It need not fly, but it had better be the fastest car on earth.

That is Todd Haushalter's hope for Tesla's long-delayed supercar, the Roadster, which will be revealed next week in Waco, Texas.

"I expect it to be the most impressive thing ever on wheels by a reasonably large factor," Haushalter said.

That is a lot to live up to -- but his anticipation has been building for nearly a decade since he paid a $250,000 deposit to get in line to buy one.

The new Roadster, a sequel to Tesla's first car, was first unveiled in November 2017. Tesla has accepted reservations for the sports car off and on since, with hopeful owners paying at least $50,000, and sometimes much more, to get on the wait list.

Haushalter, an online-gaming executive in Las Vegas, made his own bet on the car a few weeks after the original launch. His $250,000 deposit guaranteed him one of 1,000 "Founders Series" Roadsters, according to documentation he provided to The Wall Street Journal. (The car's final price hasn't been announced.)

Tesla originally said production would begin in 2020. That didn't happen.

In recent years, Haushalter grew more anxious about whether he would ever receive the continually delayed car, even writing to Tesla's board. (He got no response.) On a 2024 call with investors, Chief Executive Elon Musk thanked the "long-suffering deposit holders" for their patience.

Then, on Sept. 12, Haushalter was elated to receive his first communication about the vehicle since he sent the money: an invitation to a "Ready for launch" event. It was originally set for Oct. 1, but rescheduled because of thunderstorms.

Tesla is now moving forward with what is likely to be its most expensive model in company history even as its core auto business has taken a back seat. Musk has said that the new Roadster will be the final human-driven vehicle that Tesla ever produces because the company's future lies in autonomy, artificial intelligence and robotics. The automaker didn't respond to a request for comment.

Bringing an ultracostly, niche vehicle to market could improve the company's cash flow while longer-term bets, like humanoid robotics, might take a while to pay off, said Jon McNeill, a former Tesla president.

"I think Ferrari proves the point that you can make a lot of money in the automotive business at low volumes, at a high price point," McNeill said.

Musk in 2017 said the car would be able to go from zero to 60 miles an hour in 1.9 seconds, top 250 miles an hour and drive up to 620 miles on a full charge. He upped the ante in 2024 by saying that the Roadster would hit 60 mph from zero in less than one second. "And that is the least interesting part," he said.

By comparison, Formula One race cars go 0-60 in about 2.5 seconds. Some production cars, including Tesla's performance Model S sedan, can do it under two seconds.

Attempts to exceed that should only be done in highly controlled environments with professional drivers and fire-suppression gear, said Sam Abuelsamid, an engineer and longtime industry analyst. "This is not something I would recommend to any normal human being," he said.

Beyond any ground speeds, Musk has even suggested the Roadster might hover or fly by using technology from his rocket company SpaceX. In 2018, he said an optional SpaceX package for the car would include 10 small rocket thrusters that will improve acceleration, braking and cornering.

"Maybe they will even allow a Tesla to fly," he added.

McNeill, who left the company in 2018, said that even a decade ago, Tesla engineers were working to incorporate thrusters from SpaceX to make the Roadster even more potent.

In 2019, Musk retweeted a fictional image of a vehicle hovering a few feet off the ground while saying the Roadster "will actually do something like this."

On Sept. 29, the U.S. patent office published a Tesla patent for a series of ducted fans that improve stability during braking and increase speed around corners. The electric fan system increases downforce and reduces drag, according to the patent, for which Tesla applied in 2024.

Phil Trubey, who plopped down $250,000 for a "Founders Series" Roadster, isn't concerned about how fast it will be. He said his high-performance Tesla Model S sedan already gives him more than he can handle.

"If you punch that thing, it literally gives me nausea," said Trubey, a tech entrepreneur and investor in San Diego. "So, I cannot even imagine what a Roadster would do to me."

On Oct. 15, Trubey and his son are headed to Texas to find out.

Yet not every Roadster customer has been able to stomach the delays. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and a rival of Musk's, said last year that he had tried to cancel his reservation after putting down a $50,000 deposit in 2018. Altman noted 71/2 years "has felt like a long time to wait." In a spat with Altman on X, Musk said Altman's money had been refunded.

Jerry Heasley, a Texas car collector and freelance automotive journalist, convinced Tesla in 2025 to refund the $50,000 deposit he had made in 2017 for a garden-variety Roadster, according to documents viewed by the Journal. As the years went by, Heasley said he was worried he might never see the car.

"I want it really bad now, you can tell," he said. "Maybe I should have hung in there."