Street Outlaws Dominator Crash Course

Along with Daddy Dave, who we caught up with in a Crash Course segment just the other day, Dominator has been a mainstay on Street Outlaws since the very beginning. From the very first episode, fans connected with Joe and his easy going, down-to-earth personality, a start contrast to many on the 405’s Top Ten list.

Dominator’s 1967 Dodge Dart is the lone Mopar hotrod on the show, and although it’s powered by a bowtie powerplant, he pulls fans from both camps. When the show started, the car was powered by a nitrous-injected big block cranking out about 1,000 horsepower. As the show gained popularity and began to attract stiffer competition, we saw just about every car on the list evolve and Dominator’s Dart was no exception. Now powered by a twin-turbocharged combination, the car’s power level is kept secret, but is likely close to three times what it was making on nitrous, to give you a ballpark idea.

Of course, tripling up on horsepower also means the driver has to tighten up, and helping Dominator learn to stage and launch a turbo car was the setting for one of the most memorable segments of the show. Boosted GT and Big Chief staged an intervention to help Joe learn how to get his car to build boost on the line and launch hard on the street. He turned around and outran Doc in a great, close race that showed he had taken the lesson to heart.

Joe may have had his ups and downs on the list, but he’s always maintained that cool-headed temperament that has won him a legion of loyal fans who like to root for the “good guy”. I met Joe briefly at the PRI Show in Indy last year and can verify that he’s the same humble, polite guy in person that you see on the show, and that’s the reason he’s one of my favorite guys to root for!