KYLE WADE, the racer and fabricator behind the massively popular BoostedBoiz YouTube channel – now at 1.45 million subscribers – has turned unlikely platforms like a Honda Civic, Toyota MR2, and even a Honda Odyssey minivan into fan-favorite, record-setting machines. But the numbers only tell part of the story.

“ I’ ve always loved cars,” Wade says.“ I remember just watching videos of street racing and stuff when I was a kid. I always thought cars were cool. I wanted to go fast.”

That obsession followed him through high school and into his earliest builds. He started a YouTube channel to document his trips from Longmont, Colorado, down to car meets in Denver. He started showing the process behind his projects, which became more outside-the-box as the channel grew. Collaborations with fellow automotive YouTubers like 2023 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Garrett Mitchell – better known as Cleetus McFarland – also helped grow the channel’ s audience

If the BoostedBoiz channel has a mascot, it’ s Wade’ s red Honda Civic. A lightweight, home-built, boosted street car, the Civic became that helped define the channel’ s early identity.“ It’ s the most OG build,” Wade says.“ It’ s had so much time into it, and it’ s still all the original fabrication that me and my buddies did years ago.”

The Civic wasn’ t just a You- Tube prop. It was a legitimate contender. One of Wade’ s biggest moments came recently when he won the second-quickest Stick Shift Shootout bracket at FL2K at Bradenton Motorsports Park, which is now his home track as he essentially lives next door.

Where the Civic brought attention, the MR2 brought Wade’ s first taste of serious performance.“ That car means a lot to me,” he says.“ It was the first actual fast car I built, and it was the first car I ever went 7s in.”

The MR2 quickly became one of the channel’ s crown jewels. With its mid-engine layout and big-power turbo setup, it served as Wade’ s unofficial engineering program. Everything he learned shaping the MR2 bled into later projects.“ It was a world-record car at one point,” he explains.“ We had the quickest and fastest MR2. It held the record for a while.”

Even after that record eventually fell, Wade’ s pride in the platform remains unmatched. The car marked a formative jump from fast street builds to serious drag machines, and its fanbase, much like the Civic’ s, is fiercely loyal.“ The MR2 is still one of my favorite builds I’ ve ever done,” he adds.

But of all Wade’ s projects, few have captured the public’ s imagination like his Honda Odyssey

the undisputed quickest minivan in drag racing.“ That thing really blew up,” he laughs.“ People love the Odyssey.” Original, different, and loaded with turbocharged absurdity, the Odyssey became an immediate fan favorite. From callouts to side-by-side passes with legitimate race cars, the minivan represented Wade’ s perfect blend of comedy, creativity, and capability.

These staple builds have helped Wade develop a global audience that now follows every BoostedBoiz experiment, from jet-powered minivans to world-record Tesla attempts.

Despite the channel’ s massive reach, Wade remains grounded. His greatest pride is the culture around BoostedBoiz. It’ s a community built from the same curiosity and enthusiasm that pushed him to start experimenting with Hondas in the first place.“ I just want to keep inspiring people to build cool stuff,” Wade says.“ If they see what we’ re doing and think,‘ Man, I could try something like that,’ that’ s what it’ s all about.

“ I’ m showing people that it can be done on a budget,” he continues.“ I think with a lot of things I do, I’ m one of the more grassroots channels that people really feel like they can take some info from that and start doing it on their own.”

As much as Wade has inspired others, he has also taken inspiration from those around him over the course of his time in the sport. Brent Leivestad of PFI Speed, McFarland, and Kyle Loftis have all inspired Wade in various ways.

And just like those three individuals empowered Wade to make moves, he hopes people in his audience relate to his passion and effort and find similar inspiration to get out into the garage and onto the dragstrip.

“ I’ m just a normal guy and so are these other people. They’ re just dedicated to do it,” Wade says.“ That’ s just something I didn’ t really realize when I started. I thought these guys probably had scientists in the trailer mixing fuels in tubes or something and it was like rocket science, but I just realized,‘ Oh, it’ s just normal guys that are just sending it.’ I try to show people that it can be done. Just get out there, get started somewhere, and have some fun.”

– NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

PHOTO: DARREL JACKSON JR.