Plot Synopsis

FASTEST CARS IN THE DIRTY SOUTH is a one-hour reality series that follows Eric Malone, his partner Brant Arnold and their team -- Team 256 -- as they compete in grudge races across the south. Malone's Team 256 is a fast, fearsome group of drivers, fabricators and top mechanics. They race so fast that teams from across the region avoid them whenever possible out of fear of losing. Malone has changed the grudge racing game to attract worthy competitors. Now he takes the slowest car from another team, upgrades it and then races their opponents with their very own cars. Viewers of FASTEST CARS IN THE DIRTY SOUTH get an inside look at every step of Team 256's grudge racing process - from the high-stakes betting and negotiations to car customizations and the intensity and speed of race day.

Eric Malone is a master mechanic with a deep passion for racing. If he's not roaring down a track, then he's buried beneath a car's hood tuning getting the best out of an engine. Early on Malone gained a passion for rebuilding engines and racing. His talent for fixing broken motors at the track gained him a job with renowned Alabama drag racer Kenny Ford, the owner of Muscles Shoals' Performance Torque Converters (PTC). While working for Kenny, Eric paved the way for legal street racing on closed tracks and built a reputation for having one of the fastest cars in the south. Today the best race car builders and grudge racers around Muscle Shoals compete to be on Malone's Team 256.

Brant Arnold is a former child model who began racing at a young age when his father introduced him to dirt track cars. As a teen Arnold raced on the streets but racing veterans in the area later convinced him that closed tracks were the best way to go so he swapped a street car for an S10 drag truck and a K5 mud truck. For years Arnold has built and raced cars. His latest car is a 1934 Ford three-window coupe with a blown injected 540 Chevy motor that he built from scratch.

In the series opener, "The Gold Camaro," Eric and Team 256 step up to the plate to back local racer Malcolm Storey and his Storey Racing team. Storey's in over his head with the 442 team and a new car named Riley. Meanwhile Arnold gets baited into a grudge match trap. He takes a rusty broken Vega from James Rowlette to upgrade and go "heads up" against Rowlette's champion Mustang. Team 256 drops everything when Kenny Ford, the Godfather of Drag racing, brings his daughter's Gold Camaro to the garage. It's in need of serious work to make the car safe to compete in the upcoming "Lights Out" race in Valdosta Georgia.

FASTEST CARS IN THE DIRTY SOUTH made its linear television premiere on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 10pm on MotorTrend Network.
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FASTEST CARS IN THE DIRTY SOUTH returned for its fourth season on Friday, January 28, 2022 on MotorTrend+. Season 4 picks up in the first episode, "Build Back Better", after a grueling racing season last year left Team 256 fragmented with little hope for repair. In the race against the Memphis 10, Malcolm Storey stepped up to lead the team to victory after a fight broke out and members of the 256 left the track including Malone. A power struggle within the team followed suit, causing Malone's former partner Brant Arnold to literally set his contract ablaze. Malone now works to pull the team together again by reconciling with certain teammates while letting others walk. Meanwhile, Storey is forming strategic alliances with rival race teams across the south in a bid to overthrow Malone and Team 256 and take the keys to the fastest cars.