Welcome to Plasma Boy's EV Video Collection

See videos dating from 1984 to present of John's various EVs...from local TV news footage of the long range Red Beastie Toyota pickup, to national coverage of his snappy electric hotrod Datsun 1200 sedan Blue Meanie, to outrageous White Zombie tire ignition sequences, it's all here. Most of these videos are fairly large files, are best downloaded via a fast internet connection such as DSL or broadband cable, and are noted by '(Large File)'. Smaller sized files more suitable for dial-up service are noted with '(Dial-up Friendly)' Videos are in Quick Time Player format.

White Zombie 12.424 @103.57 mph PIR (9-24-05) This is White Zombie's 6th run of a strong racing night at PIR with Tim Brehm driving. The 348V Hawker AeroBatteries battery pack's current limit was set at 1000 amps. The Mitsubishi all wheel drive ricer was a hot high 12 second car, but as you'll see, it was no match for this electric on steroids! Click on picture to view. (Large File)
White Zombie 12.65 @104 mph Woodburn Run (9-4-05) Think EVs are slow, dull and boring? Think Again! Here's White Zombie with Tim Brehm at the wheel blasting up to 104 mph at the '05 Woodburn Drags. This version is powered by 348V of Hawker AeroBatteries and the Siamese 8 twin armature motor fed by a Zilla Z2K controller. We had a 'small' problem wih a vaporized brush spring during the burnout. Look closely at the thumbnail picture below and you can see the fireball sparks dropping from the rear motor section. This video has two camera views with the aggressive burnout, fireball scene, and launch caught by East Coast EVer Bob Rice, and the terrific high speed action caught by Portland EVer Ross Olson from his finish line vantage point. Many of our EV drag videos are shot from the excitement area of the start line and miss the blur of an EV at speed...not this one. White Zombie flashes by Ross' video cam lens at 104 mph! Special note...that's Father Time seen on the motorcycle near the digital reader board returning from a run. Click on picture to view. (Large File)
White Zombie vs 400 hp Corvette (9-2-05) From the first Wayland Invitational drag races, this video was captured by Bob Rice. It 'was' pretty complete with the Vette doing his burnout, then the Zombie pulling an even more impressive burnout, then the two cars staging, then the race 'all' the way down the track, then the readerboard's report at the end...that was before Bob accidentally erased the beginning and the end of the footage :-( We've salvaged what's left in this clip. After being blown away by an electric Datsun, the Vette driver's ego was too bruised to handle and with his tail between his legs, he left the track and took his Vette home. (Dial-up Friendly)
Blue Meanie Burnout ('95) This video shows Blue Meanie doing a mild burnoff, back when it was powered by just 12 Optima batteries (144V) and a 450 amp air cooled Auburn Kodiak controller. The drive system consisted of a 9 inch Advanced DC motor coupled to the stock 4 speed tranny. It was 1995, Optima Yellow Tops were still in their prototype stage, and more robust controllers with more than twice the power such as the DCP Raptor 1200 and Zilla weren't developed yet. Though not nearly as quick and powerful as today's Blue Meanie, it's still fun to see how it performed 10 years ago. Click on picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
White Zombie Burnout ('04) This is a full boil burnout captured by east coast EVer friend Bob Rice at the '04 Woodburn Electric Drags. This was the 240V Exide Orbital powered version, with twin 8 inch Warfield motors and the direct drive system featuring a Ford 9 inch rear end axle set up. The burnout caused a few jaws to drop from the gasser dudes at the track. Click on picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
White Zombie 12.99 @ 101 mph ('04) Here's White Zombie when it ripped off a 12.99 @ 101 mph against a 300+ hp V8 Mustang. The 240V Exide battery pack consisted of 20, marine deep cycle Blue Top 12V Orbitals, and the power train was the twin Warfield 8 inch motors coupled shaft - to - shaft, direct drive into a Ford 9 inch rear end with 4:57 gears. An original Godzilla 1400 amp motor controller, a series-parallel motors switch-over system, and the radical 'Afterburner' contactor bypass sent power to the motors. Prior to the race in the pits, we didn't know the guy on the cell phone...he was just another drag racer there that night, but as you'll see, he was more than a bit impressed by White Zombie. We had two video cameras capturing the exitement with one positioned at the start line near the burnout pits and the other in the grandstands. Coworker Steve Schrab manned the start line camera, and just before the race with both cars still in the staging lanes, had asked the Mustang driver if he wanted to run his 'stang against the electric Datsun. The Mustang driver and his buddies that were hanging around laughed at the idea, apparently assuming the V8 Mustang was gonna trounce the little battery car. Dave, the track anouncer, gives great commentary and kudos to the electric car. Having witnessed White Zombie set a benchmark the weekend before when it became the first street legal electric car to break through the 100 mph barrier at a pinch over the century mark, on this night he remarks "This is John Wayland back again...see if he can crack the 101 mph barrier this time in the electric car." Once the race is under way, you can hear Steve excitely yelling,"Get him John...get him John." Appropriately set to music by AC/DC, this is a fun race to watch. Turn the volume up LOUD for this one! Click on picture to view. (Large File)
Red Beastie on the News ('99) Red Beastie was a joint project between John and the late Dick 'hotrod' Finley. It was a 120V Toyota XtraCab pickup stuffed full with 2500 lbs. of batteries... 40, T-105 golf car batteries that gave it a 120 mile range per charge! Motive power came from a single 9 inch ADC motor (stock 5 speed tranny) fed by a purposefully current limited 450 amp DC Power Systems motor controller. This video from 1999 features the electric pickup in footage from Oregon's channel 2 TV news, and gives a nice view of this longer range EV as it drives along on a cool and rainy Pacific Northwest afternoon. As usual, there's the expected negative spin thrown in at the end of the segment where the news crew's weatherman sarcastically adds his two cents worth. He smirks about the truck not making the journey up and over Oregon's Mt. Hood as he jumps in with, "You'd have to leave on Friday to get there on Sunday." With its massive battery pack, Red Beastie probably could have made the trip to, up, and over the mountain (about 45 miles east of Portland), down the other side, and on to the Warm Springs Indian reservation that's about 80 miles away from Portland in Oregon's high desert country. Click on Picture to view. (Large File)
Ryan Seacrest Test Drives the Heavy Metal Garden Tractor ('97) The TV star takes a spin on an early version of the Heavy Metal Garden Tractor. Seacrest and a video production crew were at this NEDRA EVent to capture Rod Wilde's Maniac Mazda beating a V10 Viper in the quarter mile drag, but while Ryan was hanging around in the pit area, he was drawn to the rock'n tractor by its hard hitting sound system. Click on picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
Plasma Boy vs 3rd Gear ('96) While at the '96 Phoenix APS electric car races, Plasma Boy entered White Zombie in the nighttime drag races. This classic footage shows a very early version of John's electrified Datsun 1200 race car before it became a direct drive setup and when it still had an Adanced DC 9 inch motor and a 5 speed transmission. Powered at 180V with 15 Optima Red Top batteries and with a single Kilovac 'Bubba' contactor as an on-off switch, the car laid rubber in all 5 gears! On launch, it paints about 15 feet of black tire patches, followed by a crisp 2nd gear tire squeal, but on this run John missed his 3rd gear shift. After a few stabs at it, he jammed it into gear with a resultant impressive 2nd - 3rd upshift tire squeal. Listen carefully and you can also hear 4th and 5th gear rubber! Click on Picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
Excited EV Race Fan ('98) Not much of an intro is needed for this short video. It's a clip from a German television production that covered the '1998 Woodburn drags, and it catches Plasma Boy hanging out with a friend. Click on picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
Heavy Metal Garden Tractor vs GE Electrak ('03) From a fun time at the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association (VEVA) EV Show held in Vancouver, BC Canada each June, here's a video showing how John's wacky and cool electric MTD garden tractor got mauled by a more powerful GE Electrak garden tractor. Though out muscled by the more powerful GE machine, the HMGT put up a good fight. With it's rad sound system, it did however, win the stereo contest! Click on picture to view. (Large File)
First Line-locked Burnout of a street EV ('96) At the APS Electrics races held in Phoenix, AZ back in '96, Plasma Boy decided the crowd needed to be woken up a bit, and so performed the world's first line-locked electric burnout for a street EV. With the line lock engaged, the front brakes are held on to keep the car stationary while heating up the traction tires. One of the car's sponsors at this EVent was Kilovac, makers of reliable high voltage, high current contactors. They were unaware that Plasma Boy had installed a line lock, and so panicked when the car just kept blistering the tires, assuming their contactor had welded shut! An Advanced DC 9 inch motor and a 5 speed transmission made up the power train. At the very end of this clip, you can hear none other than Rich 'Madman' Rudman yell, "DC Rules!" Click on picture to view. (Dial-up Friendly)
SEVA Long Distance Rally - Seattle TV News ('84) This is the oldest known video of Blue Meanie, way before it was ever known by that name, back when its system voltage was a low 48V and its drive motor was an aircraft starter-generator. John had traveled from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA to take part in SEVA's 'Long Distance EV Rally', but instead of driving as if an egg were under the accelerator to get the best range at low speeds, he pushed the gleaming little Datsun aggressively, spinning its rear tires and cranking the sound system to thrill those new to EVs. You can hear the reporter asking John to 'not burn it out'. VCRs were still not all that common in households in the early 80s, so it's remarkable anyone had taped the news that night. The video is a copy of a copy of a copy, so the quality is low, but the EV historical content is high! The thumbnail below is an under-hood shot showing six of the eight 6V golf car batteries that made up the 48V battery pack. Click on picture to view. (Large File)
EV Awareness Day Zombie Smoke Show ('96) One of the more radical burnouts for White Zombie, this one was performed using the protoype controller of the now famous 'Zilla' line of super powered DC motor controllers. The car had 180V of Red Top Optimas, an Adanced DC 9 inch motor and a 5 speed manual tranny, a full race clutch, and a beefed up Datsun rear axle fitted with a Nissan Competition 4:38 differential with limited slip. It was done at the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association's 'EV Awareness Day' EVent. The cloud of smoke was pretty awesome as it wafted across a busy street nearby drawing in a couple of police cruisers. They stopped by to ask if anyone saw street racers doing reckless car stunts as they were looking at the thick gooey melted tire residue imbedded in the still-smoldering asphalt, but when they were informed of the electric cars they had suspected, one of the officers said, "Let's go, no electric car could do this". (Dial-up Friendly)