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Aussie Invader - World Land Speed Record Challenger
Aussie Invader 5R - Rosco McGlashan Presents Australia’s World Land Speed Record Contender
The video of the V8 motorbike, Krazy Horse, raised a lot of interest and comments, with quite a few about The Michigan Mad - E.J. Potter. Wally Pushkey and I met E.J., and Mark Read has given us permission to publish this excerpt from his book...In the early 1970s, Keith Williams, the builder and owner of the Surfers Paradise International Raceway, had managed to entice some of the best and most exciting American drag racers to come out to Australia and experience the great atmosphere of Surfers Paradise in Queensland. These legends shipped their cars to Australia to race, and one even brought a legendary V8 motorcycle. I still remember the excitement of watching guys like “Wild Bill” Shrewsberry racing his wheel-standing Dodge the full length of the quarter-mile and running quicker on two wheels than most racers of the day could achieve on four. Don Hampton was there in his twin Chevy-engined funny car, Two Bad. There were heaps of Aussie legends, including Ash Marshall, Ron Wanless, and my favourite, Vic Wilson, to name but a few. Vic Wilson drove Bill Fredericks’ hydrogen peroxide powered rocket car, Courage of Australia. I was so inspired watching this incredible car run that I was hooked on rocket power, knowing it would eventually feature in my racing career.The legendary E. J. Potter (The Michigan Madman) was also there with his Chevy V8 motorcycle, Widowmaker. E. J. was a great guy who definitely lived up to his “Madman” nickname. He would rev his bike up until the engine was screaming and launch it off a stand. His bike would snake up the quarter-mile with his back tyre leaving rubber all the way up the track. He was only small in stature, but had a massive presence on the drag strip. The Krazy Horse team, consisting of Wally Pushkey, Bob Allsop, Earl Jordan, and me, were excited to see E. J. Potter run his bike, but this was mixed with some frustration. The Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA), the governing body of Australian drag racing, had recently banned us from racing our V8 motorcycle on any of their sanctioned drag racing tracks, much to our disappointment. Krazy Horse was built before anyone in Australia had ever heard of E. J. Potter and some of his other crazy machines. We watched him put on an amazing performance at this meeting, running an eight-second pass. This was bloody incredible when you consider that the Australian top fuel dragsters of the day were not running much quicker, and some were just cracking the seven-second barrier. We went straight back to ANDRA, asking why we couldn’t run our V8 bike, and someone from the USA could. At the next meeting, Krazy Horse fronted up at Surfers Paradise, where the officials were told we were allowed to race. The big difference between our V8 bike and Widowmaker was that we used two lanes with Krazy Horse sliding sideways, speedway style, from lane to lane. We ended up covering a lot more track, but these were demonstration runs, and we were paid to entertain the crowd. I think we certainly did!I still feel bad about how the Krazy Horse team welcomed E. J. when he arrived. We threw him into Keith William’s swimming pool fully clothed as a welcome to Australia gesture. However, he took it in his stride with a big smile. E.J. also put me in contact with a legendary US race car designer, Arvil Porter, who built and raced some very unique and incredible machines. Later, we did a lot of work on designing an air and gasoline rocket-powered motorcycle, which sadly was never completed due to Arvil’s passing. I have really fond memories of these times, especially E. J. Potter and the friendship we shared at Surfers Paradise. He sadly died in 2012 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in his home state of Michigan at the age of 71. Rest in Peace, mate.Extract from "ROSCO The Fastest Aussie on Earth" by Mark J Read.@followers @top fans Meremere Dragway SCEDA - Southern California Drag Racing Association Drag Racing DragRacingnewsblog Australian Drag Racing Nationals History Australian Drag Racing History and Memorabilia Australian Drag Racing News, Info & Chat New Zealand Drag Racing Association UK Drag Racing News & Nostalgia Australian Street Rodding Scarf & Goggles Speed Record Club Land Speed Racing USA
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If anyone has bought the latest kids' book below, we would really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon. We haven't got any yet, and these really help with the book's visibility. Thanks#STEMLearning #stemeducation #stemforkids #landspeedracing
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As far as we are aware, no videos exist of Rosco or Wally Pushkey riding Krazy Horse in the 70s. We used a real photo and asked AI to generate one. If anyone has a video, we would love to see it. Best 1/4 mile time 9.1 secs 172 mph #v8motorcycle #dragracing #dragracingphotos @followers @top fans Drag Racing Australian Super Sedan Drag Racing Drag Racing Performance Australia Australian Street Rodding
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Worldwide delivery for just $5 U.S. books.by/mark-j-read
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it's been deleted.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Another year has flown by, and we find that the days are getting shorter and more difficult to accomplish tasks that were much easier in the past.A summary showing some of our team's adventures in 2025 follows.We enjoyed an influx of visitors to our workshop, some of the estimated 500 visitors were The American Car Club, Western Power, Forrestfield Men’s Shed, The YPO Group, RAAF 77 Squadron, West Coast Street Car Club, Vintage Classic Car Club, Veteran Car Club, University of the Third Age, Gingin Men’s Shed, The mighty HSV Owners Club of WA, The Wood Group, lots of interstate and international groups, supporters club members and their friends and families, and several team meetings. We were again privileged to be invited to the Australian International Airshow at Avalon in Victoria. This was a massive logistical undertaking and could only have been achieved with the outstanding sponsorship we have enjoyed from Heather and David (Spider) from the Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls Group. Two PINK semi-trailers were used, with the main section of our car in a forty-foot container and the nose and front wheel pack in a 20-footer. These lovely folk are the salt of the earth, and we are privileged to have them on our team. Cheryl and I decided to fly this time, but we wish we had driven. Our reception at Avalon was highly STEM-focused, with hundreds of young people asking many questions and showing strong interest in our project. That prompted our guru team member, Mark Read, to write his second book, “How to Build the World’s Fastest Car”. This book is brilliantly written, covers our cars' construction from A to Z, and is already seeing strong sales.Please visit our website to learn more - aussieinvader.com/how-to-build-the-worlds-fastest-car/ We drove over 15,000 kilometres, joining our lifelong mate Dave Warby and his wife Lesa and the awesome Spirit of Australia 2 team at Blowering Dam, NSW, to witness some very fast passes in his jet-powered boat. David exceeded 280 mph, but weather conditions turned against him, so a new date is set for early 2026.We also made an effort to catch up with some of our interstate team members. We heard that Trevor and Vonny Menzel, who were instrumental in us achieving our Aussie Land speed record, were on Kangaroo Island in South Australia for their wedding anniversary. We surprised them with our visit and spent several hours discussing our past and plans to get our Aussie Invader 5R car up to speed. Whilst in SA, we could not pass up the chance to meet up with our great friend John Clark and partner Claudette. John was legendary for the composite work he and Lindsay Varcoe created, with both spending significant time volunteering in a highly challenging environment. John was renowned for managing three racetracks: Aba Dahbi, the Bend in SA, and Barbagallo in WA.I was privileged to be inducted into Joondalup City’s Walk of Fame last week. This was a great honour, and it is a privilege to be part of our city’s many other achievers, including Daniel Ricciardo and educational and sporting heroes.We now have displays in Perth’s three most prominent Museums and the RAC Walk of Fame. All we need now is a financial backer or sponsor to share in the international recognition we are receiving for our current documentaries by Impossible Engineering, Driver 61, and many YouTube clips.In closing I must say a very special thank you to our many supporters who have been behind our project for a lot longer period than I could have ever envisaged, a special thank you to one man based in the UK who works really hard in a tough job but always supports us keeping our motivational levels primed and our heads to the grindstone, an outstanding man, thank you Nigel.All the very best to all our supporters and friends, have a ripper Christmas and an even better New Year.Rosco, Cheryl and the Aussie Invader Team.@followers @top fans
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Our good friends from the HSV Owners Club invited Cheryl and myself to come along to Wanneroo Raceway and say g'day and check out their club members inspiring car collections/creations and watch them do some laps around the track. I was excited to be offered a ride in Chris Caruso's yellow Corvette and had a chance to see how some other car enthusiasts spend their weekends, and how professionally organized they operate. Thanks Jason, James and Chantelle, Chris and the whole HSVO gang. A ripper day! @top fans HSV Owners Club of WA
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Thank you for all your very kind comments on my recent induction into the Joondalup Walk of Fame. #perthnow
Joondalup’s Walk of Fame welcomes five new inductees
www.perthnow.com.au
The five join the likes of cricket legends Justin Langer, Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis, and Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo on Joondalup’s Walk of Fame.2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Recently, I was asked to retell a story about our friend and long-time engineering guru John “Ackers” Ackroyd...As everyone knows, Land Speed Racing and John "ACKERS" Ackroyd go hand in hand. March 1994, in the wilderness of South Australia, John sat patiently, foolscap pad and pencil in hand, in the back of the start truck, waiting for me and Aussie Invader 2 to leave the line. Afterburner on and Aussie Invader 2 streaked down the course. A short time later, the crackle of the headsets relayed times and speeds as the car raced through the timing traps. Approximately six or seven minutes after that, the start truck arrived at the now-stopped car. John jumped out of the back with a page full of calculus, no slide rule or calculator and proudly told me that had we started one kilometre further back, I would have exceeded the then-current World Land Speed Record by a long shot. Unfortunately, a high-speed return run was not viable because water over the track at the other end reduced our braking area by several kilometres.This was when the Aussie Invader crew and I knew that they were in the presence of a legend. What a brilliant mind. So sadly missed over the last few years. RIP “ACKERS”. @followers @top fans Speed Record Club Land Speed Racing USA Fan Club! Bonneville Salt Flats Land Speed Racing Landspeed New Zealand Association Land Speed Racing Land Speed Racing
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I was very honoured today to be inducted into the Joondalup Walk of Fame along with four other inductees. Opened in 2021, the Walk of Fame is located in Central Walk at the heart of Joondalup City Centre, and was created to publicly recognise members of the Joondalup community who have achieved success at an elite level in the fields of sport, education, business, and community service and leadership.
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