Six teams of driver/builders arrive in Tucson, Arizona, for an Olympics-style racing competition with $5K hoopties. It begins with a no-holds-barred race across both asphalt and dirt. Then the teams will have less than 18 hours to build and modify their hoopties for the final drag race. Whose beater will be fast enough to take home the gold?

Each team has endured the mini-gauntlet and the dragstrip -- some with disastrous consequences. Team MR2-D2 didn't even make it to the eliminator event, having to be towed to the line with a blown engine, while Team Mob-Z shredded their driveshaft at the dragstrip the moment the light turned green.

We are entering the third event in the series, and the teams are beginning to learn to expect the unexpected. Team Wagonslayer managed to pull out the win on the dirt oval track while Team MR2-D2 is still fighting with their engine issues and Team Blackhawk managed to rebuild their transmission overnight.

With the fourth event looming on the horizon, our stalwart teams of drivers are really starting to feel the burn. Long nights and limited build times push teams to their limits, but as always, the show must go on. Team Liam Nissan took the gold at the drift course, while team Wagonslayer and Mob-Z remain near the top of the pack.

We are entering the penultimate event at the HWC, and our teams continue to press forward with little regard for the personal wellbeing. However, the camaraderie couldn't be stronger, with teams helping each other out whenever trouble should arise. Even with the emergence of Team Wagonslayer as the overall frontrunner, bitter rivalries remain nonexistent.

This is it. The main event of the Hooptie World Championship. All the chaos and destruction has led to our sixth and final event: the mega-Gauntlet. For this event, there will be no eliminator. All teams and all drivers must compete in the final challenge, covering dirt, asphalt, drift, off-road hazards, slalom, and drag.