Fastest Car (2018) s01e06 Episode Script
Motor City Mayhem
Racing, it's our drug.
What goes through my mind when I'm on the starting line is I'm wondering how much power the guy next to me has and if he's gonna be able to put it to the ground.
I think supercars are for rich people.
You can go buy 100 of them.
I got a unique, different vehicle.
You know, it's from Detroit, built in Detroit.
One quarter-of-a-million-dollar car racing three yo-yos like myself from the street.
You know that feeling of when you saw your child for the first time, that feeling inside? That's the feeling I get when I'm in a National.
It's exciting for me to race the parts that I make.
I'm man with machine, connected.
Come on, you gotta go! We gotta go! Off! - Don't call me names.
- Hey, I don't give a fuck! - I do.
- What you gonna do about it? I'm repping Detroit! The definition of a sleeper is a car that don't look the way it performs.
Look like your grandma could drive it, your auntie Aunt Betty can drive it to the grocery store.
But when you let it rip, it'll blow your mind.
My name is Cedric Wade, coming from the big D, Detroit, Michigan.
I work in an automotive seating plant, where we all know Detroit is the automotive hub of the world.
I've been at my plant for 14 years this year.
I'm blessed, you know, to have the job I have that can afford me to partake in the thing I love to do, which is race, and the car I love to do it in, which is the National.
When I had built my first one, I was laser-like focused.
I went to work and worked all the overtime I could.
I lived off potatoes.
I had potatoes, like, for four months.
Lunch, breakfast, dinner, and every time I got hungry, or got tired of the taste of potatoes, I just, uh, thought about the National.
And that tightened me right on up.
People usually fall in love with the stuff that they seen as kids, you know? Seventy-year-old dudes like the '68 Novas and Chevelles, 'cause they remember them when they was little.
I grew up in the early '80s with G-bodies and stuff, you know, Regals, Monte Carlos, Cutlasses.
So, those were special to me.
That was the car I wanted.
I didn't want no Chevelle, you know? That's my daddy's car.
A guy in my neighborhood, he got a Grand National for a graduation gift and he used to hot rod it around the neighborhood.
And it looked a little different, looked sportier than the regular Regals and stuff, and, you know, it just sounded different.
It sounded like a chainsaw.
But then it goes away, and it sounds like a jet.
Sounds like a jet taking off with a whistle.
Just, it sounded weird.
It was like, "What's up under there? You got a jet up under there?" I just got infatuated, so, that's what made me, I was like, "Oh, yeah, I got to get one.
" Unknown thing that probably shock a lot of people about the Grand Nationals is that in 1987, that was the last year of production, they was the fastest American-made car.
Faster than a Corvette, faster than a Camaro, faster than anything that was made in America.
I haven't raced no supercars on the street.
They don't want to race.
The guys in the Ferraris and the Lambos, I think they think you beneath them.
I don't even know if I'd use the term "supercar," 'cause it ain't nothing really super about them.
If I'd have hit that Powerball, I wouldn't have bought one and stuff.
I'd probably have ten Nationals, though.
My name is Nick.
I'm 30 years old.
I'm from Royal Oak, Michigan, and I have a McLaren MP4.
Most people ask, "What kind of car is that?" Because over here in Michigan, there's about three or four McLarens in the entire state.
I always dreamed and wished that I would have a car like this when I was growing up, but it's a high hurdle, so I don't know if I really believed it.
I was always into cars, you know? I'd be one of those little kids on the side of the road, giving the thumbs-up, waving to the cool car that was going by.
I had always dreamed that I'd be able to drive cars like this, you know? And I think that part of that passion is what's driven me to be an entrepreneur and just kind of go after what I want.
Maybe it was because I saw how hard my parents worked, nine to five, every day.
As I started college, I was around a bunch of entrepreneurs.
I started my own company at that point.
Then I started another company when I was 28, and it's fortunately afforded me the ability to buy the toys that I like, and live the type of lifestyle that I like.
I'm on the next step.
I want to be taller than you.
You're like an inch taller than me, aren't you? - I'm like 5'8" and a half.
- What are you? I think I'm 5'8" and a quarter.
I don't think that being monogamous, for me, particularly, is the right move.
Because I want the ability to go wherever I want, do whatever I want, date whoever I want.
If I'm in a monogamous relationship, I feel like I can't do that.
- You guys got enough room in there? - Barely.
Well, I like a lot of things about the McLaren, but I think that what I love most is that its entire anatomy is built around F1 racing.
It's built off a carbon fiber monobody, meaning kind of where I'm sitting right now is one autoclaved carbon fiber shell, and everything else is built off that shell, the same way that it would be on a Formula 1 car or any other high-end track racing car.
And it really gives the car a feel of incredible stability.
When I was coming here on the freeway, and there was a Camaro And you know, he came up, and he was hitting the gas, screwing with me a little bit, right? And I was like, "Eh, Camaro, you know, I'm in a McLaren.
I don't know, man.
I don't know if it's even worth the ticket.
" So I was like, âEh, fuck it,â you know? Downshifted to third on the freeway and hit it.
And he had some power, you know, 'cause he was there with me for a second.
But I That McLaren, it pulls away, 'cause it slips right through the air.
It's not the right thing, you know, with my 56 speeding tickets.
I probably shouldn't engage in that type of behavior, but it happens.
How do you still have a license with 56 speeding tickets? I have good lawyers.
I'm Dave Jarvis, from Westland, Michigan.
And what I love most about driving my van is finally, after all those hours of hard work, finally get to get out on that open road and listen to that motor sing.
My '78 van that I started racing, I always wanted one.
My buddy Smitty had one back in high school, and it was, like, the talk of the town.
It was this chick magnet.
I became obsessed with trying to find one.
Finally, in 1995, I found one in the Trading Times.
It was awesome.
It ran good, and I enjoyed it like that for a while until a couple of my racing buddies put a cobbled-up nitrous kit on my van for me, and I went out in front of the house, and I floored it and hit the nitrous for the first time in my life.
To experience nitrous is, uh You'll just never forget it.
I It hooked me like no other at that point.
I said, "Wow.
" I live in the Motor City.
Grew up here my entire life.
My dad worked at Ford Motor Company till he passed.
I love being around the auto industry.
I'm a manual machinist.
I make parts by hand.
I work on a lot of race cars.
A lot of 'em, you guys.
My van is completely hand-made.
Not the sheet metal.
Chevrolet made the body back in 1978.
But pretty much everything else has been all hand-made, the whole drive train and all the brackets and everything, made by me.
Driving this van feels like harmony between man and machine.
I started messing with the thing in 1995.
I got it for 1,500 bucks.
And now there's God knows how much money, 80 grand or more in it, plus thousands of hours of work over all these years.
And, uh it just can't be replaced.
It makes me nervous.
I hope nothing ever happens to it.
Supercars are, you know, very intense.
I guarantee they'd all blow me away on a road course.
But at a dragstrip, it'd be very interesting to see.
I can't wait.
I'm excited.
I hope the best for me.
Oh my God, when my van came out in Hot Rod magazine, I get a phone call from Little Professor Bookstore in Ann Arbor.
I said, "Oh, my God!" "Mom, we gotta go!" So, I jumped in the car with her, and we get to the Little Professor Bookstore, and we go running in there, and right in the middle, there was my van doing this wheelie.
And I just started bawling, crying.
I was so excited, I held it against my chest.
We went out in the parking lot, and my mom actually had to read the article to me while I sat in the driver's seat, because I couldn't read it, I was crying.
It meant the world to me.
It was so exciting.
I'm so grateful and thankful that she was there.
And Sorry.
I'm sorry.
My mom Excuse me.
My mom was awesome.
She did everything for all of her kids.
There's nothing she wouldn't do for any of us.
I lived with her most of my life, 'cause my dad, you know, had been gone our whole lives.
And it was just so exciting to have her here with me.
Yeah, one time my mom followed me to the race track in my Jeep with all my tools, and helped me race by being my pit crew.
She was almost 80 years old.
It was awesome.
And on the way back, I said, "Hey, Mom, how would you like to go for a ride in the van? I'll touch the nitrous.
" And she said she would love to.
And she hopped in the passenger seat, and I was able to take my mom on a slight little pass and just touch the nitrous.
And me and Ma had a blast in the van on nitrous.
I feel like now when I compete, I'm really trying to make my mom proud of me.
I'm gonna do everything I can to win this race.
Anything.
And we're gonna race four lanes wide, - quarter-mile.
- Wow.
- So, you've got all the space? - Four cars Yeah, four cars.
- Four cars are gonna go at once? - Four cars.
- Four cars at the same time.
- So, you're racing three people? Yeah, I know.
My name's Ryan Vuich, and I'm from Downriver, Michigan.
Downriver is a cluster of smaller cities south of Detroit, so they call it Downriver, because it's down the river.
Growing up, I always didn't have a lot.
Never had things I wanted, I had to work for them.
So, I put it in perspective that I have to work, save my money, to get what I want.
Well, I saved my money to be able to get a house and my shop.
I wanted my shop to be at home.
- We met through friends.
- Friends.
And then, uh, we would just kind of start hanging out after that, and decided that we liked each other, and kind of made it a thing.
And after that, where did you take me? I don't think you took me on a date after that.
- What? - You didn't.
- No.
- Where'd we go? You're on a date every day here.
It's vacation.
Yeah.
I appreciate that he's always such a hard worker, so I will help him with whatever he needs, and support him, and Move, baby girl.
help him run everything around here, and keep it all together, and I think we make a pretty awesome team together.
Olly! - What a bunch of turds.
- Bubba! Come here! Hey! Come on, Bubba! Hi! Come here! Come here! I have a '94 GMC Sonoma.
I built it about ten years ago, and have been working on it since.
It has a 3.
8-liter Grand National motor in it, twin turbo.
All Grand Nationals are single turbo.
I wanted something different.
I went twin turbo.
It has a 400 trans manual valve body, so you gotta shift it.
The motor makes about 14, 1,500 horsepower.
It used to be an eight-second truck.
And I built the truck to drive it on the street.
I think you should be able to drive a sleeper car.
If you don't drive your sleeper car around, it's not a sleeper car, it's a race car.
Everybody I take for a ride, they're like One person, they, like, blacked out.
People hold their breath, people try to grab me, and I'll smack 'em out of the way.
Like, people get scared.
One of my sayings is, "If I put 100 dollars on my dashboard and you can grab it, you can keep it, but you gotta wait until I take off.
So, sure as shit, they can't move.
It's like G-force.
I mean, I've gone to the track with him plenty of times, and I've seen little oops, where we're running into walls or stuff.
But, I mean, I have confidence that he knows what he's doing, and how to control a car, and he has really fast reflexes to where if something were to happen, he can correct it easily.
But there are always that sense of nervousness when you're getting into a car that's going 150 miles an hour for a quarter-mile, you know? Oh, God! Cabana! - Stop.
You think you're gonna win? - Oh, yeah, I'm gonna win.
- You're gonna win for sure.
- Losing's not an option.
Winning's We're gonna win.
Get this hooked up - Oh.
- Turn the key on.
- We'll get it powered up.
- All right.
- And then we'll - I ain't seen one like that one, Bruce.
Yeah, this is old school for sure.
Real old school.
Bruce is a mentor, a real laid-back guy.
We started our relationship as a customer and grew into a friendship.
He This is somebody, you know, that I'm real proud to call a friend.
You know what I'm gonna be racing Saturday? - No, what are you gonna race? - Take Take a guess.
- What kind of supercar, you think? - Lambo, maybe? - No.
- Not a Bugatti, I hope.
No, I'm glad.
I'm glad.
- No Bugattis.
- No Bugattis.
- Ferrari? - Nope.
That's all of them.
- McLaren.
- Oh, boy.
How fast are they? What kind of power they make? Let me see.
All right.
Mc McLaren.
Okay, quarter-mile, 11.
0.
- Okay, that's pretty fast.
- Right, yeah.
A win for me and my team, it'd be a real big accomplishment for me.
It's something, you know, I could show my kids one day when they get older.
Come on.
Oh! You're gonna beat Daddy! Oh.
Stand up, let me see you stand up.
Do your tricks, go.
Come on.
I have three kids.
My girls, they have no interest in cars whatsoever.
But Marco, he likes it.
He likes it.
So, yeah, I'm passing the Grand National down to my son.
I'm never selling that car, ever.
'Cause he know that's gonna be his, he always say, "Daddy, what you out there doing, working on my black car?" And I'll say, "Yep.
" Soon as he gets probably 14, he'll be able to drive on the track and stuff like that with some special training and stuff, so, I might have to go get me another one and stuff, 'cause he's like, "Uh-uh, Dad, watch it.
This mine.
" He's gonna love hearing his National beat a supercar.
Dave, what car are we racing? Well, I've never seen one live, but I think that it's a McLaren MP4.
- A McLaren? - It's got about 600 plus horsepower and six speeds.
- All-wheel drive? - It's a V8, rear-wheel drive.
Okay.
How fast are those cars? Two hundred mile an hour top speed, but we're going quarter-mile from a dig.
Right.
Doesn't sound big enough to have a bed in the back.
With me having an extra 500 pounds and a major disadvantage in the aerodynamics department, you know, a little bit of nitrous might be what I need.
Most people run like a five or ten-pound bottle.
But I run a 30-pound bottle.
I like it, because the bottle pressure stays a lot steadier, and you don't got to fill your nitrous as often.
So, I'm like the only one I know that runs a bottle this big.
It just got heavier.
So, if bottles are for babies, I'm a big baby.
Nitrous is a major power adder, so are turbos, so are superchargers.
There's a place in this world for nitrous, 'cause nitrous can double the horsepower of an engine.
So, it's gonna be you, a supercar, and two other - Sleeper cars.
- That's interesting.
- One quarter-of-a-million-dollar car - That's a hell of a track.
racing three yo-yos like myself from the street.
I don't know.
McLaren MP4, 616 horsepower, thirty-two hundred, it's about the same weight.
What's the quarter-mile time on that McLaren? See what it says.
McLaren MP4, 12C, 11.
1 at 129.
- They go 129 - If it's stock Listen, 129, that's a 10.
40 - That's ten 10.
50, yeah.
- But it's never gonna - If it ever hooks.
- Yeah, if it ever hooks.
Here you go.
Me and my buddies started working on the truck to get it in peak performance for the race.
But then one thing after another started going wrong.
Yeah.
It's doing that double flash shit again.
There's not even any kind of spark or anything.
- Where you at? Here.
- Twenty-five past.
- Is that 25 - No, before.
We took it apart and put it back together, but the motor still just wouldn't fire right.
- You ready? - The coil's bad.
- Yeah.
- Pay attention.
We're gonna make this thing run.
I feel it coming.
I hope so, man.
I need fresh enthusiasm, 'cause I'm all enthusiasm out.
You know, I'm very fortunate to end up where I am.
A lot of the people we used to hang out with ended up either addicted to drugs or in jail.
But, you know, a lot of it is not really based on luck, you know? I attribute what one accomplishes to one's level of preparedness.
Aaron Bambach, track manager here at M1.
So the plan is, drag radials on the back, about 20 PSI in the tires, use the launch control, good reaction time.
And hopefully get an outside lane, so if somebody goes squirrelly, - they don't hit me.
- Right.
Rotation is correct here.
Still got the stickers on.
We'll burn them off later, right? It's bad luck to peel the stickers off brand-new tires on race cars.
It's, uh, tradition to burn the stickers off doing a burnout.
I want a fighting chance here.
I don't want to go out there and, you know, look stupid or something.
So, I spent the extra few bucks, and bought a set of the latest, greatest drag radials.
And this should be the tire that I need to do what we're gonna do this week.
- Are you ready for this race? - Yeah.
I'm ready for it.
I'm ready.
Well, me and Bruce, we about to get ready.
We still got a little bit of work, you know? We got some dialing in to do.
- Take no prisoners.
- Rock out.
Take no prisoners.
We gonna make the Natty do what it do.
- G-Bodies forever.
- Yeah, for sure.
G-Bodies or nobodies, for real.
It's just more difficult to find parts for these cars, just because there's just fewer and fewer of them every year.
So, to find spare parts are very difficult.
I do have a collection of 30 years of parts, so, I kind of went into my stash of parts and found what we needed to get the job done.
To get ready for the race, we're gonna switch it from the 93-octane chip to the 110-octane chip, so we get more boost, more timing, more fuel, and make the car faster.
We're gonna take the car out later and turn up the boost.
We're gonna unlock the knob, and then we're gonna turn it to the right to increase spring pressure.
When we get to the desired boost at wide-open throttle, we'll lock it in, so Cedric doesn't run 30 or 40 pounds of boost by accident.
Experience.
Experience trumps youth most of the time in drag racing.
Reputation is at stake, 'cause everybody gonna see this, and who wants to be known as the guy that lost? That's your street cred and stuff.
That can really make or break your reputation in the drag racing world.
I think the National will eat those cars up.
That's what it's built for, you know? It's built for straight-line missiles.
Them cars is built for highway, ten miles, you know, stuff like that.
They're not built to take off from a dead stop.
Everybody know what that black Regal do.
Everybody know what it is around here.
I get respect and reverence when I come around.
Okay, it was running good before.
We need to get back to where it was.
- Doesn't matter what the tune says.
- What are we gonna put it at? I don't know.
Try and start it now, and see what happens.
Loosen that Loosen the lock nut.
Loosen up the lock nut and give me the Allen wrench.
Try it.
Doesn't sound like it wants to run! - All right.
All right.
- Bitch! That's okay.
That's okay.
Just let it go.
Damn it.
- It's like a puzzle.
- Yep.
It's been in this exact position since, like, Saturday morning.
- It's gonna run now.
- Friday night.
It's gonna run today.
It didn't move.
It didn't move.
It's still five degrees after.
Come on, baby.
The balancer has a reluctor wheel on it, and the reluctor wheel controls the timing.
We're unable to find the correct timing, so we're hoping by changing the balancer, it'll change the timing, and hopefully solve the issue we're having.
Can you, uh, bump it, John? - You want me to - Just slow, bump it.
Bump it.
Oh, that'll work.
You know, that car pretty much does everything for you, right? It has launch control, it has the shift points.
You know, there's not really a way that you can screw up the race in that car.
And I think we have a really good shot.
I'm not nervous at all.
So, I'm gonna put this list on the doghouse, and it's one of my last-minute things I do before I race.
And this will live right here.
And that's my checklist, before I floor this thing.
If I don't pull the timing back, you can blow up the engine.
It sounds different.
It's doing something different.
- I'm checking this reluctor, okay? - Mm-hmm.
Interesting.
Finally, this baby starts! - It does run! - Send it! I feel really excited that my truck's running now, after all the hard work me and my buddies, you know, have been putting in.
I really appreciate all their help, and we've done nothing but beat our heads against the wall, working crazy hours.
But I feel really better now that it's running and driving, so there's no stopping me now.
I believe if I can hook and get up out of there, you know, I believe I got an excellent chance of winning.
Very nice.
Beautiful car.
- Thank you.
- A beast.
I think this is Darth Vader's old car.
- Right, right.
Yeah.
- Very nice.
Very nice.
I didn't sleep last night, the day before the race.
I probably put 130 hours into it myself, in one week, seven days, not including all my friends and family that's helped me.
We got to win.
- How's it going? - What's going on? - Ryan.
- Ced.
- Nice to meet you.
- Yeah, sure.
- Your car? - Yep.
Nice car.
I love Grand Nationals.
Right, yeah.
Sounds like you got a heartbeat goin' on.
Yeah, it's not running right.
Been having nothing but problems.
Yeah, they're very temperamental.
But when they right, they right.
- Well, one of us gotta win, V6 style.
- Right.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Thinking about my Ma, you know? Did I do everything right? Am I gonna do everything right? Drag racing's more than just flooring a gas pedal.
- Jarvis, I know that guy.
- Yeah, I know him too.
Seen him at the track.
- What kind of tires he got on there? - I don't know.
It look like a full slate.
- Smells like race gas, too.
- Yeah.
You're good.
All right.
Ryan.
- Dave Jarvis.
My pleasure.
- Nice to meet you.
- Damn, break my hand.
- Yeah, I got a good handshake.
Easy, easy.
Easy.
- How are you? Dave Jarvis.
- Ced.
Ced.
- Oh, look.
Look what we got here.
- Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Uh-uh.
That's fancy.
Let me drive that.
- Here we go.
- I'll show him how to drive that.
Hey, let's switch vehicles, see who drives it faster.
There we go.
I'll tell you one thing, I love that color.
I'm not nervous at all about the drag race.
The only thing that I'm nervous about is one of these guys going sideways and smashing into me.
That's the only thing that I'm nervous about.
Good? - What's up, man? - Hi, Dave Jarvis, my pleasure.
Good to meet you.
Which one's yours? - The van.
- Oh, yeah? - What's your name? - Nick.
- Nick, nice to meet you, man.
- I'm a little bit scared of that van.
- Oh! - You've got some big, fat tires there.
- Great, man.
- That's a beat, huh? He just press a button and go.
What do they call this, a shaggin' wagon or what? - That's a name for it! - The Mystery Machine.
It's 418 cubic inch, all aluminum, pump gas, small-block Chevy.
How much power you putting down? - Uh, made 531.
At the tire.
- At the wheel? That fucker's gonna be fast, dude.
I already know.
I don't think I'm Well, it's heavy and it's not aerodynamic.
I think the van's got a good advantage.
He's got a lot of weight, so a lot of weight, when you transfer it, it actually hooks the tire.
So, I think he's got a good advantage.
Engine fuel pump, nitrous fuel pump, timing control right here.
Ignition here.
Ignition here.
Decked out.
You might have more options than the McLaren.
Yeah, maybe! - Let's check out this truck.
- Just a V6.
- Twin turbo.
- Yes, you got two cylinders on me, though.
Yeah.
Those cars are fast.
That guy's putting down 800 horsepower to the wheel.
It'll make 1,500, but I didn't make it that today.
- The motor's actually hurt.
- What do you mean? - It's got metal in the oil.
- Aw, man.
- It's knocking.
- Really? - I just - Bring it over to the house.
And then the van is putting down 510 to the rear wheel with a 275 shot of nitrous.
Cedric, how much power you putting down to that? Oh, man, a little bit more than stock.
Not much more.
Come on, now.
But they have the margin of driver error.
The driver has to drive those cars.
Me, I can just be an idiot and hit the button, you know what I mean? For launch control and be gone.
- Let me show you how to open the door.
- How do you do that? There's a motion sensor, so you put it - You put your hand over there? - Like you're going up a woman's leg, - you know, to her butt.
Just like that.
- This is Cheryl.
- Hey, Cheryl.
I'm Nick.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Pleasure to meet you.
- You too.
I love the McLaren.
That color is just out of sight, but I don't think he gonna do very well today, you know? I touched his tires, and it's hard as hell.
Totally off for what we're trying to do, which is hook and book.
He gonna He gonna spin, I guarantee that.
May we have the drivers here, please? Drivers only.
We're gonna give you each an opportunity to walk the track so that you can see what the lanes look like, and you can decide where you want to run your car.
Oh, look, there's a manhole cover.
Detroit, dog! I don't think this makes too much difference to me, to be honest.
It's all the same.
The race will start upon a signal visible to all vehicles.
That'll be these lights here.
Vehicles will be allowed one tire-warming run or burnout before the race in order to clean and heat the tires, if so desired.
I want to do a small burn.
Motor's getting noisier.
The winner of this race will go on to the championship race in El Mirage dry lake bed.
Anything can happen.
Anything can go wrong.
Someone can crash.
Everybody can spin.
One little thing goes wrong, it can be ruined.
If everything goes right, I think my van's gonna fly.
When you get up to the starting line, everything goes slow motion.
Once you let go and go down the track, it's fun.
Trying to savor the moment right now.
All the hard work and the sleepless nights, it's coming all to a head.
It's been a long 24 hours, man.
I didn't sleep, and I had a young lady stay the night last night, and just I'm burning it at both ends.
So it's a good thing I just have to push a button.
I think I got to drive over ten miles an hour to get the launch mode active.
- You can back up and go over ten - Okay.
- to get it, yeah.
- All right.
The rules stated, break the tires, rotate the tires, it's considered as a burnout.
Supercar, number one, did his burnout.
Fuck is going on here? - Are you good? - I don't know, man.
All right, you're done.
Go.
So then this guy, well, I'm looking at him.
I'm on the brake so I don't roll forward.
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Like I said, I want to do the burnout a foot from that line.
Well, you gotta go! Let's go, let's go! How much water you want down? - Whole thing? Half? - We gotta go! - Not even.
- Not even.
These guys pour the water where they're gonna leave, at the starting line.
He did that, and I already knew he fucked up.
Goddamnit.
Did you see what they did? He's leaving in water.
He's done.
That's it.
That's your burnout.
- Aw, fuck! - They're saying one and done, that's it.
Come on, man! Oh, he's fucked.
- Now you're sitting in water.
- Fuck that! - What you gonna do? - Cars are getting hot.
Bullshit! I do my burnout.
Little burnout.
So then, Grand National guy Come on, let's go! Let's go! attempts to do a burnout, does a little burnout.
Everybody backs up.
I'm sitting there, sitting there, sitting there.
If I pull up to the line, am I still in the water? - Yeah.
- Come on, what the fuck? I'm ready to race.
What is going on? What? I don't know how he got to do another burnout, but that was not part of the rules.
So, all of a sudden, people start doing more burnouts.
And then I was sitting there for ten minutes, it felt like.
Racing, you don't do that.
Race cars, you cannot do that, 'cause your engine could overheat.
I mean, I'm getting burned down here.
Come on, you gotta go! We gotta go! Off, no more.
We gotta go! Come on up.
Come on up.
Damn it.
Fucking son of a bitch.
What the fuck was the one burnout? That's two burnouts! Man! Was sitting here waiting for 20 fucking minutes! That's bullshit! - That's fucking bullshit! - piece of shit now! Fucking morons! Fucking sitting here running all fucking day.
Let me see this motherfucker.
That's fucking bullshit! They're all probably fucking scared, fuckin' want to burn me fucking down, that's some fucking bullshit! Take this shit to the street, motherfuckers get shot! Two fucking weeks nonstop, we haven't slept in fucking 40 hours! Hey, what the fuck was that? One burnout! One fucking burnout! - You're gonna yell at me? - Yeah, I'm gonna fucking yell at you.
The rules were for six months, one burnout.
- I didn't get a burnout.
- Bullshit! You spun the tires! They said break the tires, that was one burnout! You dumb motherfuckers put the water in there.
- Don't call me names.
- Hey, I don't give a fuck! - What you gonna do? - I do.
I'm repping Detroit! What the fuck you wanna do about it? I don't give a fuck! The rules were one fucking burnout! You're sitting there burning me down, that's some fucking bullshit! - I didn't burn anybody down.
- Bullshit! Go to the fucking reel.
He ended up cooking his motor, and then everybody went.
Get the fuck out of here.
Go to real Detroit street racing.
- Right now? Right now? - Yeah, let's fucking go, motherfucker.
It's what you get for racing in Detroit.
- I know you're mad.
- I've been working my dick off on this.
I know.
I know.
And it's okay.
But it's just supposed to be a fun race and - It doesn't matter.
They cheated.
- Okay, we can accept that.
- Can you get me a water? - Can you stop screaming for me? Yeah, can you get me a water, please? Yes.
- Can you calm down? Promise me? - Please, get me a water.
Oh, man, that flew off the handle, boy.
Shit.
- It happens.
- Yeah.
Okay, guys, so Unfortunately, that race didn't go exactly as we planned.
So we're gonna talk about that a little bit.
And then we also have what we feel is a resolution and a situation that will work for everybody involved, okay? So, we got to the line, and Dave, even though the rules said one burnout, you took two burnouts.
Nick, you took two burnouts when originally it was one.
The rules were broken, and the rules shouldn't have been broken.
We all agreed on something.
- You're absolutely right.
Yeah.
- You know what I mean? So, Dave, unfortunately, you had two burnouts, so you're disqualified.
Nick, same thing.
A disqualification is a disqualification.
It's honestly It's a shame, 'cause you got some really fast, really powerful cars out here, and I'd hoped for a better race.
It was the greatest day of my life, and now it's the worst.
Man.
Two people followed the rules.
So, what we're gonna do, what we think the fairest thing to do, is have a runoff between Ryan and Cedric at a place to be determined and a time to be determined.
And the winner of that race will get to go on to the finals at the dry lake bed at El Mirage, California.
I'm feeling real confident.
I know my car's gonna do what it's gonna do, you know? I know it's gonna perform, so I'm ready to get it done.
I'm ready to drive.
That's what I do.
- All right.
- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
- Thanks for coming back out.
It's a rematch, I hope everything goes clean.
I want a good, fair race, you know? I want to win.
I put in a lot of work, time, money, and so has my friends, family, everybody else.
So, I want to represent Detroit.
- Good to see you.
- What's up? Thanks for coming back out.
- Good to see you again.
- Thank you.
I'm tired.
Easy.
The motor obviously broke last time, so I'm saving it for the race.
When I see a lot of pushing around You know, is that a testament to, you know, how it's gonna run and stuff? Well, hopefully, that'll work out in my favor.
- What's up, bro? You all right? - Yeah.
Haven't got able, a chance to test it or anything.
- Right, right, right.
- So, it ain't running right, so Right.
You gotta be completely composed, focused in your vehicle, you know, at the starting line.
You mess up, and that's how people win races, or you lose races.
When I pull up to the burnout box and do my burnout, I always think about Top Gun.
Like I'm about to get launched off the aircraft carrier.
I've got a little bit of nerves going, but I'm extremely focused, extremely confident, and, you know, I'm just ready for lift-off.
- You good? - Okay! Okay, okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! - Woo! - Okay! - We got a race.
Thank you.
- That was side-by-side Thank you.
We got a race.
That's a race.
That's a race.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Damn it.
Good race, gentlemen.
Good race.
Good race.
I jumped out on about half a car, and I actually held him there till probably about 75 percent of the way down.
I think third gear, he started to come back around.
I pulled up in front of him, and I was looking in the mirror.
And I actually grabbed third gear, and it started My motor started to break up a little bit.
But I couldn't see him behind me in my mirror, so I knew he was right next to me.
So it was a pretty close race.
- How's it going? - Yeah.
Okay, let's bring it in.
- Both clean starts.
You were the winner.
- Cool.
So you'll be moving on to the dry lake bed in El Mirage, California.
So, thank you very much for that.
Thank you very much.
A lot of highs and lows, a lot of sleepless nights, and busted knuckles and girlfriends or wives being mad 'cause you ain't at home and stuff, but, you know I want to thank my friends and family.
My girlfriend that puts up with me In the barn, 24 hours a day, you know? She's like, "What are you doing down there?" So, I want to thank everybody.
I won this race today and I'm going to move forward to California to race on a dry lake bed.
I've never done that before, and I got to do a lot of work in a short period of time to get ready for this race and I only have a couple weeks, and it's gonna be fun.
All the ups and downs, and the fighting and the bickering and stuff, you know, yeah, all that's behind us now, you know? 'Cause we all was warriors on the drag strip, and we all fought and battled, and we all had our own cars that we was fighting with.
So, we was living the same thing, even though we was competitors and stuff.
So, you know, all that stuff that happened before, man, that's in the past.
You know, we won't even think about that.
What goes through my mind when I'm on the starting line is I'm wondering how much power the guy next to me has and if he's gonna be able to put it to the ground.
I think supercars are for rich people.
You can go buy 100 of them.
I got a unique, different vehicle.
You know, it's from Detroit, built in Detroit.
One quarter-of-a-million-dollar car racing three yo-yos like myself from the street.
You know that feeling of when you saw your child for the first time, that feeling inside? That's the feeling I get when I'm in a National.
It's exciting for me to race the parts that I make.
I'm man with machine, connected.
Come on, you gotta go! We gotta go! Off! - Don't call me names.
- Hey, I don't give a fuck! - I do.
- What you gonna do about it? I'm repping Detroit! The definition of a sleeper is a car that don't look the way it performs.
Look like your grandma could drive it, your auntie Aunt Betty can drive it to the grocery store.
But when you let it rip, it'll blow your mind.
My name is Cedric Wade, coming from the big D, Detroit, Michigan.
I work in an automotive seating plant, where we all know Detroit is the automotive hub of the world.
I've been at my plant for 14 years this year.
I'm blessed, you know, to have the job I have that can afford me to partake in the thing I love to do, which is race, and the car I love to do it in, which is the National.
When I had built my first one, I was laser-like focused.
I went to work and worked all the overtime I could.
I lived off potatoes.
I had potatoes, like, for four months.
Lunch, breakfast, dinner, and every time I got hungry, or got tired of the taste of potatoes, I just, uh, thought about the National.
And that tightened me right on up.
People usually fall in love with the stuff that they seen as kids, you know? Seventy-year-old dudes like the '68 Novas and Chevelles, 'cause they remember them when they was little.
I grew up in the early '80s with G-bodies and stuff, you know, Regals, Monte Carlos, Cutlasses.
So, those were special to me.
That was the car I wanted.
I didn't want no Chevelle, you know? That's my daddy's car.
A guy in my neighborhood, he got a Grand National for a graduation gift and he used to hot rod it around the neighborhood.
And it looked a little different, looked sportier than the regular Regals and stuff, and, you know, it just sounded different.
It sounded like a chainsaw.
But then it goes away, and it sounds like a jet.
Sounds like a jet taking off with a whistle.
Just, it sounded weird.
It was like, "What's up under there? You got a jet up under there?" I just got infatuated, so, that's what made me, I was like, "Oh, yeah, I got to get one.
" Unknown thing that probably shock a lot of people about the Grand Nationals is that in 1987, that was the last year of production, they was the fastest American-made car.
Faster than a Corvette, faster than a Camaro, faster than anything that was made in America.
I haven't raced no supercars on the street.
They don't want to race.
The guys in the Ferraris and the Lambos, I think they think you beneath them.
I don't even know if I'd use the term "supercar," 'cause it ain't nothing really super about them.
If I'd have hit that Powerball, I wouldn't have bought one and stuff.
I'd probably have ten Nationals, though.
My name is Nick.
I'm 30 years old.
I'm from Royal Oak, Michigan, and I have a McLaren MP4.
Most people ask, "What kind of car is that?" Because over here in Michigan, there's about three or four McLarens in the entire state.
I always dreamed and wished that I would have a car like this when I was growing up, but it's a high hurdle, so I don't know if I really believed it.
I was always into cars, you know? I'd be one of those little kids on the side of the road, giving the thumbs-up, waving to the cool car that was going by.
I had always dreamed that I'd be able to drive cars like this, you know? And I think that part of that passion is what's driven me to be an entrepreneur and just kind of go after what I want.
Maybe it was because I saw how hard my parents worked, nine to five, every day.
As I started college, I was around a bunch of entrepreneurs.
I started my own company at that point.
Then I started another company when I was 28, and it's fortunately afforded me the ability to buy the toys that I like, and live the type of lifestyle that I like.
I'm on the next step.
I want to be taller than you.
You're like an inch taller than me, aren't you? - I'm like 5'8" and a half.
- What are you? I think I'm 5'8" and a quarter.
I don't think that being monogamous, for me, particularly, is the right move.
Because I want the ability to go wherever I want, do whatever I want, date whoever I want.
If I'm in a monogamous relationship, I feel like I can't do that.
- You guys got enough room in there? - Barely.
Well, I like a lot of things about the McLaren, but I think that what I love most is that its entire anatomy is built around F1 racing.
It's built off a carbon fiber monobody, meaning kind of where I'm sitting right now is one autoclaved carbon fiber shell, and everything else is built off that shell, the same way that it would be on a Formula 1 car or any other high-end track racing car.
And it really gives the car a feel of incredible stability.
When I was coming here on the freeway, and there was a Camaro And you know, he came up, and he was hitting the gas, screwing with me a little bit, right? And I was like, "Eh, Camaro, you know, I'm in a McLaren.
I don't know, man.
I don't know if it's even worth the ticket.
" So I was like, âEh, fuck it,â you know? Downshifted to third on the freeway and hit it.
And he had some power, you know, 'cause he was there with me for a second.
But I That McLaren, it pulls away, 'cause it slips right through the air.
It's not the right thing, you know, with my 56 speeding tickets.
I probably shouldn't engage in that type of behavior, but it happens.
How do you still have a license with 56 speeding tickets? I have good lawyers.
I'm Dave Jarvis, from Westland, Michigan.
And what I love most about driving my van is finally, after all those hours of hard work, finally get to get out on that open road and listen to that motor sing.
My '78 van that I started racing, I always wanted one.
My buddy Smitty had one back in high school, and it was, like, the talk of the town.
It was this chick magnet.
I became obsessed with trying to find one.
Finally, in 1995, I found one in the Trading Times.
It was awesome.
It ran good, and I enjoyed it like that for a while until a couple of my racing buddies put a cobbled-up nitrous kit on my van for me, and I went out in front of the house, and I floored it and hit the nitrous for the first time in my life.
To experience nitrous is, uh You'll just never forget it.
I It hooked me like no other at that point.
I said, "Wow.
" I live in the Motor City.
Grew up here my entire life.
My dad worked at Ford Motor Company till he passed.
I love being around the auto industry.
I'm a manual machinist.
I make parts by hand.
I work on a lot of race cars.
A lot of 'em, you guys.
My van is completely hand-made.
Not the sheet metal.
Chevrolet made the body back in 1978.
But pretty much everything else has been all hand-made, the whole drive train and all the brackets and everything, made by me.
Driving this van feels like harmony between man and machine.
I started messing with the thing in 1995.
I got it for 1,500 bucks.
And now there's God knows how much money, 80 grand or more in it, plus thousands of hours of work over all these years.
And, uh it just can't be replaced.
It makes me nervous.
I hope nothing ever happens to it.
Supercars are, you know, very intense.
I guarantee they'd all blow me away on a road course.
But at a dragstrip, it'd be very interesting to see.
I can't wait.
I'm excited.
I hope the best for me.
Oh my God, when my van came out in Hot Rod magazine, I get a phone call from Little Professor Bookstore in Ann Arbor.
I said, "Oh, my God!" "Mom, we gotta go!" So, I jumped in the car with her, and we get to the Little Professor Bookstore, and we go running in there, and right in the middle, there was my van doing this wheelie.
And I just started bawling, crying.
I was so excited, I held it against my chest.
We went out in the parking lot, and my mom actually had to read the article to me while I sat in the driver's seat, because I couldn't read it, I was crying.
It meant the world to me.
It was so exciting.
I'm so grateful and thankful that she was there.
And Sorry.
I'm sorry.
My mom Excuse me.
My mom was awesome.
She did everything for all of her kids.
There's nothing she wouldn't do for any of us.
I lived with her most of my life, 'cause my dad, you know, had been gone our whole lives.
And it was just so exciting to have her here with me.
Yeah, one time my mom followed me to the race track in my Jeep with all my tools, and helped me race by being my pit crew.
She was almost 80 years old.
It was awesome.
And on the way back, I said, "Hey, Mom, how would you like to go for a ride in the van? I'll touch the nitrous.
" And she said she would love to.
And she hopped in the passenger seat, and I was able to take my mom on a slight little pass and just touch the nitrous.
And me and Ma had a blast in the van on nitrous.
I feel like now when I compete, I'm really trying to make my mom proud of me.
I'm gonna do everything I can to win this race.
Anything.
And we're gonna race four lanes wide, - quarter-mile.
- Wow.
- So, you've got all the space? - Four cars Yeah, four cars.
- Four cars are gonna go at once? - Four cars.
- Four cars at the same time.
- So, you're racing three people? Yeah, I know.
My name's Ryan Vuich, and I'm from Downriver, Michigan.
Downriver is a cluster of smaller cities south of Detroit, so they call it Downriver, because it's down the river.
Growing up, I always didn't have a lot.
Never had things I wanted, I had to work for them.
So, I put it in perspective that I have to work, save my money, to get what I want.
Well, I saved my money to be able to get a house and my shop.
I wanted my shop to be at home.
- We met through friends.
- Friends.
And then, uh, we would just kind of start hanging out after that, and decided that we liked each other, and kind of made it a thing.
And after that, where did you take me? I don't think you took me on a date after that.
- What? - You didn't.
- No.
- Where'd we go? You're on a date every day here.
It's vacation.
Yeah.
I appreciate that he's always such a hard worker, so I will help him with whatever he needs, and support him, and Move, baby girl.
help him run everything around here, and keep it all together, and I think we make a pretty awesome team together.
Olly! - What a bunch of turds.
- Bubba! Come here! Hey! Come on, Bubba! Hi! Come here! Come here! I have a '94 GMC Sonoma.
I built it about ten years ago, and have been working on it since.
It has a 3.
8-liter Grand National motor in it, twin turbo.
All Grand Nationals are single turbo.
I wanted something different.
I went twin turbo.
It has a 400 trans manual valve body, so you gotta shift it.
The motor makes about 14, 1,500 horsepower.
It used to be an eight-second truck.
And I built the truck to drive it on the street.
I think you should be able to drive a sleeper car.
If you don't drive your sleeper car around, it's not a sleeper car, it's a race car.
Everybody I take for a ride, they're like One person, they, like, blacked out.
People hold their breath, people try to grab me, and I'll smack 'em out of the way.
Like, people get scared.
One of my sayings is, "If I put 100 dollars on my dashboard and you can grab it, you can keep it, but you gotta wait until I take off.
So, sure as shit, they can't move.
It's like G-force.
I mean, I've gone to the track with him plenty of times, and I've seen little oops, where we're running into walls or stuff.
But, I mean, I have confidence that he knows what he's doing, and how to control a car, and he has really fast reflexes to where if something were to happen, he can correct it easily.
But there are always that sense of nervousness when you're getting into a car that's going 150 miles an hour for a quarter-mile, you know? Oh, God! Cabana! - Stop.
You think you're gonna win? - Oh, yeah, I'm gonna win.
- You're gonna win for sure.
- Losing's not an option.
Winning's We're gonna win.
Get this hooked up - Oh.
- Turn the key on.
- We'll get it powered up.
- All right.
- And then we'll - I ain't seen one like that one, Bruce.
Yeah, this is old school for sure.
Real old school.
Bruce is a mentor, a real laid-back guy.
We started our relationship as a customer and grew into a friendship.
He This is somebody, you know, that I'm real proud to call a friend.
You know what I'm gonna be racing Saturday? - No, what are you gonna race? - Take Take a guess.
- What kind of supercar, you think? - Lambo, maybe? - No.
- Not a Bugatti, I hope.
No, I'm glad.
I'm glad.
- No Bugattis.
- No Bugattis.
- Ferrari? - Nope.
That's all of them.
- McLaren.
- Oh, boy.
How fast are they? What kind of power they make? Let me see.
All right.
Mc McLaren.
Okay, quarter-mile, 11.
0.
- Okay, that's pretty fast.
- Right, yeah.
A win for me and my team, it'd be a real big accomplishment for me.
It's something, you know, I could show my kids one day when they get older.
Come on.
Oh! You're gonna beat Daddy! Oh.
Stand up, let me see you stand up.
Do your tricks, go.
Come on.
I have three kids.
My girls, they have no interest in cars whatsoever.
But Marco, he likes it.
He likes it.
So, yeah, I'm passing the Grand National down to my son.
I'm never selling that car, ever.
'Cause he know that's gonna be his, he always say, "Daddy, what you out there doing, working on my black car?" And I'll say, "Yep.
" Soon as he gets probably 14, he'll be able to drive on the track and stuff like that with some special training and stuff, so, I might have to go get me another one and stuff, 'cause he's like, "Uh-uh, Dad, watch it.
This mine.
" He's gonna love hearing his National beat a supercar.
Dave, what car are we racing? Well, I've never seen one live, but I think that it's a McLaren MP4.
- A McLaren? - It's got about 600 plus horsepower and six speeds.
- All-wheel drive? - It's a V8, rear-wheel drive.
Okay.
How fast are those cars? Two hundred mile an hour top speed, but we're going quarter-mile from a dig.
Right.
Doesn't sound big enough to have a bed in the back.
With me having an extra 500 pounds and a major disadvantage in the aerodynamics department, you know, a little bit of nitrous might be what I need.
Most people run like a five or ten-pound bottle.
But I run a 30-pound bottle.
I like it, because the bottle pressure stays a lot steadier, and you don't got to fill your nitrous as often.
So, I'm like the only one I know that runs a bottle this big.
It just got heavier.
So, if bottles are for babies, I'm a big baby.
Nitrous is a major power adder, so are turbos, so are superchargers.
There's a place in this world for nitrous, 'cause nitrous can double the horsepower of an engine.
So, it's gonna be you, a supercar, and two other - Sleeper cars.
- That's interesting.
- One quarter-of-a-million-dollar car - That's a hell of a track.
racing three yo-yos like myself from the street.
I don't know.
McLaren MP4, 616 horsepower, thirty-two hundred, it's about the same weight.
What's the quarter-mile time on that McLaren? See what it says.
McLaren MP4, 12C, 11.
1 at 129.
- They go 129 - If it's stock Listen, 129, that's a 10.
40 - That's ten 10.
50, yeah.
- But it's never gonna - If it ever hooks.
- Yeah, if it ever hooks.
Here you go.
Me and my buddies started working on the truck to get it in peak performance for the race.
But then one thing after another started going wrong.
Yeah.
It's doing that double flash shit again.
There's not even any kind of spark or anything.
- Where you at? Here.
- Twenty-five past.
- Is that 25 - No, before.
We took it apart and put it back together, but the motor still just wouldn't fire right.
- You ready? - The coil's bad.
- Yeah.
- Pay attention.
We're gonna make this thing run.
I feel it coming.
I hope so, man.
I need fresh enthusiasm, 'cause I'm all enthusiasm out.
You know, I'm very fortunate to end up where I am.
A lot of the people we used to hang out with ended up either addicted to drugs or in jail.
But, you know, a lot of it is not really based on luck, you know? I attribute what one accomplishes to one's level of preparedness.
Aaron Bambach, track manager here at M1.
So the plan is, drag radials on the back, about 20 PSI in the tires, use the launch control, good reaction time.
And hopefully get an outside lane, so if somebody goes squirrelly, - they don't hit me.
- Right.
Rotation is correct here.
Still got the stickers on.
We'll burn them off later, right? It's bad luck to peel the stickers off brand-new tires on race cars.
It's, uh, tradition to burn the stickers off doing a burnout.
I want a fighting chance here.
I don't want to go out there and, you know, look stupid or something.
So, I spent the extra few bucks, and bought a set of the latest, greatest drag radials.
And this should be the tire that I need to do what we're gonna do this week.
- Are you ready for this race? - Yeah.
I'm ready for it.
I'm ready.
Well, me and Bruce, we about to get ready.
We still got a little bit of work, you know? We got some dialing in to do.
- Take no prisoners.
- Rock out.
Take no prisoners.
We gonna make the Natty do what it do.
- G-Bodies forever.
- Yeah, for sure.
G-Bodies or nobodies, for real.
It's just more difficult to find parts for these cars, just because there's just fewer and fewer of them every year.
So, to find spare parts are very difficult.
I do have a collection of 30 years of parts, so, I kind of went into my stash of parts and found what we needed to get the job done.
To get ready for the race, we're gonna switch it from the 93-octane chip to the 110-octane chip, so we get more boost, more timing, more fuel, and make the car faster.
We're gonna take the car out later and turn up the boost.
We're gonna unlock the knob, and then we're gonna turn it to the right to increase spring pressure.
When we get to the desired boost at wide-open throttle, we'll lock it in, so Cedric doesn't run 30 or 40 pounds of boost by accident.
Experience.
Experience trumps youth most of the time in drag racing.
Reputation is at stake, 'cause everybody gonna see this, and who wants to be known as the guy that lost? That's your street cred and stuff.
That can really make or break your reputation in the drag racing world.
I think the National will eat those cars up.
That's what it's built for, you know? It's built for straight-line missiles.
Them cars is built for highway, ten miles, you know, stuff like that.
They're not built to take off from a dead stop.
Everybody know what that black Regal do.
Everybody know what it is around here.
I get respect and reverence when I come around.
Okay, it was running good before.
We need to get back to where it was.
- Doesn't matter what the tune says.
- What are we gonna put it at? I don't know.
Try and start it now, and see what happens.
Loosen that Loosen the lock nut.
Loosen up the lock nut and give me the Allen wrench.
Try it.
Doesn't sound like it wants to run! - All right.
All right.
- Bitch! That's okay.
That's okay.
Just let it go.
Damn it.
- It's like a puzzle.
- Yep.
It's been in this exact position since, like, Saturday morning.
- It's gonna run now.
- Friday night.
It's gonna run today.
It didn't move.
It didn't move.
It's still five degrees after.
Come on, baby.
The balancer has a reluctor wheel on it, and the reluctor wheel controls the timing.
We're unable to find the correct timing, so we're hoping by changing the balancer, it'll change the timing, and hopefully solve the issue we're having.
Can you, uh, bump it, John? - You want me to - Just slow, bump it.
Bump it.
Oh, that'll work.
You know, that car pretty much does everything for you, right? It has launch control, it has the shift points.
You know, there's not really a way that you can screw up the race in that car.
And I think we have a really good shot.
I'm not nervous at all.
So, I'm gonna put this list on the doghouse, and it's one of my last-minute things I do before I race.
And this will live right here.
And that's my checklist, before I floor this thing.
If I don't pull the timing back, you can blow up the engine.
It sounds different.
It's doing something different.
- I'm checking this reluctor, okay? - Mm-hmm.
Interesting.
Finally, this baby starts! - It does run! - Send it! I feel really excited that my truck's running now, after all the hard work me and my buddies, you know, have been putting in.
I really appreciate all their help, and we've done nothing but beat our heads against the wall, working crazy hours.
But I feel really better now that it's running and driving, so there's no stopping me now.
I believe if I can hook and get up out of there, you know, I believe I got an excellent chance of winning.
Very nice.
Beautiful car.
- Thank you.
- A beast.
I think this is Darth Vader's old car.
- Right, right.
Yeah.
- Very nice.
Very nice.
I didn't sleep last night, the day before the race.
I probably put 130 hours into it myself, in one week, seven days, not including all my friends and family that's helped me.
We got to win.
- How's it going? - What's going on? - Ryan.
- Ced.
- Nice to meet you.
- Yeah, sure.
- Your car? - Yep.
Nice car.
I love Grand Nationals.
Right, yeah.
Sounds like you got a heartbeat goin' on.
Yeah, it's not running right.
Been having nothing but problems.
Yeah, they're very temperamental.
But when they right, they right.
- Well, one of us gotta win, V6 style.
- Right.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Thinking about my Ma, you know? Did I do everything right? Am I gonna do everything right? Drag racing's more than just flooring a gas pedal.
- Jarvis, I know that guy.
- Yeah, I know him too.
Seen him at the track.
- What kind of tires he got on there? - I don't know.
It look like a full slate.
- Smells like race gas, too.
- Yeah.
You're good.
All right.
Ryan.
- Dave Jarvis.
My pleasure.
- Nice to meet you.
- Damn, break my hand.
- Yeah, I got a good handshake.
Easy, easy.
Easy.
- How are you? Dave Jarvis.
- Ced.
Ced.
- Oh, look.
Look what we got here.
- Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Uh-uh.
That's fancy.
Let me drive that.
- Here we go.
- I'll show him how to drive that.
Hey, let's switch vehicles, see who drives it faster.
There we go.
I'll tell you one thing, I love that color.
I'm not nervous at all about the drag race.
The only thing that I'm nervous about is one of these guys going sideways and smashing into me.
That's the only thing that I'm nervous about.
Good? - What's up, man? - Hi, Dave Jarvis, my pleasure.
Good to meet you.
Which one's yours? - The van.
- Oh, yeah? - What's your name? - Nick.
- Nick, nice to meet you, man.
- I'm a little bit scared of that van.
- Oh! - You've got some big, fat tires there.
- Great, man.
- That's a beat, huh? He just press a button and go.
What do they call this, a shaggin' wagon or what? - That's a name for it! - The Mystery Machine.
It's 418 cubic inch, all aluminum, pump gas, small-block Chevy.
How much power you putting down? - Uh, made 531.
At the tire.
- At the wheel? That fucker's gonna be fast, dude.
I already know.
I don't think I'm Well, it's heavy and it's not aerodynamic.
I think the van's got a good advantage.
He's got a lot of weight, so a lot of weight, when you transfer it, it actually hooks the tire.
So, I think he's got a good advantage.
Engine fuel pump, nitrous fuel pump, timing control right here.
Ignition here.
Ignition here.
Decked out.
You might have more options than the McLaren.
Yeah, maybe! - Let's check out this truck.
- Just a V6.
- Twin turbo.
- Yes, you got two cylinders on me, though.
Yeah.
Those cars are fast.
That guy's putting down 800 horsepower to the wheel.
It'll make 1,500, but I didn't make it that today.
- The motor's actually hurt.
- What do you mean? - It's got metal in the oil.
- Aw, man.
- It's knocking.
- Really? - I just - Bring it over to the house.
And then the van is putting down 510 to the rear wheel with a 275 shot of nitrous.
Cedric, how much power you putting down to that? Oh, man, a little bit more than stock.
Not much more.
Come on, now.
But they have the margin of driver error.
The driver has to drive those cars.
Me, I can just be an idiot and hit the button, you know what I mean? For launch control and be gone.
- Let me show you how to open the door.
- How do you do that? There's a motion sensor, so you put it - You put your hand over there? - Like you're going up a woman's leg, - you know, to her butt.
Just like that.
- This is Cheryl.
- Hey, Cheryl.
I'm Nick.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
- Pleasure to meet you.
- You too.
I love the McLaren.
That color is just out of sight, but I don't think he gonna do very well today, you know? I touched his tires, and it's hard as hell.
Totally off for what we're trying to do, which is hook and book.
He gonna He gonna spin, I guarantee that.
May we have the drivers here, please? Drivers only.
We're gonna give you each an opportunity to walk the track so that you can see what the lanes look like, and you can decide where you want to run your car.
Oh, look, there's a manhole cover.
Detroit, dog! I don't think this makes too much difference to me, to be honest.
It's all the same.
The race will start upon a signal visible to all vehicles.
That'll be these lights here.
Vehicles will be allowed one tire-warming run or burnout before the race in order to clean and heat the tires, if so desired.
I want to do a small burn.
Motor's getting noisier.
The winner of this race will go on to the championship race in El Mirage dry lake bed.
Anything can happen.
Anything can go wrong.
Someone can crash.
Everybody can spin.
One little thing goes wrong, it can be ruined.
If everything goes right, I think my van's gonna fly.
When you get up to the starting line, everything goes slow motion.
Once you let go and go down the track, it's fun.
Trying to savor the moment right now.
All the hard work and the sleepless nights, it's coming all to a head.
It's been a long 24 hours, man.
I didn't sleep, and I had a young lady stay the night last night, and just I'm burning it at both ends.
So it's a good thing I just have to push a button.
I think I got to drive over ten miles an hour to get the launch mode active.
- You can back up and go over ten - Okay.
- to get it, yeah.
- All right.
The rules stated, break the tires, rotate the tires, it's considered as a burnout.
Supercar, number one, did his burnout.
Fuck is going on here? - Are you good? - I don't know, man.
All right, you're done.
Go.
So then this guy, well, I'm looking at him.
I'm on the brake so I don't roll forward.
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Like I said, I want to do the burnout a foot from that line.
Well, you gotta go! Let's go, let's go! How much water you want down? - Whole thing? Half? - We gotta go! - Not even.
- Not even.
These guys pour the water where they're gonna leave, at the starting line.
He did that, and I already knew he fucked up.
Goddamnit.
Did you see what they did? He's leaving in water.
He's done.
That's it.
That's your burnout.
- Aw, fuck! - They're saying one and done, that's it.
Come on, man! Oh, he's fucked.
- Now you're sitting in water.
- Fuck that! - What you gonna do? - Cars are getting hot.
Bullshit! I do my burnout.
Little burnout.
So then, Grand National guy Come on, let's go! Let's go! attempts to do a burnout, does a little burnout.
Everybody backs up.
I'm sitting there, sitting there, sitting there.
If I pull up to the line, am I still in the water? - Yeah.
- Come on, what the fuck? I'm ready to race.
What is going on? What? I don't know how he got to do another burnout, but that was not part of the rules.
So, all of a sudden, people start doing more burnouts.
And then I was sitting there for ten minutes, it felt like.
Racing, you don't do that.
Race cars, you cannot do that, 'cause your engine could overheat.
I mean, I'm getting burned down here.
Come on, you gotta go! We gotta go! Off, no more.
We gotta go! Come on up.
Come on up.
Damn it.
Fucking son of a bitch.
What the fuck was the one burnout? That's two burnouts! Man! Was sitting here waiting for 20 fucking minutes! That's bullshit! - That's fucking bullshit! - piece of shit now! Fucking morons! Fucking sitting here running all fucking day.
Let me see this motherfucker.
That's fucking bullshit! They're all probably fucking scared, fuckin' want to burn me fucking down, that's some fucking bullshit! Take this shit to the street, motherfuckers get shot! Two fucking weeks nonstop, we haven't slept in fucking 40 hours! Hey, what the fuck was that? One burnout! One fucking burnout! - You're gonna yell at me? - Yeah, I'm gonna fucking yell at you.
The rules were for six months, one burnout.
- I didn't get a burnout.
- Bullshit! You spun the tires! They said break the tires, that was one burnout! You dumb motherfuckers put the water in there.
- Don't call me names.
- Hey, I don't give a fuck! - What you gonna do? - I do.
I'm repping Detroit! What the fuck you wanna do about it? I don't give a fuck! The rules were one fucking burnout! You're sitting there burning me down, that's some fucking bullshit! - I didn't burn anybody down.
- Bullshit! Go to the fucking reel.
He ended up cooking his motor, and then everybody went.
Get the fuck out of here.
Go to real Detroit street racing.
- Right now? Right now? - Yeah, let's fucking go, motherfucker.
It's what you get for racing in Detroit.
- I know you're mad.
- I've been working my dick off on this.
I know.
I know.
And it's okay.
But it's just supposed to be a fun race and - It doesn't matter.
They cheated.
- Okay, we can accept that.
- Can you get me a water? - Can you stop screaming for me? Yeah, can you get me a water, please? Yes.
- Can you calm down? Promise me? - Please, get me a water.
Oh, man, that flew off the handle, boy.
Shit.
- It happens.
- Yeah.
Okay, guys, so Unfortunately, that race didn't go exactly as we planned.
So we're gonna talk about that a little bit.
And then we also have what we feel is a resolution and a situation that will work for everybody involved, okay? So, we got to the line, and Dave, even though the rules said one burnout, you took two burnouts.
Nick, you took two burnouts when originally it was one.
The rules were broken, and the rules shouldn't have been broken.
We all agreed on something.
- You're absolutely right.
Yeah.
- You know what I mean? So, Dave, unfortunately, you had two burnouts, so you're disqualified.
Nick, same thing.
A disqualification is a disqualification.
It's honestly It's a shame, 'cause you got some really fast, really powerful cars out here, and I'd hoped for a better race.
It was the greatest day of my life, and now it's the worst.
Man.
Two people followed the rules.
So, what we're gonna do, what we think the fairest thing to do, is have a runoff between Ryan and Cedric at a place to be determined and a time to be determined.
And the winner of that race will get to go on to the finals at the dry lake bed at El Mirage, California.
I'm feeling real confident.
I know my car's gonna do what it's gonna do, you know? I know it's gonna perform, so I'm ready to get it done.
I'm ready to drive.
That's what I do.
- All right.
- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
- Thanks for coming back out.
It's a rematch, I hope everything goes clean.
I want a good, fair race, you know? I want to win.
I put in a lot of work, time, money, and so has my friends, family, everybody else.
So, I want to represent Detroit.
- Good to see you.
- What's up? Thanks for coming back out.
- Good to see you again.
- Thank you.
I'm tired.
Easy.
The motor obviously broke last time, so I'm saving it for the race.
When I see a lot of pushing around You know, is that a testament to, you know, how it's gonna run and stuff? Well, hopefully, that'll work out in my favor.
- What's up, bro? You all right? - Yeah.
Haven't got able, a chance to test it or anything.
- Right, right, right.
- So, it ain't running right, so Right.
You gotta be completely composed, focused in your vehicle, you know, at the starting line.
You mess up, and that's how people win races, or you lose races.
When I pull up to the burnout box and do my burnout, I always think about Top Gun.
Like I'm about to get launched off the aircraft carrier.
I've got a little bit of nerves going, but I'm extremely focused, extremely confident, and, you know, I'm just ready for lift-off.
- You good? - Okay! Okay, okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! - Woo! - Okay! - We got a race.
Thank you.
- That was side-by-side Thank you.
We got a race.
That's a race.
That's a race.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Damn it.
Good race, gentlemen.
Good race.
Good race.
I jumped out on about half a car, and I actually held him there till probably about 75 percent of the way down.
I think third gear, he started to come back around.
I pulled up in front of him, and I was looking in the mirror.
And I actually grabbed third gear, and it started My motor started to break up a little bit.
But I couldn't see him behind me in my mirror, so I knew he was right next to me.
So it was a pretty close race.
- How's it going? - Yeah.
Okay, let's bring it in.
- Both clean starts.
You were the winner.
- Cool.
So you'll be moving on to the dry lake bed in El Mirage, California.
So, thank you very much for that.
Thank you very much.
A lot of highs and lows, a lot of sleepless nights, and busted knuckles and girlfriends or wives being mad 'cause you ain't at home and stuff, but, you know I want to thank my friends and family.
My girlfriend that puts up with me In the barn, 24 hours a day, you know? She's like, "What are you doing down there?" So, I want to thank everybody.
I won this race today and I'm going to move forward to California to race on a dry lake bed.
I've never done that before, and I got to do a lot of work in a short period of time to get ready for this race and I only have a couple weeks, and it's gonna be fun.
All the ups and downs, and the fighting and the bickering and stuff, you know, yeah, all that's behind us now, you know? 'Cause we all was warriors on the drag strip, and we all fought and battled, and we all had our own cars that we was fighting with.
So, we was living the same thing, even though we was competitors and stuff.
So, you know, all that stuff that happened before, man, that's in the past.
You know, we won't even think about that.