Winnebago founder John K. Hanson invested in Roger Billings' company when Billings was just starting out and helped his business grow, Billings said during an episode of his show "Science Live with Roger Billings."

Billings said he had very little money and was able to hire a couple of employees for Billings Energy Corp.

"Every other Friday was payday and it was so hard to try and scrape up enough money to pay everybody," Billings said on the show. "I remember those times so well." 

Billings said Hanson invested in his company, giving him $1 million.

"And then someone very very interesting came into my life – John K. Hanson," Billings said. "There’s this handsome guy – sitting at my desk by the way – John K. Hanson was the president, founder of Winnebago. This is the guy that made motorhomes." 

Billings said when he discovered the motorhomes, he thought it would be a great way to travel and show people how hydrogen vehicles worked.

"I wrote a letter to Winnebago and asked, ‘Could you please give me a motorhome so I could convert this thing to hydrogen?’" Billings said. "When I wrote that letter, Winnebago was so successful they were making a million dollars a day." 

Billings said Hanson was interested and agreed to provide Billings Energy with a motorhome. Once Billings converted it to hydrogen, Hanson flew out to see the creation in person and then decided to invest in the company.

"This was when we were able to start to do a lot of our projects and a lot of our dreams," Billings said. 

Billings said Hanson was kind and generous, adding that the investment made possible many things in his career and he was always grateful.

Billings added that Hanson decided to show off the motorhome at the 1974 world's fair in Spokane, Washington. 

"He suggested, 'Why don’t we make an exhibit at the world's fair so everyone can learn about hydrogen?'" Billings said. 

Billings said Hanson rented exhibit space and thousands and thousands of people were able to see the motorhome. Billings said at that same time, the 1973 oil embargo had driven up the price of gas so much that people had stopped driving motorhomes, leaving Winnebago's future in the balance.

Billings said, however, there weren't enough hotel rooms around the world's fair that year. Hanson got the idea to rent out a field from a farmer for the six months the fair was taking place, and filled it with Winnebago motorhomes.

Billings said they called in "Winnebago Village — The place to stay at the World's Fair." He said by the end of the fair, he had sold all 500 motorhomes that had been in the field.

"You don’t build a business without bumps in the road," Billings said. 

Billings converted a Model A Ford to run on hydrogen while he was a high school senior. He later won the Gold and Silver Award at the 1966 International Science Fair in Dallas, as well as a scholarship. He continued learning about hydrogen and studied systems engineering at Brigham Young University.

While at the university, Billings continued his work on hydrogen technology as part of a grant from the Ford Motor Co. He started Billings Energy Corp. in 1972 with only $400.