  We demonstrate the equivalence of the relativistic flux tube model of mesons
to a simple potential model in the regime of large radial excitation. We make
no restriction on the quark masses; either quark may have a zero or finite
mass. Our primary result shows that for fixed angular momentum and large radial
excitation, the flux tube/QCD string meson with a short-range Coulomb
interaction is described by a spinless Salpeter equation with a time component
vector potential V(r) = ar - k/r.
