Fastest Car (2018) s02e01 Episode Script
Honda Power
1 [T-Mark.]
Today we're gonna run four wide, one quarter mile, and the winner of this race will go on to the championship round.
[man.]
In Cuba, my main dream was owning a car so it would be beautiful to win this race.
[woman.]
There's men out there that think you shouldn't be doing the car thing at all, but you don't realize what this thing is capable of, you don't realize what I'm capable of.
[engine revving.]
[man 2.]
The car is me.
It's built by me with these hands.
Definitely got more power than a supercar.
[man 3.]
The guys building the cheap junk cars with big turbos, they're just wasting their time, because this car is engineered to be that fast.
I can't respect that particular car, it's painful to my eyes.
I wanna blow the doors off all three cars here and that's it.
[engine revving.]
[dramatic music playing.]
[car engines revving.]
[birdsong.]
[clicking tongue.]
[in Spanish.]
Come on, your turn.
Huh? Whatever car they bring we are going to win.
We are going to represent the family and Florida.
[in English.]
I know I'm a gonna win this race.
- [in Spanish.]
A draw! - [woman.]
A draw, a draw! That's not gonna happen in the race! [laughter.]
[upbeat Latin music playing.]
[in English.]
My name is Daniel Rodriguez.
I'm 33 years old.
We live in Homestead, Florida.
My car is a 1992 Honda Civic.
I bought it for $3,000.
Hondas are underdog cars, yes.
Why? 'Cause they're cheap.
A little money, you can make it fast.
Driving this, I feels like I'm driving a Mercedes.
Like I'm driving another supercar.
It's all about Honda power, bitches.
Oh, yeah.
[Daniel.]
This car has a K-series engine.
Produce about a thousand horsepower.
Most of the Hondas are front-wheel drive.
This one, we make it all-wheel drive.
This all-wheel drive set up hooks and books.
The first time I drove in the US, I was scared to switch lanes.
because in my country, they only have, like, one lane, but it feels great at the same time, you know? Uh, 'cause I was doing something that I would never do in my country.
[Daniel.]
I was born in Cuba, the city of Havana.
It's super hard to grow up in Cuba.
[in Spanish.]
You have to find a way to survive.
[in English.]
You have to look for food, because whatever the government gives you is not enough.
You gotta eat whatever you have at the moment.
Even if you have the money, you gonna take you 30 days to save that money, and then you're not gonna spend it in one day only to eat chicken.
It was so hard for us.
So, thank God I had the opportunity.
I came to the United States in 2006, I was about 19 years old.
I was leaving everything that I had and making a new life here.
Super hard to have left my mother, to leave my sister and my brother to leave my people, to leave everybody behind.
Ah It was super hard to leave my mother.
And I miss her every day, yeah.
But my mother was super happy, 'cause she knows that, at least, here we have the opportunity to have stuff you're not gonna have in Cuba, and opportunities to meet new people, and to be free.
When I got to the US, it was so hard for me.
You never know if you're gonna make it.
You're closing your eyes and it's like you you [in Spanish.]
are born again.
[Daniel.]
I met Yosmari a year and a half after being here.
She always helping me.
She's the one that helped me and say, "I know you can do better.
" [Yosmari.]
I get my cousin to take me to a racetrack, and when I see that guy racing the car? Oh, my God.
Make me feel I say, "That guy's mine.
" [laughing.]
Like, picked it up.
"That's mine.
" [Daniel.]
She really loved cars, and actually knows a lot of stuff about cars.
[Yosmari.]
Yeah, we are 100% a power couple.
We're best friends.
I support him, he support me.
We have that, uh, connection.
He race, he works on the car, I do the shit talking.
[laughs.]
[Daniel.]
My car was my first baby, but now we got Natalie now, so, now the car is number two, Natalie is number one.
[Daniel.]
Natalie was the best thing that happened to me.
I love her.
I want to be with her always.
She's everything.
I love her.
[Yosmari in Spanish.]
Look at this.
What is this? [Daniel.]
Most of the time, when I'm working on the car, she come to me and she grab a tool, but in my opinion, I don't like Natalie to be in cars.
Why? 'Cause she's a girl [Daniel, in Spanish.]
Racing is not for girls.
It's better for them to be in the kitchen and do their nails and things like that.
[Yosmari, in English.]
That's Cubans' thing.
That's all machista stuff from Cubans.
Girls can drive whatever car they want, and if they like racing, that's good.
[chuckles.]
I'll never get beat by a woman.
Don't make me race a woman, please.
[Danel.]
It would be a dream for us to win this race.
[in Spanish.]
I come from a country with limited resources.
They don't have anything, there's no internet, they know nothing about technology Whatever a person can do to overcome that is super important.
[Daniel, in English.]
It feels so nice to be fast, it feels like freedom.
I really like makeup because it kinda gives you, like, a creative outlet to kinda do what you want.
There's no real rules to it, you can do whatever you want.
You can express yourself.
But when it's race car time, my hair's pulled back, I'm greasy, and it's race car time.
And then, of course, there's men out there that think you shouldn't be doing the car thing at all.
But, if you look at statistics, women have better reaction times than men.
[woman.]
I'm 22 years old.
I started martial arts when I was about eight or nine.
I became black belt at about 12.
I did manage to win my first world title my first time competing for it.
So, that was pretty fun.
[commentator.]
Spinning.
Intensity strong.
Oh! Behind the back catch! And the pressure did not get to her.
[woman.]
I loved everything that I did, but eventually I had done the karate for a really long time and I just wanted something different.
[commentator.]
Ms.
Noonen what a performance! [woman.]
When I was about 15, 16, that's when I really started wanting to get into cars more.
My dad bought this car, and we started building this together, and the rest is really history.
I drive a 1992 Eagle Talon.
It's got a 4G63 engine in it.
Um, it's transverse.
The car's all-wheel drive.
We named this car Phoenix, because it rose from the ashes.
The car itself we bought as a roller, so nothing that's in it now was in it before.
Now it's a big, you know, beautiful, fire-breathing, badass, you know, kinda thing that we that we built ourselves.
What are your thoughts on this race? Are you Are you worried about it? Are you No, like anything, it's just karate, cars, no matter what, you have to focus on what you're doing, and not worry about the others.
Are you worried about the race? Yes, I hold my breath when you go down the track.
It's good it doesn't take me long to get down it, or you might pass out, holding your breath.
[chuckles.]
I don't know what supercar it is, but, uh I don't give a shit.
[laughs.]
[Adriana.]
Winning would be great, because, you know, we did spend a lot of weekends and late, late, late nights working on the car.
I've raced this car for years and years.
I would say that this car meshes with my personality in a way that you don't realize what this thing is capable of.
You don't realize what I'm capable of.
[Tom.]
She is a great kid.
To see Adriana win this race, it'd be pretty amazing.
Her focus, her determination to win I'll bet on her every time.
[man.]
This is my half a million dollar Ferrari F12.
And I bought a Miami Vice outfit with a gold Rolex, gold 18-carat shades, and everything else, even a gold gun, so I could just straight-up be like Miami Vice style living here in South Florida.
I have a lot of cars, and I've owned more expensive cars, but none that really have hit my soul as hard as this one.
[PJ.]
I'm racing a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante Spyder.
It's in Miami Blue, with every single option possible, and a sticker of $370,000.
[engine revving.]
Like, there's a feeling that goes into it, you know? - I mean, listen to the noise.
It just - [revs engine.]
- It's crazy, you know? Listen to this.
- [accelerating.]
I mean, this is a pussy magnet on a level, like, beyond, like, anything.
[PJ.]
I get haters everywhere.
Right? I get people, like, yelling stupid shit like, "Hey, did Daddy buy you that car?" They want to justify why it's okay to be mediocre, and I remind them of the reality of being mediocre, and they don't like that one bit.
[revving loudly.]
[PJ .]
I found a lot of business success early.
I'd made some incredible real estate investments, and made my first million when I was 27, but I had lost my sense of purpose.
So I decided to teach people business online.
I have so many businesses, but, in short, I'm an online teacher.
I teach people how to be better entrepreneurs.
For the last ten years, I've built these courses on mindset, on awareness, and sales, to be able to fast-forward your journey to entrepreneurship, and do what I've done in 20 years in less than three.
I teach people how to leverage lifestyle and exotic cars through my platform Exotic Car Hacks.
[imitates explosion.]
These nuts.
Let me tell you something.
You can actually afford to buy the car of your dreams I want you guys to know shit is possible, shit is doable.
Don't let anyone ever keep you from reaching your dreams.
Over the years, I've been able to teach, now, over 40,000 people, and I've been able to change lives, and even sold a million copies of a book that I wrote without even reading a book.
The number one reason I'm successful and a lot of people are not is because they worry about how they feel all the time.
"Oh, I'm sad, I'm hurt, I'm happy" No one has time for that shit.
I'm very direct with people, and a lot of times I call people "poor," I call people "weak.
" I just tell 'em they're imbeciles in hopes that they will wake up.
There's no reason why you should be in the United States and be poor with all the opportunities here.
And when people don't take that seriously, I'm very direct at shoving it in their face.
For me, doing a race like this is about proving to people that they shouldn't justify mediocrity.
[PJ.]
The guys that are building the Honda Civics and the cheap junk cars with big turbos, even if they build really fast cars, it doesn't matter, because the Performante is engineered to be that fast.
At the end of the day, they're just wasting their time.
Guys, I mean, if I do come up losin' in this thing, they're gonna ride me out on it.
I mean, let's be realistic.
What other donk has raced - a supercar? - I got a question.
If you beat the supercar, would your car be considered a super donk? - [laughs.]
- We do live in Miami, so [Rusty.]
I have the 1972 Chevrolet Caprice.
The car is what is known in this world as a donk, and a fast one at that.
It's known as the Rusty Bullet, but it's known as a donk.
A donk is a Chevy, Caprice or Impala 1971 to 1976 year platform.
The donk scene in Miami emerged around 1999.
It spread the uniqueness of everybody wanting to customize it with rims or their special paint color, or whatever the interior might be.
It was more of a flashy thing instead of a going fast thing.
[Rusty.]
In the donk world, we have a following of people who don't like the car because of the fact that it's not flashy.
The car doesn't have paint and it doesn't have interior.
Instead of worrying about the aesthetic point of the car, I just wanna make it known that you can make a heavy donk compete with the best of 'em.
I actually paid about $1,100 for the car, in total.
I shouldn't have had more than $5,000 in the whole entire setup.
It's got a 6.
0 LS based 408 stroker.
It's definitely got more power than a supercar.
You know, the car is me, basically.
It's built by me with these hands.
[engine revving.]
[Rusty.]
People judge a lot the book by its cover, but when they see the car go down the track, they say, "I can't believe this thing just went down the track like that.
" Weee! So, I'm a first generation Cuban-American.
As soon as my father came to the United States, the first thing he did was drive.
Everybody here in the neighborhood knows us as a hands-on, working family.
- Wee! - Wee! You're gonna burn your booty.
Who's gonna get booty burn? [Rusty.]
My little one's, uh she's gonna be turning a year old.
Before, everything was about me.
Everything was just about what I wanna do, and the street racing.
I've done a lot of that.
And being that now I have the little one, I don't wanna get taken to jail.
I don't wanna crash into another racer.
There's definitely a lot more at stake now with the priorities that I have in life.
But it's not like I'm gonna get an opportunity to have a supercar owner come up to me and say, "You wanna try that out?" So, just the chance or the opportunity to have raced, it means something to me.
I wouldn't think the personality of somebody with a lot more money than me would be the same.
I'm a lot more goal driven and work driven, blood, sweat, tears so I don't see that a lot out of a supercar owner.
I'm ready for it.
I'm ready to go out there and show what the Rusty Bullet can do.
Hey, the car we're racingis a 2018 Lamborghini Performante Spyder.
- What's the name? Lamborghini Huracán - Performante - Performante Spyder.
- Performante Spyder.
[man.]
Spyder is the convertible.
How much is this car? [in Spanish.]
No idea.
- [in English.]
Oh, it's only 315,000.
- "Only"? - [laughing.]
- It's only! [Daniel.]
Holy crap! - They've got a beautiful color, so - [laughs.]
- The color is better than yours.
- Okay.
- [Karel.]
It's, uh - How much power is that? What is it, like a V8, V10? - Old motor? - It's a V10 5.
2 Oh.
- It's a cow.
It weighs 3,000 - Six hundred horse.
3,400 pounds.
That's a cow, babe.
- [Daniel.]
How fast? - [Karel.]
2.
3 seconds, zero to 60.
- Those cars, they take off super fast.
- Yeah.
- We gotta take off right next to him - Okay.
Okay.
'Cause if you don't take off next to him, you're not gonna catch him.
I - We have work to do, my brother.
- He weighs - Go ahead.
- [speaks Spanish.]
[in English.]
I'm too fat to be doing this.
[groans.]
[engine starts.]
[Karel.]
Go, go, go.
[Daniel.]
All right, let's do this! - [Karel.]
You gonna change the plugs? - [Daniel.]
Yeah.
Why are you changing the spark plugs? [Karel.]
If we were running an eight-cylinder car, a V8, one spark plug starts misfiring, we've still got seven.
But we're running four.
- [scoffs.]
Okay.
- One misfire, there goes 25% of your power.
With this right now, we'll have new new plugs, fresh, so I think we're good.
I can't wait to see the the face of this guy when we beat this supercar, - these, uh, V8s or V10s.
- They're gonna learn to respect.
My nickname is Frustrate EG.
[Daniel.]
I got that name in races, 'cause I used to beat a lot of people, and then people get frustrated.
It's all about racing and winning.
Taking winnings, talking shit online But it's not only talking shit, you gotta win.
Let me Let me drain this oil.
[Yosmari.]
I think if Danny didn't find me and his love for the racing cars, there would be a bad end for him.
Cars make him spend his time and his money on the safe life.
It's not safe, because you're racing and that's your life on the line, but it's not drugs, it's not bad habits, it's none of that.
and just gonna add more fuel on the motor.
- The fuel's gonna - Aah! - Why are you looking to me? - I know.
I know! - I know! - Oh, my God! What [Yosmari.]
I'm really excited for him.
I think it's been really good for him with race cars.
And me, also.
[laughs.]
We gotta go to the track.
We gotta try this bitch.
[Daniel.]
I can't wait to be part of this.
In Cuba, my main dream was owning a car, and then moved to this country.
We had the ability to build our own car, and maybe beat a supercar.
It's super beautiful to do this.
I love it.
[Tom.]
It's a pretty car, that's for sure.
I'd go out to dinner in it.
It runs a bottom ten.
That's a pretty fast car.
We're gonna have to work on our tune and get this new turbo in.
So, I think that we definitely need to get to the turbo and possibly change this cartridge out.
You know, it's been on this car for three-plus years.
It's probably had quite a bit of debris go through it.
[Adriana.]
We actually think we're having a bit of an issue with our turbo, but I think if we get it changed, I think the car will run really great.
[Patrick.]
I got it.
[sighs.]
- Oh, yeah.
- It's a boy! - [Patrick.]
She's a little marked up.
- Oh.
All right, let's get the new one in.
[Adriana.]
What really gets to some guys is when they see me working on the car and they're like, "Oh, she knows what she's talking about.
" Okay, I mean I don't see what the difference is if I have ovaries and you don't, but if it makes you feel some way, it makes you feel some way.
I don't know what to tell you.
[Tom.]
Adriana loves to win, she loves to compete.
Life's all about winning and losing.
You gotta learn how to take that win and be humble about it.
And when you lose, you build on it.
She does that better than anyone I know.
[revving.]
[Adriana.]
To beat a car that has the engineering and the ingenuity and the things that car has in it, it would definitely be cool, especially since this is something we built from the ground up.
[in French.]
How many cars? - [in French.]
Four cars - Are you happy - to be doing that? - I'm happy.
I'm happy.
This is important.
I love you.
[in English.]
I love you so much.
I am proud of him.
He I am a blessed mom.
He is such a nice son that I don't think anybody anybody has such a son.
Honestly.
[PJ.]
My mom is the strongest woman I've ever met.
Me and my mom were very strong early on because we were always trusting one another, and really, this was the circle that nobody could break.
[PJ.]
I was born in Iran in 1982, and then at the age of three, my parents separated, and me and my mom ended up fleeing Iran because of all this craziness happening with the revolution.
Finally, we ended up as refugees in, uh, France.
I remember just getting to France with almost nothing.
We had no money.
We lived in someone else's kind of, like, side room basement and it was kind of a a shock, in a way.
So, growing up in France was a huge headache for me because I didn't know the language, I was bullied all the time.
I had a kid that was always poking, like, literally, uh pencils, like, into my body when I was a kid, 'cause I was a little chubby kid.
Just because he kind of knew I didn't have this language thing and I couldn't complain.
He kind of had figured out that I wasn't supposed to be there, per se, uh, legally, and so he was kind of pushing the boundaries all the time.
I took a lot of beating, you know, the first couple of, uh, years in school, and I really hated school.
And I saw my mom struggle.
Like, I knew my mom was struggling.
So, from the day we ended up in France, we knew we wanted to come to the US.
Me and my mom eventually, after ten years, got a visa to come to the US.
So, once again, we had to abandon everything to end up in my uncle's basement in northern Virginia.
I think every hardship that me and my mom have gone through, every hardship I've watched my mom go through, has ultimately enabled me to become the person I've become today.
I didn't have to grow up in a war, I didn't have to escape that.
She did.
And so, I have a very low tolerance for weakness in my life, because I've seen what the worst is and I've seen the endurance through it.
So I'm like, if that lady did it at that age what are you guys complaining about? [PJ, in French.]
Are you afraid? [in French.]
Yes, of course.
- Why are you afraid? - Because it's dangerous.
[in English.]
I'm excited, and I'm I'm happy for you, but anxiety is still there.
But we're gonna be okay.
[PJ.]
I'm not worried about the race, like, at all.
Listen, at the end of the day, I can't lose.
I have millions of dollars and I go home to freedom, impact, creating meaning, and changing the world.
So, in that aspect, I've already won, but I actually have to win to then make the point that it is actually better to be me.
I can't just be, like, "It's cool to be me because I'm rich.
" No, it's cooler to be me because I'm rich, and I beat your ass on the racetrack.
I think the supercar driver's probably at home right now just - Shitting.
- sipping his tea.
- Not even worried about us, probably.
- Lightly dabbin' it, you know? [Rusty.]
I think I'll never get another Lamborghini that's gonna wanna race this junker here.
So, yeah, guys, we got some work to do.
I wanna change out the wastegate springs on it.
[Rusty.]
The springs, you know, this is what's gonna control how how hard I come out of the hold.
I'm just lookin' for a better takeoff, a better launch.
I'm not trying to let that Performante and its beautiful all-wheel drive electronic component system get in front of me.
Let's hope it works, right? [sighs.]
Aaah! I owe you guys.
[Rusty.]
I still live with my folks to this day.
I'm close to them.
I like to do what I can in order to help 'em out.
I'm a self-employed, I guess you could say, uh, backyard mechanic.
Workin' out the backyard, for me, isn't somethin' that I've always wanted.
I actually had my own 10,000-square-foot facility.
I was actually doing the repairs on cars, or modifications on the cars that I work on, and then, uh, the trucking company I was working for closed down.
It was, um, owned by my father, and it was a little bit of a rocky roller coaster after that happened.
You know, I was about two or three years without having to do anything on cars until I could get back on my feet, support my family, and stuff like that.
If it comes down to me having to, you know, get rid of the car in order to better myself, I have no problem with doing so, but I wanna see if I can push myself harder in other ways without having to get rid of somethin' that's so close to me now.
I hope this adjustment's gonna get us to where we need to be.
Yeah.
[car engine starts.]
[Adriana.]
Now that we've got this new turbo in the car, we should be back to making full power.
Do you feel this? This is slick.
It is actually a little bit slippery.
- Okay, yeah.
- So, if we can get down this, - we are gonna be golden - We can.
- We'll be golden, Ponyboy.
- Wednesday.
[Adriana.]
My dad gets nervous every time I get behind the wheel of a car.
You good? I'mma bring you around.
[Adriana.]
I should probably take my dad to the cardiologist after this.
His blood pressure is probably pretty high right now.
[Tom.]
She drove that thing.
[laughing.]
- [woman.]
Was that fun? - [Adriana.]
Yeah! [Tom.]
It spun really good.
Like, It's obviously making more power.
That new turbo must be adding more power.
[Adriana.]
We put a new turbo.
And so it's running great, it's running super fast.
Jesus.
Winning would be phenomenal, because I think it would make my dad feel really, really good, because there was a lot of late nights and long weekends spent getting the car ready for the race.
You know, of course, when you win it, it just makes it even more satisfying and makes you feel like it was all worth it in the end.
[Daniel.]
Racing time.
- Okay.
- Uh! - Oh, my God.
- [cooing.]
- Let me get this - [both laughing.]
[engine revving.]
- Let's do a pass on low boost.
- Okay, it's good.
[Daniel.]
Right now, we're testing the launch and the top speed.
[Yosmari.]
Hey! Woo! Woo-hoo! [Daniel.]
We gotta fix the launch.
When I launch it, I feel the car bucks out, and then take off.
- Okay.
- And maybe, I don't know, I won't have enough power to come out of the line.
I think you need more boost.
Okay, then then this this guy is not gonna catch us.
- [laughs.]
- No, he already not gonna catch us.
[Daniel.]
But we gotta clean pass at least, A to B.
We can fix the launch, and then give it more boost.
You know, we got work to do still, but we're about ready for the race.
[in Spanish.]
Look at you! [laughing.]
[Rusty.]
Sounded pretty good.
Sounded hella good.
After, uh, I swapped out the wastegate springs, it worked well.
I like the results.
[Rusty.]
I definitely am able to launch a lot softer.
This way the car's not comin' out so violent.
If you're underestimating these cars on big rims, you've got a big, big realization comin' to you.
[tires squealing.]
[Adriana.]
If you want to be equal, then act like you're equal.
Don't show up and say, "If I beat you, you lost to a girl, ah-ha-ha.
" No, you lost to a racer, you lost to a car, you lost to me.
I think that that is why I get as much respect as I do, is that I don't throw it in people's face that I have ovaries.
A lot of people think that a Honda Civic is not gonna beat a supercar.
I'm pretty sure they're wrong.
People who knows me, they're scared.
They know this car is fast.
[PJ.]
I'm petrified to race next to pieces of shit.
I'm scared of the drivers not controlling their cars.
I'm scared of the cars suddenly blowing up, causing debris and shit all over my car.
I'm afraid that they have nothing to lose, and I have 400 grand on the tarmac, and that's a problem.
[engine revving.]
We need to put your name on the wall there.
Right there.
I want my name over there.
Danny, Honda.
- [man.]
All right, sounds good.
- Let's do it.
I'm the motherfucking king.
Oh, shit, another car's coming, huh? [Adriana.]
Today's one of those days where I'm honestly just competing with myself.
I just wanna make sure that I'm just doing my job, staying in my lane, and, uh, just having fun, really.
[laughs.]
- Nice to meet you.
- And you.
Adriana.
- That's a girl driving, bro.
- What? - That's a fucking girl driving.
- [in Spanish.]
Shut your mouth.
- Oh, yeah.
- Holy shit.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
[in Spanish.]
She weighs less than you.
She has better reaction time.
- Hi.
- How are you? - Dan.
Nice to meet you.
- Adriana.
- How's it going? - Danny.
How you doing? - Should be a good race.
All-wheel drive? - Yeah.
- Are you the one driving the car? - Yeah.
Are you sure? - I'm positive.
- Okay.
Just kidding.
[all laughing.]
Holy crap.
[Daniel.]
Definitely, I would say a woman will drive a fast car, but a man will know what he's doing.
[Rusty.]
The majority of the cars that I race, I know what I'm gonna race beforehand, and they're usually donks.
So, I know the owners of the cars are gonna be pretty shocked.
- Let's see what's the other car.
- There it is.
[Daniel.]
Oh, shit.
It's like a donk? - Yeah, a donk, yeah.
- [Daniel.]
What kind of motor's that? Honey, watch the kid.
[Adriana.]
I've never raced a donk before.
They can be really fast.
I mean, He could definitely surprise all of us.
[speaking Spanish.]
Ah, she's loud.
- Danny.
What's up, buddy? - What's up, man? - Adriana.
- Are you the owner? - Driver.
- Who's the owner? - She's drivin'.
- Oh, okay.
[Rusty.]
These things are little beasts.
I got the "big booty Judy" out of everybody here.
- You got - Well, you got power.
[Tom.]
You got two turbos, - both of which are bigger than our one.
- Yeah.
[Daniel.]
The turbo is not the only thing big here.
The motor look big too.
[laughs.]
[Daniel.]
I don't think it would hook it.
It's a heavy car, a lot of power.
I hope he doesn't lose control and hit someone.
That's what I'm worried about.
[engine revving.]
- Oh, shit.
- [Yosmari laughs.]
I see it.
- It's baby blue.
- It look nice, though.
- How are you? Good morning.
- Hello.
Hi.
Adriana.
- I'm PJ.
- [both.]
Nice to meet you.
- Morning.
- Rusty.
- PJ.
- Danny.
How you doing? PJ.
You got a nice car, man.
So, how you make money, then? Uh, I Well, I make a lot of money, but it's through I own a lot of different companies, so I grew up very poor, and then one day, I got fed up with it.
I said, "Fuck it," - and went to work.
- [Adriana.]
Quit being poor.
It actually looks better in person, - It looks a lot better.
- Yeah.
In photos, it's hard to actually capture it.
- Capture it, yeah.
- Keep it stock, man.
That's not the hood, 'cause I'm not working under that if that's the hood.
- Some sauce.
- Technically, it's the hood.
- Where's the engine? - [PJ.]
That is the engine.
- So your trunk is in the front.
- Yeah.
And it barely fits anything.
Can't even fit luggage.
It's completely useless.
This is like a "fuck you" car.
You show up places and you're like, "Fuck you.
" - [chuckles.]
- Let's take a ride in this one.
- Huh? - [PJ.]
What is that? This is an Eagle Talon.
Oh, you're driving? Okay, awesome.
I like a female driver.
Even better.
- Just a driver.
I'm good.
- Well, you can tell he fixes the car.
- Um I know - She looks like she worked on it.
I've built multiple motors.
I know what I'm doing.
I could kick him right in the face right now if I wanted to.
[laughing.]
Okay.
[Adriana.]
It wasn't anything that I haven't heard before.
I'm secure in who I am as a driver, who I am as a builder.
Um, I don't need somebody else's approval.
Is someone actually racing this? - Yeah.
- Like, you're serious? - Yes, sir! - Okay.
- Like - Like, is that actually safe? [PJ.]
You're gonna get zero traction with those wheels.
- [Rusty.]
We'll see today.
- But you built this in your garage? Yeah.
I built this in the backyard in the dirt.
- Oh.
Why? - Why? Uh Why the car? Or why in general? Uh Why put all the money in this? It's actually not that much money.
I figure this car's probably got about six, $7,000 in it.
Shit.
One day we're gonna be like you, you know, have a lot of money - [Rusty.]
I'm still poor.
I'm happy poor.
- Why? I've never gotten along with people with money.
They always have somethin' They got their nose up in the air.
- Um - But why why, do you think? I don't know.
Maybe they think they got one over on you, - got somethin' better.
- Don't they? You might have more materialistic-wise, but I might have more, uh, valuable things to me in terms of prized possessions - that might not be materialistic.
- So why It's not about materialism.
It's about freedom.
Here's what happens.
When we allow people to stay poor, then we're allowing people to not see what the opportunity is on the other side of the fence.
Well, we're just in two different places in the world.
That's the problem.
I mean - I'm glad that you want me to be there! - [laughing.]
- I appreciate the fact you want me there.
- But that's the thing.
I can't accept that people can't be the best version of themselves.
That's one thing I can't accept in my life, right? I've seen what people can do when they want to.
[Rusty.]
I'm sorry.
I just wanna race, I don't need motivational speaking.
Our supercar owner, the way he comes off is why everybody should have money because he's got money, and some people have better opportunities in life, you know? It doesn't necessarily mean that one person is lesser than another person.
[PJ.]
I don't get in arguments with stupid.
I'm a world-class asshole because I spit the truth right in people's faces.
[PJ.]
But he just wants to insist on "I'm okay being poor and I wanna stay that way," which is okay, like, that's fine.
But he wants to justify it.
That's the part I want people to understand.
If they wanna punch me, many people have been wanting to their whole life.
I've been punched before.
At the end of the day, it's okay, right? Just don't damage the $1,000 glasses! [laughing.]
All right, drivers.
[Adriana.]
Honestly, I got where PJ is coming from.
You know, I don't ever feel content with where I'm at.
I've always wanted to do better, and I don't think that you're ever gonna reach your best, 'cause you can always do more and more.
[Daniel, in Spanish.]
It's possible he has more money than us, or he has a supercar, and he might beat us [Daniel, in English.]
Everything is not about money.
[Daniel, in Spanish.]
I may have less money.
and a less sophisticated car, but I can still beat you.
[T-Mark.]
Today is the qualifying race.
The winner of this race will go on to the championship round where you get to race against five other competitors.
[Daniel.]
I'm really confident about the race.
We worked hard to make this car 100%.
I think we're gonna win.
[Rusty.]
It would mean a lot to me to win.
Bragging rights to the whole entire donk community.
Win, lose, or draw, I know that vehicle was put together with these hands.
I definitely don't wanna hear PJ's mouth anymore.
The Rusty Bullet's gonna do the talkin'.
[PJ.]
I'm ready to actually do this.
I'm by no means afraid of losing.
I don't mind competition, but I'm afraid of stupid.
This is about respect first, and then a victory.
[Adriana.]
I feel confident against the Lambo.
But as far as the other two sleepers go, I'm not too confident.
I'd love to see you win, but I want to see you come back in one piece more than that.
- [Adriana.]
Yeah.
- So race a good race.
And just drive your car.
Race your race.
You got this.
[car engine revving.]
[car engines revving.]
[dramatic music playing.]
[in Spanish.]
Come on, baby.
You got this.
[tires squealing.]
[cheering.]
[Yosmari.]
We got it! [man on radio.]
It looked like Daniel took it on the line.
Yes! Fuck yeah.
Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah! [Tom.]
They got it.
That was close, but they got it.
The Talon, Adriana, was in the front, like, all the way.
And then, right on the line - [T-Mark.]
He won by paint on the bumpers.
- [man.]
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
[T-Mark laughs.]
Wow.
That was badass.
She drove the shit out of that car.
[Tom.]
I couldn't be more proud.
She just did an amazing race.
She gave it all she had, and she came within a fender.
That's, uh What more can you ask? First loser.
[laughs.]
I'm just kidding.
[Adriana.]
I stayed in it as long as I could, and at the last second, he came around me.
I was expecting it the whole time, honestly.
There's nothing for me to be embarrassed or ashamed about.
It's a crazy accomplishment to me, especially with how fast that car is.
Woo! All right.
Who's the winner? Honda power, bitches! Well, you won! - I put it in fourth, flew by this thing.
- That's good.
[Daniel.]
I'm super happy, super excited.
Oh! It feels so good to be the winner.
Thanks God.
When we went through the line, it was this.
[laughs.]
Thank you.
- Yeah, that was fast.
- Thank you.
- It was a good race.
- Yeah.
Good job, Daniel.
- Good job.
- Yeah.
Good job.
Thank you.
You were really good.
I was impressed.
I didn't think that car would launch so hard.
Really, the funny part is, the biggest shit-talker was Danny, and then he was the one congratulating me the most at the end.
- [applause.]
- All right, good job, guys.
[Daniel.]
I learned today that you never underestimate a person, even if it's a woman driving, no matter what.
He wasn't expecting that.
Adriana being the second place is amazing for me, because Danny saw what girls can do.
Girls can drive too! I mean, it's not only for men.
Maybe he'll let me drive the car now.
[laughs.]
It's a wonderful loss.
I'm not a race car driver, right? [laughs.]
I drive a car that makes me feel like a race car driver, but I'm not a race car driver, so I could not be happier.
My only point was to smoke his ass.
And I toasted his ass so hard.
I saw these fucking things take off, I was like, "That's fucked!" [laughs.]
He was the one talking shit.
- I wanted to make sure that was settled.
- Where is he? I don't know.
He's doing the walk of shame over there by himself.
Rusty gotta get home to his one-year-old baby daughter.
Because money isn't important to my ass.
I got somethin' to come home to, and it's not money.
The one thing that a lot of people with money don't have is the idea They don't have the creativity.
They don't have the imagination to build.
I just wish there was more people like me, more people with heart.
Do what you love.
Do what you care about.
Don't let other people, you know, knock you down just because you don't have as much money as they might.
It is what it is.
To me, what I get out of this is gonna be coming back to see my baby, you know? So, it was one of the closest finishes we've ever had.
In fourth position is Rusty.
Thank you.
In third place, we have PJ.
[T-Mark.]
Congratulations.
- Second position was Adriana.
- [Daniel.]
Yes! - [Yosmari cheers.]
- Yes! - Yeah! - [T-Mark.]
Very nicely done.
So your champion, who will go on to the final round in California, and race five other champions for the title of Fastest Car is Daniel.
Congratulations.
[Yosmari.]
I am 100% proud of him.
I'm excited! I'm go [laughs.]
I'm going to California.
Hell yeah.
Very nice.
Congratulations.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
It's like every race dream come true.
[Daniel.]
Especially a person coming from a country that didn't have the knowledge, didn't have nothing Yes, right now, my dream is become true right now.
I'm gonna be number one.
Today we're gonna run four wide, one quarter mile, and the winner of this race will go on to the championship round.
[man.]
In Cuba, my main dream was owning a car so it would be beautiful to win this race.
[woman.]
There's men out there that think you shouldn't be doing the car thing at all, but you don't realize what this thing is capable of, you don't realize what I'm capable of.
[engine revving.]
[man 2.]
The car is me.
It's built by me with these hands.
Definitely got more power than a supercar.
[man 3.]
The guys building the cheap junk cars with big turbos, they're just wasting their time, because this car is engineered to be that fast.
I can't respect that particular car, it's painful to my eyes.
I wanna blow the doors off all three cars here and that's it.
[engine revving.]
[dramatic music playing.]
[car engines revving.]
[birdsong.]
[clicking tongue.]
[in Spanish.]
Come on, your turn.
Huh? Whatever car they bring we are going to win.
We are going to represent the family and Florida.
[in English.]
I know I'm a gonna win this race.
- [in Spanish.]
A draw! - [woman.]
A draw, a draw! That's not gonna happen in the race! [laughter.]
[upbeat Latin music playing.]
[in English.]
My name is Daniel Rodriguez.
I'm 33 years old.
We live in Homestead, Florida.
My car is a 1992 Honda Civic.
I bought it for $3,000.
Hondas are underdog cars, yes.
Why? 'Cause they're cheap.
A little money, you can make it fast.
Driving this, I feels like I'm driving a Mercedes.
Like I'm driving another supercar.
It's all about Honda power, bitches.
Oh, yeah.
[Daniel.]
This car has a K-series engine.
Produce about a thousand horsepower.
Most of the Hondas are front-wheel drive.
This one, we make it all-wheel drive.
This all-wheel drive set up hooks and books.
The first time I drove in the US, I was scared to switch lanes.
because in my country, they only have, like, one lane, but it feels great at the same time, you know? Uh, 'cause I was doing something that I would never do in my country.
[Daniel.]
I was born in Cuba, the city of Havana.
It's super hard to grow up in Cuba.
[in Spanish.]
You have to find a way to survive.
[in English.]
You have to look for food, because whatever the government gives you is not enough.
You gotta eat whatever you have at the moment.
Even if you have the money, you gonna take you 30 days to save that money, and then you're not gonna spend it in one day only to eat chicken.
It was so hard for us.
So, thank God I had the opportunity.
I came to the United States in 2006, I was about 19 years old.
I was leaving everything that I had and making a new life here.
Super hard to have left my mother, to leave my sister and my brother to leave my people, to leave everybody behind.
Ah It was super hard to leave my mother.
And I miss her every day, yeah.
But my mother was super happy, 'cause she knows that, at least, here we have the opportunity to have stuff you're not gonna have in Cuba, and opportunities to meet new people, and to be free.
When I got to the US, it was so hard for me.
You never know if you're gonna make it.
You're closing your eyes and it's like you you [in Spanish.]
are born again.
[Daniel.]
I met Yosmari a year and a half after being here.
She always helping me.
She's the one that helped me and say, "I know you can do better.
" [Yosmari.]
I get my cousin to take me to a racetrack, and when I see that guy racing the car? Oh, my God.
Make me feel I say, "That guy's mine.
" [laughing.]
Like, picked it up.
"That's mine.
" [Daniel.]
She really loved cars, and actually knows a lot of stuff about cars.
[Yosmari.]
Yeah, we are 100% a power couple.
We're best friends.
I support him, he support me.
We have that, uh, connection.
He race, he works on the car, I do the shit talking.
[laughs.]
[Daniel.]
My car was my first baby, but now we got Natalie now, so, now the car is number two, Natalie is number one.
[Daniel.]
Natalie was the best thing that happened to me.
I love her.
I want to be with her always.
She's everything.
I love her.
[Yosmari in Spanish.]
Look at this.
What is this? [Daniel.]
Most of the time, when I'm working on the car, she come to me and she grab a tool, but in my opinion, I don't like Natalie to be in cars.
Why? 'Cause she's a girl [Daniel, in Spanish.]
Racing is not for girls.
It's better for them to be in the kitchen and do their nails and things like that.
[Yosmari, in English.]
That's Cubans' thing.
That's all machista stuff from Cubans.
Girls can drive whatever car they want, and if they like racing, that's good.
[chuckles.]
I'll never get beat by a woman.
Don't make me race a woman, please.
[Danel.]
It would be a dream for us to win this race.
[in Spanish.]
I come from a country with limited resources.
They don't have anything, there's no internet, they know nothing about technology Whatever a person can do to overcome that is super important.
[Daniel, in English.]
It feels so nice to be fast, it feels like freedom.
I really like makeup because it kinda gives you, like, a creative outlet to kinda do what you want.
There's no real rules to it, you can do whatever you want.
You can express yourself.
But when it's race car time, my hair's pulled back, I'm greasy, and it's race car time.
And then, of course, there's men out there that think you shouldn't be doing the car thing at all.
But, if you look at statistics, women have better reaction times than men.
[woman.]
I'm 22 years old.
I started martial arts when I was about eight or nine.
I became black belt at about 12.
I did manage to win my first world title my first time competing for it.
So, that was pretty fun.
[commentator.]
Spinning.
Intensity strong.
Oh! Behind the back catch! And the pressure did not get to her.
[woman.]
I loved everything that I did, but eventually I had done the karate for a really long time and I just wanted something different.
[commentator.]
Ms.
Noonen what a performance! [woman.]
When I was about 15, 16, that's when I really started wanting to get into cars more.
My dad bought this car, and we started building this together, and the rest is really history.
I drive a 1992 Eagle Talon.
It's got a 4G63 engine in it.
Um, it's transverse.
The car's all-wheel drive.
We named this car Phoenix, because it rose from the ashes.
The car itself we bought as a roller, so nothing that's in it now was in it before.
Now it's a big, you know, beautiful, fire-breathing, badass, you know, kinda thing that we that we built ourselves.
What are your thoughts on this race? Are you Are you worried about it? Are you No, like anything, it's just karate, cars, no matter what, you have to focus on what you're doing, and not worry about the others.
Are you worried about the race? Yes, I hold my breath when you go down the track.
It's good it doesn't take me long to get down it, or you might pass out, holding your breath.
[chuckles.]
I don't know what supercar it is, but, uh I don't give a shit.
[laughs.]
[Adriana.]
Winning would be great, because, you know, we did spend a lot of weekends and late, late, late nights working on the car.
I've raced this car for years and years.
I would say that this car meshes with my personality in a way that you don't realize what this thing is capable of.
You don't realize what I'm capable of.
[Tom.]
She is a great kid.
To see Adriana win this race, it'd be pretty amazing.
Her focus, her determination to win I'll bet on her every time.
[man.]
This is my half a million dollar Ferrari F12.
And I bought a Miami Vice outfit with a gold Rolex, gold 18-carat shades, and everything else, even a gold gun, so I could just straight-up be like Miami Vice style living here in South Florida.
I have a lot of cars, and I've owned more expensive cars, but none that really have hit my soul as hard as this one.
[PJ.]
I'm racing a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante Spyder.
It's in Miami Blue, with every single option possible, and a sticker of $370,000.
[engine revving.]
Like, there's a feeling that goes into it, you know? - I mean, listen to the noise.
It just - [revs engine.]
- It's crazy, you know? Listen to this.
- [accelerating.]
I mean, this is a pussy magnet on a level, like, beyond, like, anything.
[PJ.]
I get haters everywhere.
Right? I get people, like, yelling stupid shit like, "Hey, did Daddy buy you that car?" They want to justify why it's okay to be mediocre, and I remind them of the reality of being mediocre, and they don't like that one bit.
[revving loudly.]
[PJ .]
I found a lot of business success early.
I'd made some incredible real estate investments, and made my first million when I was 27, but I had lost my sense of purpose.
So I decided to teach people business online.
I have so many businesses, but, in short, I'm an online teacher.
I teach people how to be better entrepreneurs.
For the last ten years, I've built these courses on mindset, on awareness, and sales, to be able to fast-forward your journey to entrepreneurship, and do what I've done in 20 years in less than three.
I teach people how to leverage lifestyle and exotic cars through my platform Exotic Car Hacks.
[imitates explosion.]
These nuts.
Let me tell you something.
You can actually afford to buy the car of your dreams I want you guys to know shit is possible, shit is doable.
Don't let anyone ever keep you from reaching your dreams.
Over the years, I've been able to teach, now, over 40,000 people, and I've been able to change lives, and even sold a million copies of a book that I wrote without even reading a book.
The number one reason I'm successful and a lot of people are not is because they worry about how they feel all the time.
"Oh, I'm sad, I'm hurt, I'm happy" No one has time for that shit.
I'm very direct with people, and a lot of times I call people "poor," I call people "weak.
" I just tell 'em they're imbeciles in hopes that they will wake up.
There's no reason why you should be in the United States and be poor with all the opportunities here.
And when people don't take that seriously, I'm very direct at shoving it in their face.
For me, doing a race like this is about proving to people that they shouldn't justify mediocrity.
[PJ.]
The guys that are building the Honda Civics and the cheap junk cars with big turbos, even if they build really fast cars, it doesn't matter, because the Performante is engineered to be that fast.
At the end of the day, they're just wasting their time.
Guys, I mean, if I do come up losin' in this thing, they're gonna ride me out on it.
I mean, let's be realistic.
What other donk has raced - a supercar? - I got a question.
If you beat the supercar, would your car be considered a super donk? - [laughs.]
- We do live in Miami, so [Rusty.]
I have the 1972 Chevrolet Caprice.
The car is what is known in this world as a donk, and a fast one at that.
It's known as the Rusty Bullet, but it's known as a donk.
A donk is a Chevy, Caprice or Impala 1971 to 1976 year platform.
The donk scene in Miami emerged around 1999.
It spread the uniqueness of everybody wanting to customize it with rims or their special paint color, or whatever the interior might be.
It was more of a flashy thing instead of a going fast thing.
[Rusty.]
In the donk world, we have a following of people who don't like the car because of the fact that it's not flashy.
The car doesn't have paint and it doesn't have interior.
Instead of worrying about the aesthetic point of the car, I just wanna make it known that you can make a heavy donk compete with the best of 'em.
I actually paid about $1,100 for the car, in total.
I shouldn't have had more than $5,000 in the whole entire setup.
It's got a 6.
0 LS based 408 stroker.
It's definitely got more power than a supercar.
You know, the car is me, basically.
It's built by me with these hands.
[engine revving.]
[Rusty.]
People judge a lot the book by its cover, but when they see the car go down the track, they say, "I can't believe this thing just went down the track like that.
" Weee! So, I'm a first generation Cuban-American.
As soon as my father came to the United States, the first thing he did was drive.
Everybody here in the neighborhood knows us as a hands-on, working family.
- Wee! - Wee! You're gonna burn your booty.
Who's gonna get booty burn? [Rusty.]
My little one's, uh she's gonna be turning a year old.
Before, everything was about me.
Everything was just about what I wanna do, and the street racing.
I've done a lot of that.
And being that now I have the little one, I don't wanna get taken to jail.
I don't wanna crash into another racer.
There's definitely a lot more at stake now with the priorities that I have in life.
But it's not like I'm gonna get an opportunity to have a supercar owner come up to me and say, "You wanna try that out?" So, just the chance or the opportunity to have raced, it means something to me.
I wouldn't think the personality of somebody with a lot more money than me would be the same.
I'm a lot more goal driven and work driven, blood, sweat, tears so I don't see that a lot out of a supercar owner.
I'm ready for it.
I'm ready to go out there and show what the Rusty Bullet can do.
Hey, the car we're racingis a 2018 Lamborghini Performante Spyder.
- What's the name? Lamborghini Huracán - Performante - Performante Spyder.
- Performante Spyder.
[man.]
Spyder is the convertible.
How much is this car? [in Spanish.]
No idea.
- [in English.]
Oh, it's only 315,000.
- "Only"? - [laughing.]
- It's only! [Daniel.]
Holy crap! - They've got a beautiful color, so - [laughs.]
- The color is better than yours.
- Okay.
- [Karel.]
It's, uh - How much power is that? What is it, like a V8, V10? - Old motor? - It's a V10 5.
2 Oh.
- It's a cow.
It weighs 3,000 - Six hundred horse.
3,400 pounds.
That's a cow, babe.
- [Daniel.]
How fast? - [Karel.]
2.
3 seconds, zero to 60.
- Those cars, they take off super fast.
- Yeah.
- We gotta take off right next to him - Okay.
Okay.
'Cause if you don't take off next to him, you're not gonna catch him.
I - We have work to do, my brother.
- He weighs - Go ahead.
- [speaks Spanish.]
[in English.]
I'm too fat to be doing this.
[groans.]
[engine starts.]
[Karel.]
Go, go, go.
[Daniel.]
All right, let's do this! - [Karel.]
You gonna change the plugs? - [Daniel.]
Yeah.
Why are you changing the spark plugs? [Karel.]
If we were running an eight-cylinder car, a V8, one spark plug starts misfiring, we've still got seven.
But we're running four.
- [scoffs.]
Okay.
- One misfire, there goes 25% of your power.
With this right now, we'll have new new plugs, fresh, so I think we're good.
I can't wait to see the the face of this guy when we beat this supercar, - these, uh, V8s or V10s.
- They're gonna learn to respect.
My nickname is Frustrate EG.
[Daniel.]
I got that name in races, 'cause I used to beat a lot of people, and then people get frustrated.
It's all about racing and winning.
Taking winnings, talking shit online But it's not only talking shit, you gotta win.
Let me Let me drain this oil.
[Yosmari.]
I think if Danny didn't find me and his love for the racing cars, there would be a bad end for him.
Cars make him spend his time and his money on the safe life.
It's not safe, because you're racing and that's your life on the line, but it's not drugs, it's not bad habits, it's none of that.
and just gonna add more fuel on the motor.
- The fuel's gonna - Aah! - Why are you looking to me? - I know.
I know! - I know! - Oh, my God! What [Yosmari.]
I'm really excited for him.
I think it's been really good for him with race cars.
And me, also.
[laughs.]
We gotta go to the track.
We gotta try this bitch.
[Daniel.]
I can't wait to be part of this.
In Cuba, my main dream was owning a car, and then moved to this country.
We had the ability to build our own car, and maybe beat a supercar.
It's super beautiful to do this.
I love it.
[Tom.]
It's a pretty car, that's for sure.
I'd go out to dinner in it.
It runs a bottom ten.
That's a pretty fast car.
We're gonna have to work on our tune and get this new turbo in.
So, I think that we definitely need to get to the turbo and possibly change this cartridge out.
You know, it's been on this car for three-plus years.
It's probably had quite a bit of debris go through it.
[Adriana.]
We actually think we're having a bit of an issue with our turbo, but I think if we get it changed, I think the car will run really great.
[Patrick.]
I got it.
[sighs.]
- Oh, yeah.
- It's a boy! - [Patrick.]
She's a little marked up.
- Oh.
All right, let's get the new one in.
[Adriana.]
What really gets to some guys is when they see me working on the car and they're like, "Oh, she knows what she's talking about.
" Okay, I mean I don't see what the difference is if I have ovaries and you don't, but if it makes you feel some way, it makes you feel some way.
I don't know what to tell you.
[Tom.]
Adriana loves to win, she loves to compete.
Life's all about winning and losing.
You gotta learn how to take that win and be humble about it.
And when you lose, you build on it.
She does that better than anyone I know.
[revving.]
[Adriana.]
To beat a car that has the engineering and the ingenuity and the things that car has in it, it would definitely be cool, especially since this is something we built from the ground up.
[in French.]
How many cars? - [in French.]
Four cars - Are you happy - to be doing that? - I'm happy.
I'm happy.
This is important.
I love you.
[in English.]
I love you so much.
I am proud of him.
He I am a blessed mom.
He is such a nice son that I don't think anybody anybody has such a son.
Honestly.
[PJ.]
My mom is the strongest woman I've ever met.
Me and my mom were very strong early on because we were always trusting one another, and really, this was the circle that nobody could break.
[PJ.]
I was born in Iran in 1982, and then at the age of three, my parents separated, and me and my mom ended up fleeing Iran because of all this craziness happening with the revolution.
Finally, we ended up as refugees in, uh, France.
I remember just getting to France with almost nothing.
We had no money.
We lived in someone else's kind of, like, side room basement and it was kind of a a shock, in a way.
So, growing up in France was a huge headache for me because I didn't know the language, I was bullied all the time.
I had a kid that was always poking, like, literally, uh pencils, like, into my body when I was a kid, 'cause I was a little chubby kid.
Just because he kind of knew I didn't have this language thing and I couldn't complain.
He kind of had figured out that I wasn't supposed to be there, per se, uh, legally, and so he was kind of pushing the boundaries all the time.
I took a lot of beating, you know, the first couple of, uh, years in school, and I really hated school.
And I saw my mom struggle.
Like, I knew my mom was struggling.
So, from the day we ended up in France, we knew we wanted to come to the US.
Me and my mom eventually, after ten years, got a visa to come to the US.
So, once again, we had to abandon everything to end up in my uncle's basement in northern Virginia.
I think every hardship that me and my mom have gone through, every hardship I've watched my mom go through, has ultimately enabled me to become the person I've become today.
I didn't have to grow up in a war, I didn't have to escape that.
She did.
And so, I have a very low tolerance for weakness in my life, because I've seen what the worst is and I've seen the endurance through it.
So I'm like, if that lady did it at that age what are you guys complaining about? [PJ, in French.]
Are you afraid? [in French.]
Yes, of course.
- Why are you afraid? - Because it's dangerous.
[in English.]
I'm excited, and I'm I'm happy for you, but anxiety is still there.
But we're gonna be okay.
[PJ.]
I'm not worried about the race, like, at all.
Listen, at the end of the day, I can't lose.
I have millions of dollars and I go home to freedom, impact, creating meaning, and changing the world.
So, in that aspect, I've already won, but I actually have to win to then make the point that it is actually better to be me.
I can't just be, like, "It's cool to be me because I'm rich.
" No, it's cooler to be me because I'm rich, and I beat your ass on the racetrack.
I think the supercar driver's probably at home right now just - Shitting.
- sipping his tea.
- Not even worried about us, probably.
- Lightly dabbin' it, you know? [Rusty.]
I think I'll never get another Lamborghini that's gonna wanna race this junker here.
So, yeah, guys, we got some work to do.
I wanna change out the wastegate springs on it.
[Rusty.]
The springs, you know, this is what's gonna control how how hard I come out of the hold.
I'm just lookin' for a better takeoff, a better launch.
I'm not trying to let that Performante and its beautiful all-wheel drive electronic component system get in front of me.
Let's hope it works, right? [sighs.]
Aaah! I owe you guys.
[Rusty.]
I still live with my folks to this day.
I'm close to them.
I like to do what I can in order to help 'em out.
I'm a self-employed, I guess you could say, uh, backyard mechanic.
Workin' out the backyard, for me, isn't somethin' that I've always wanted.
I actually had my own 10,000-square-foot facility.
I was actually doing the repairs on cars, or modifications on the cars that I work on, and then, uh, the trucking company I was working for closed down.
It was, um, owned by my father, and it was a little bit of a rocky roller coaster after that happened.
You know, I was about two or three years without having to do anything on cars until I could get back on my feet, support my family, and stuff like that.
If it comes down to me having to, you know, get rid of the car in order to better myself, I have no problem with doing so, but I wanna see if I can push myself harder in other ways without having to get rid of somethin' that's so close to me now.
I hope this adjustment's gonna get us to where we need to be.
Yeah.
[car engine starts.]
[Adriana.]
Now that we've got this new turbo in the car, we should be back to making full power.
Do you feel this? This is slick.
It is actually a little bit slippery.
- Okay, yeah.
- So, if we can get down this, - we are gonna be golden - We can.
- We'll be golden, Ponyboy.
- Wednesday.
[Adriana.]
My dad gets nervous every time I get behind the wheel of a car.
You good? I'mma bring you around.
[Adriana.]
I should probably take my dad to the cardiologist after this.
His blood pressure is probably pretty high right now.
[Tom.]
She drove that thing.
[laughing.]
- [woman.]
Was that fun? - [Adriana.]
Yeah! [Tom.]
It spun really good.
Like, It's obviously making more power.
That new turbo must be adding more power.
[Adriana.]
We put a new turbo.
And so it's running great, it's running super fast.
Jesus.
Winning would be phenomenal, because I think it would make my dad feel really, really good, because there was a lot of late nights and long weekends spent getting the car ready for the race.
You know, of course, when you win it, it just makes it even more satisfying and makes you feel like it was all worth it in the end.
[Daniel.]
Racing time.
- Okay.
- Uh! - Oh, my God.
- [cooing.]
- Let me get this - [both laughing.]
[engine revving.]
- Let's do a pass on low boost.
- Okay, it's good.
[Daniel.]
Right now, we're testing the launch and the top speed.
[Yosmari.]
Hey! Woo! Woo-hoo! [Daniel.]
We gotta fix the launch.
When I launch it, I feel the car bucks out, and then take off.
- Okay.
- And maybe, I don't know, I won't have enough power to come out of the line.
I think you need more boost.
Okay, then then this this guy is not gonna catch us.
- [laughs.]
- No, he already not gonna catch us.
[Daniel.]
But we gotta clean pass at least, A to B.
We can fix the launch, and then give it more boost.
You know, we got work to do still, but we're about ready for the race.
[in Spanish.]
Look at you! [laughing.]
[Rusty.]
Sounded pretty good.
Sounded hella good.
After, uh, I swapped out the wastegate springs, it worked well.
I like the results.
[Rusty.]
I definitely am able to launch a lot softer.
This way the car's not comin' out so violent.
If you're underestimating these cars on big rims, you've got a big, big realization comin' to you.
[tires squealing.]
[Adriana.]
If you want to be equal, then act like you're equal.
Don't show up and say, "If I beat you, you lost to a girl, ah-ha-ha.
" No, you lost to a racer, you lost to a car, you lost to me.
I think that that is why I get as much respect as I do, is that I don't throw it in people's face that I have ovaries.
A lot of people think that a Honda Civic is not gonna beat a supercar.
I'm pretty sure they're wrong.
People who knows me, they're scared.
They know this car is fast.
[PJ.]
I'm petrified to race next to pieces of shit.
I'm scared of the drivers not controlling their cars.
I'm scared of the cars suddenly blowing up, causing debris and shit all over my car.
I'm afraid that they have nothing to lose, and I have 400 grand on the tarmac, and that's a problem.
[engine revving.]
We need to put your name on the wall there.
Right there.
I want my name over there.
Danny, Honda.
- [man.]
All right, sounds good.
- Let's do it.
I'm the motherfucking king.
Oh, shit, another car's coming, huh? [Adriana.]
Today's one of those days where I'm honestly just competing with myself.
I just wanna make sure that I'm just doing my job, staying in my lane, and, uh, just having fun, really.
[laughs.]
- Nice to meet you.
- And you.
Adriana.
- That's a girl driving, bro.
- What? - That's a fucking girl driving.
- [in Spanish.]
Shut your mouth.
- Oh, yeah.
- Holy shit.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
[in Spanish.]
She weighs less than you.
She has better reaction time.
- Hi.
- How are you? - Dan.
Nice to meet you.
- Adriana.
- How's it going? - Danny.
How you doing? - Should be a good race.
All-wheel drive? - Yeah.
- Are you the one driving the car? - Yeah.
Are you sure? - I'm positive.
- Okay.
Just kidding.
[all laughing.]
Holy crap.
[Daniel.]
Definitely, I would say a woman will drive a fast car, but a man will know what he's doing.
[Rusty.]
The majority of the cars that I race, I know what I'm gonna race beforehand, and they're usually donks.
So, I know the owners of the cars are gonna be pretty shocked.
- Let's see what's the other car.
- There it is.
[Daniel.]
Oh, shit.
It's like a donk? - Yeah, a donk, yeah.
- [Daniel.]
What kind of motor's that? Honey, watch the kid.
[Adriana.]
I've never raced a donk before.
They can be really fast.
I mean, He could definitely surprise all of us.
[speaking Spanish.]
Ah, she's loud.
- Danny.
What's up, buddy? - What's up, man? - Adriana.
- Are you the owner? - Driver.
- Who's the owner? - She's drivin'.
- Oh, okay.
[Rusty.]
These things are little beasts.
I got the "big booty Judy" out of everybody here.
- You got - Well, you got power.
[Tom.]
You got two turbos, - both of which are bigger than our one.
- Yeah.
[Daniel.]
The turbo is not the only thing big here.
The motor look big too.
[laughs.]
[Daniel.]
I don't think it would hook it.
It's a heavy car, a lot of power.
I hope he doesn't lose control and hit someone.
That's what I'm worried about.
[engine revving.]
- Oh, shit.
- [Yosmari laughs.]
I see it.
- It's baby blue.
- It look nice, though.
- How are you? Good morning.
- Hello.
Hi.
Adriana.
- I'm PJ.
- [both.]
Nice to meet you.
- Morning.
- Rusty.
- PJ.
- Danny.
How you doing? PJ.
You got a nice car, man.
So, how you make money, then? Uh, I Well, I make a lot of money, but it's through I own a lot of different companies, so I grew up very poor, and then one day, I got fed up with it.
I said, "Fuck it," - and went to work.
- [Adriana.]
Quit being poor.
It actually looks better in person, - It looks a lot better.
- Yeah.
In photos, it's hard to actually capture it.
- Capture it, yeah.
- Keep it stock, man.
That's not the hood, 'cause I'm not working under that if that's the hood.
- Some sauce.
- Technically, it's the hood.
- Where's the engine? - [PJ.]
That is the engine.
- So your trunk is in the front.
- Yeah.
And it barely fits anything.
Can't even fit luggage.
It's completely useless.
This is like a "fuck you" car.
You show up places and you're like, "Fuck you.
" - [chuckles.]
- Let's take a ride in this one.
- Huh? - [PJ.]
What is that? This is an Eagle Talon.
Oh, you're driving? Okay, awesome.
I like a female driver.
Even better.
- Just a driver.
I'm good.
- Well, you can tell he fixes the car.
- Um I know - She looks like she worked on it.
I've built multiple motors.
I know what I'm doing.
I could kick him right in the face right now if I wanted to.
[laughing.]
Okay.
[Adriana.]
It wasn't anything that I haven't heard before.
I'm secure in who I am as a driver, who I am as a builder.
Um, I don't need somebody else's approval.
Is someone actually racing this? - Yeah.
- Like, you're serious? - Yes, sir! - Okay.
- Like - Like, is that actually safe? [PJ.]
You're gonna get zero traction with those wheels.
- [Rusty.]
We'll see today.
- But you built this in your garage? Yeah.
I built this in the backyard in the dirt.
- Oh.
Why? - Why? Uh Why the car? Or why in general? Uh Why put all the money in this? It's actually not that much money.
I figure this car's probably got about six, $7,000 in it.
Shit.
One day we're gonna be like you, you know, have a lot of money - [Rusty.]
I'm still poor.
I'm happy poor.
- Why? I've never gotten along with people with money.
They always have somethin' They got their nose up in the air.
- Um - But why why, do you think? I don't know.
Maybe they think they got one over on you, - got somethin' better.
- Don't they? You might have more materialistic-wise, but I might have more, uh, valuable things to me in terms of prized possessions - that might not be materialistic.
- So why It's not about materialism.
It's about freedom.
Here's what happens.
When we allow people to stay poor, then we're allowing people to not see what the opportunity is on the other side of the fence.
Well, we're just in two different places in the world.
That's the problem.
I mean - I'm glad that you want me to be there! - [laughing.]
- I appreciate the fact you want me there.
- But that's the thing.
I can't accept that people can't be the best version of themselves.
That's one thing I can't accept in my life, right? I've seen what people can do when they want to.
[Rusty.]
I'm sorry.
I just wanna race, I don't need motivational speaking.
Our supercar owner, the way he comes off is why everybody should have money because he's got money, and some people have better opportunities in life, you know? It doesn't necessarily mean that one person is lesser than another person.
[PJ.]
I don't get in arguments with stupid.
I'm a world-class asshole because I spit the truth right in people's faces.
[PJ.]
But he just wants to insist on "I'm okay being poor and I wanna stay that way," which is okay, like, that's fine.
But he wants to justify it.
That's the part I want people to understand.
If they wanna punch me, many people have been wanting to their whole life.
I've been punched before.
At the end of the day, it's okay, right? Just don't damage the $1,000 glasses! [laughing.]
All right, drivers.
[Adriana.]
Honestly, I got where PJ is coming from.
You know, I don't ever feel content with where I'm at.
I've always wanted to do better, and I don't think that you're ever gonna reach your best, 'cause you can always do more and more.
[Daniel, in Spanish.]
It's possible he has more money than us, or he has a supercar, and he might beat us [Daniel, in English.]
Everything is not about money.
[Daniel, in Spanish.]
I may have less money.
and a less sophisticated car, but I can still beat you.
[T-Mark.]
Today is the qualifying race.
The winner of this race will go on to the championship round where you get to race against five other competitors.
[Daniel.]
I'm really confident about the race.
We worked hard to make this car 100%.
I think we're gonna win.
[Rusty.]
It would mean a lot to me to win.
Bragging rights to the whole entire donk community.
Win, lose, or draw, I know that vehicle was put together with these hands.
I definitely don't wanna hear PJ's mouth anymore.
The Rusty Bullet's gonna do the talkin'.
[PJ.]
I'm ready to actually do this.
I'm by no means afraid of losing.
I don't mind competition, but I'm afraid of stupid.
This is about respect first, and then a victory.
[Adriana.]
I feel confident against the Lambo.
But as far as the other two sleepers go, I'm not too confident.
I'd love to see you win, but I want to see you come back in one piece more than that.
- [Adriana.]
Yeah.
- So race a good race.
And just drive your car.
Race your race.
You got this.
[car engine revving.]
[car engines revving.]
[dramatic music playing.]
[in Spanish.]
Come on, baby.
You got this.
[tires squealing.]
[cheering.]
[Yosmari.]
We got it! [man on radio.]
It looked like Daniel took it on the line.
Yes! Fuck yeah.
Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah! [Tom.]
They got it.
That was close, but they got it.
The Talon, Adriana, was in the front, like, all the way.
And then, right on the line - [T-Mark.]
He won by paint on the bumpers.
- [man.]
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
[T-Mark laughs.]
Wow.
That was badass.
She drove the shit out of that car.
[Tom.]
I couldn't be more proud.
She just did an amazing race.
She gave it all she had, and she came within a fender.
That's, uh What more can you ask? First loser.
[laughs.]
I'm just kidding.
[Adriana.]
I stayed in it as long as I could, and at the last second, he came around me.
I was expecting it the whole time, honestly.
There's nothing for me to be embarrassed or ashamed about.
It's a crazy accomplishment to me, especially with how fast that car is.
Woo! All right.
Who's the winner? Honda power, bitches! Well, you won! - I put it in fourth, flew by this thing.
- That's good.
[Daniel.]
I'm super happy, super excited.
Oh! It feels so good to be the winner.
Thanks God.
When we went through the line, it was this.
[laughs.]
Thank you.
- Yeah, that was fast.
- Thank you.
- It was a good race.
- Yeah.
Good job, Daniel.
- Good job.
- Yeah.
Good job.
Thank you.
You were really good.
I was impressed.
I didn't think that car would launch so hard.
Really, the funny part is, the biggest shit-talker was Danny, and then he was the one congratulating me the most at the end.
- [applause.]
- All right, good job, guys.
[Daniel.]
I learned today that you never underestimate a person, even if it's a woman driving, no matter what.
He wasn't expecting that.
Adriana being the second place is amazing for me, because Danny saw what girls can do.
Girls can drive too! I mean, it's not only for men.
Maybe he'll let me drive the car now.
[laughs.]
It's a wonderful loss.
I'm not a race car driver, right? [laughs.]
I drive a car that makes me feel like a race car driver, but I'm not a race car driver, so I could not be happier.
My only point was to smoke his ass.
And I toasted his ass so hard.
I saw these fucking things take off, I was like, "That's fucked!" [laughs.]
He was the one talking shit.
- I wanted to make sure that was settled.
- Where is he? I don't know.
He's doing the walk of shame over there by himself.
Rusty gotta get home to his one-year-old baby daughter.
Because money isn't important to my ass.
I got somethin' to come home to, and it's not money.
The one thing that a lot of people with money don't have is the idea They don't have the creativity.
They don't have the imagination to build.
I just wish there was more people like me, more people with heart.
Do what you love.
Do what you care about.
Don't let other people, you know, knock you down just because you don't have as much money as they might.
It is what it is.
To me, what I get out of this is gonna be coming back to see my baby, you know? So, it was one of the closest finishes we've ever had.
In fourth position is Rusty.
Thank you.
In third place, we have PJ.
[T-Mark.]
Congratulations.
- Second position was Adriana.
- [Daniel.]
Yes! - [Yosmari cheers.]
- Yes! - Yeah! - [T-Mark.]
Very nicely done.
So your champion, who will go on to the final round in California, and race five other champions for the title of Fastest Car is Daniel.
Congratulations.
[Yosmari.]
I am 100% proud of him.
I'm excited! I'm go [laughs.]
I'm going to California.
Hell yeah.
Very nice.
Congratulations.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
It's like every race dream come true.
[Daniel.]
Especially a person coming from a country that didn't have the knowledge, didn't have nothing Yes, right now, my dream is become true right now.
I'm gonna be number one.