of our goals with the Hot Rod Blues podcast is to document Memphis hot rodding history, and that cannot be done without knowing more about George Poteet. It was an extreme honor for us to sit down with him for as long as he did. We hope you enjoy the interview and share it with your friends! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hot Rod Blue Podcast is co-hosted by Shawn Brereton of Auto Enthusiast Network, Mike Abbott of Steel Rose Metal Co, Javier Augustine of Bomber Steel Customs, and Shawn Young of Kingfish Metal Works. Now recording in video and audio formats, you can find the Hot Rod Blues Podcast on the following platforms: YouTube  Spotify Rumble Follow the podcast on Facebook @HotRodBluesPodcast (https://www.facebook.com/HotRodBluesPodcast)  Subscribe to the YouTube channel and be sure to hit the notification bell so you know when the latest episode drops! Share it with your friends so we can share our love of all things automotive!

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