- For the last 70 years,
it seemed to be
that the louder your car was,
the faster it went.
And then Tesla showed up.
(car screeching)
(car engine revving)
- [Rob] By now everybody's seen
a Tesla go down the drag strip,
but they haven't seen this.
(car engine revving)
(upbeat music)
♪ Let's go, now ♪
(car engine revving)
(upbeat music)
- [Rob] You know every sort of racing has a spec.
You've heard of spec Miatas or even F1 cars, Indycars,
they all have some sort of class
that you all race in to be competitive.
Well, guess what?
Donks have a spec too.
And you know what that is?
That's a 26-inch tall tire with street rubber.
That's it.
Donk racing or even racing on big wheels
is the opposite of everything I've ever learned
about making a car go fast.
It makes no sense,
and yet I am completely fascinated by it.
That's why I came here to Speed Shop South
to talk to a man named Hot Rod.
- [Hot Rod] All right, this is ground zero.
- [Rob] Let me learn more about your world.
- [Hot Rod] Okay well, I said starting off,
of course big wheels.
We got one right there.
It's a big wheel, small tire.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- You know so, you can only do so much on this tire.
- That is one, a 26?
- Yes that's a 26-inch wheel.
- Okay.
- Now you can go as wide as you want or narrow,
but it's a 26-inch wheel on a regular DOT hard tire.
So you know you put the big wheels on,
they're expensive.
You're talking about a seven, $8,000 wheel on these cars
and it was for looks.
- Yeah. Right.
- You know and I guess once you have so many people
with them with the looks,
now we wanna see who's actually fast.
- Soon as you line up yep.
- Right.
So they kept the same wheel.
Just start putting, you know, bigger package.
You buy a donk with a original factory
350 or 400 in it.
- Yeah.
- And put some wheels on it.
And you, you got a big wheel car,
but if you want a race on big wheels,
you need to put something under the hood.
- [Rob] That makes sense.
- [Hot Rod] A 1974 Caprice Donk,
Donks are from 71 to 76.
Whether it's a Caprice or an Impala,
convertible, hard top,
or they make like a sports coup.
- So if this is a donk,
then what's a box?
- This is a donk, it's a B Body.
That Box Chevy is a B Body,
but it's a different year.
- Gotcha.
- The Bubble Chevy is a B Body,
it's a later year.
So they're all B Bodies.
- [Rob] When you go to race big wheel,
it's any one from those three classes basically?
- Yeah you can go Box Chevy Donk or G Body.
- G Body.
- [Hot Rod] So this is the G Body.
Now this is the,
this one is a little different because it's a G Body.
- [Rob] Okay.
- [Hot Rod] But you can run it on a slick.
Now these slicks,
we got some low key guy making them.
So they're a little sketchy,
but we run them.
They're slick and they're working.
- [Rob] Okay, so you're saying
that there's somebody out there making those slicks.
Where?
- I don't really know who make 'em,
I know where I can get 'em from,
but I don't know who makes that's them.
- That's the right answer.
And so you're saying that the G Body
does like include the Grand National?
- Grand National, Cutlass, Regal.
- Yep.
- I mean, there's plenty more, Grand Prix.
And like this right here,
we run just a nitrous, big block,
kind of old school.
I'm a nitrous man.
I have turbos.
I have superchargers, but I'm a nitrous lover.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- [Hot Rod] So I'm gonna show you this Box Chevy,
which is different than a donk,
but in, in racing on big wheels.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- [Hot Rod] It's in the same category.
Kind of shaped like a box,
kinda like grandma's old grocery getter.
- [Rob] Yeah. That is, that is sick.
- [Hot Rod] This is a billet aftermarket
Pro Line engine, MBE headed,
and twin turbo by Precision.
And we're making roughly 2,500 horsepower.
- 2,500 horsepower?
- Yes, sir.
- Oh my God.
- And like I said, it's full interior.
Everything's still in it.
Front to back.
- [Rob] And the steering wheel matches the wheels?
- [Hot Rod] Yep steering wheel matches the wheels.
Got a nice cage roll, you know,
for some safety, good belts.
Basically we keep it nice and neat
where you can't really see it.
- [Rob] Yeah I did not even see it until you pointed out.
- We was racing in the streets.
We used to gamble a lot in the streets
and streets always get dangerous.
You know, don't nobody wanna hurt anybody.
You know, we just we wanna go fast and be safe.
But this was the originator
where we used to drive this thing to the track,
swap the back tires,
put some slicks on,
and people would laugh and think it wouldn't run.
- Yeah.
- And we would go out and whoop some butt,
you know what I'm saying?
- Yeah.
(laughing)
- [Rob] I'm so fascinated to understand what that is.
- [Hot Rod] Okay so at the track,
I will be bringing this right here.
This is a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice Donk.
You seen the original donk.
This is a race donk from the front to the back.
- [Rob] Okay.
- [Hot Rod] 26-inch wheels.
Hard tires, engine doesn't matter,
but this one is LS.
- [Rob] It looks like it matters.
- [Hot Rod] Yeah.
- LS single turbo.
We're pretty fast with it.
It's pretty fast so.
- [Rob] Yeah I'm bringing extra pair of underwear.
This thing is already-
- I am excited to see if it impress you.
- Okay.
- [Rob] How much do these cars start out weight-wise?
Like normally, like stock?
- [Hot Rod] Anywhere from 5,200, somewhere in there,
I mean, they're heavy.
- [Rob] Yeah that's a big car.
But the weight has to help it hook a little,
at least a little bit.
- I feel like it does, if you use it the correct way,
but that's where this high dollar suspension
we put on there,
and you know, so it separates and runs like a regular car.
- [Rob] Oh there we go.
- [Hot Rod] Rims tank.
- [Rob] 10 gallon per minute pump?
Man you are pumping some fuel.
- [Hot Rod] Yeah we got a nice big brushless pump on it.
- [Rob] Yeah. Oh my God.
- Way bigger rear end.
Nice, big and beefy.
- [Rob] And with some weights?
- [Hot Rod] Yeah I got some weights on there,
keep it on the ground.
You know just keep it low.
You might want to edit that out,
we got a little in there.
But it's all right.
- [Cameraman] Okay.
- [Hot Rod] That's kinda one of them
I give you a little free game.
So if y'all watch this show,
you can know this trick,
but if you don't watch it you missed it.
- [Rob] Yeah 'cause you're keeping weight
on the center of the tire.
- Yeah keeping weight on the tire.
It's easy to unload these things.
Yeah and if you see this thing still got rubber,
you know, I mean, it's-
- [Rob] Yeah it's all back here.
- [Hot Rod] Yeah it's rubber everywhere.
And like I said tomorrow
when you guys see this thing at the track,
you gonna see exactly what I mean.
I mean, it's unreal and unbelievable.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- [Hot Rod] But we do all the upgraded things
in drag racing from the shocks to the rear end.
We go nine inch,
way bigger rear end housing,
went bigger brakes,
you know to stop this big, heavy car, you know?
So thanks to Wildwood for that.
But yeah, big beefy rear end.
Light aluminum drive shaft.
- [Rob] Yeah.
- [Hot Rod] Okay.
Also you see, I got some bracing going on.
Remember the other one just had a factory?
- [Rob] Right, right.
- [Hot Rod] Yeah we got some bracing,
going to the front.
So basically it's like a double frame rail.
So we don't twist it.
- Yeah.
- But basically we brace the cars for the power
and the car will not twist.
Like I said, we're putting 15 to 2,000 horsepower.
It's easy to twist this thing.
But as far as suspension-wise,
this is what you need to do to beef it up.
If you want to go big wheel racing or donk racing.
(upbeat music)
♪ Stop that. ♪
(car revving)
- [Hot Rod] Big wheels, big motor, big horsepower.
Rides like a Cadillac.
(upbeat music)
- [Rob] I'm starting to realize something,
Hot Rod over there is going to almost weekly events
where the winner will take $15,000 home at a Grudge race,
racing all these donks against each other.
And it doesn't stop there.
There's a race later this year,
for over a $100,000 out in California.
This car isn't just cool and fun and wild.
It's a money maker.
This is donk racing.
(engine revving)
- So check this out.
I saw them filling up ice in the back
and normally for a guy like me,
that's to cool down the turbo charger air, make more power.
But I heard him say radiator.
And I was like, wait a second.
So then I went back over here and what did I look for
was the radiator to cool the engine down,
not just the turbocharger.
And he doesn't have a radiator.
He's using the same cool water, the ice,
to cool the turbo and the engine.
So it's saving a lot of weight,
meaning that he can go even faster with less power.
Although less power isn't really the issue here.
- [Hot Rod] Now if I didn't have the horsepower I had,
I wouldn't have to have all this (beep).
It's your turn.
How bout that?
- All right, I'm ready.
- You think you can handle it?
Heavy car, heavy horsepower?
- She's your girl, bro.
- Big wheels?
- I'll take good care of her.
- Let's see what you got.
- [Rob] Okay firing it up.
- [Hot Rod] Water pump.
- [Rob] Water pump.
- [Hot Rod] All on you.
- [Rob] Okay. Oh my God.
- [Hot Rod] Second gear.
- [Rob] Yep. Second gear.
Okay. Okay.
Holy crap.
This is a totally new experience for me.
And we'll go, we'll go into second gear now
just to bring it forward a little bit.
Okay this is my first time driving a donk.
And it just happens to be one of the fastest in the world.
So transbreak is on, I'm mashing to the floor.
Oh my.
(car engine revving)
- That is, that is so cool.
Oh my God, dude, that car.
- I gave him the same thing I had.
The level's up to his discretion.
I was gonna cut it down,
I was gonna cut it down, and I said I'm gonna go ahead
and give it to him.
I gave it all to him.
He come out the gas a little bit.
- He gonna wanna run it again.
That was nice.
I ain't never seen my car run, first time I ever see.
- That is so sick.
That is just badass.
That is so amazing.
Oh my God.
That is so confusing,
because what happens is, you're in there,
it feels like this boat Cadillac smooth,
and then you're also going so fast.
I did not expect both of those feelings.
I felt like I imagined that the car
was gonna be just violent.
I imagined, okay, I saw how fast it is.
It's like my brain's like confused.
I am cruising, but I'm also racing.
Both of those at the same time.
And so I, just like any other boat this big,
I went to try and turn it way too tight.
So I pulled a wire out, but nothing wrong.
This car is just a dream,
just a dream to drive.
And of course make a lot of money driving it.
- It looks good.
I never seen my car from the back,
but it looks very good.
- It felt good to be inside it too.
- And it's an honor to have you drive it.
- Aw thank you so much.
- Thank you.