PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Diesel mechanic Dallas Stevens was once an avid motorcyclist until he came to a crossroads.
"Basically, you get older," Stevens said. "My wife, she used to ride with me... She has concerns, and I need to attend to those concerns."
Stevens still rides his bike sometimes, but he needed a new hobby.
That's when he rediscovered something old.
"[I] started doing Hot Wheels," Stevens said, growing his collection to more than 18,000 toy cars!
"Not exactly the same feel as riding a bike, but, you know, [it] get[s] you... the joy of... power and speed," Stevens said.
One garage overhaul later, Stevens' newfound passion became his business.
"I decided to make this raceway here, which is Meal Ticket Raceway," Stevens said.
The massive Hot Wheels track is the hub of his diecast racing community on social media.
"The biggest one right now is TikTok," Stevens said. He's amassed nearly 73,000 followers on the platform.
And Meal Ticket Raceway's presence is growing on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
People all over the world mail Stevens their toy cars. He then races them against each other in live tournaments on social media.
"[I'm] reaching people that love racing," Stevens said.
But he said what really draws people to the raceway is more than just nostalgia.
"It's healing in a sense, where people can just get away from the world, you know, and just enjoy themselves for a change," Stevens said. "It brings a positive light throughout what's going on sometimes in this world that we see."
Would you like your Hot Wheels car to take on the Meal Ticket Raceway? Outside of social media pages, you can learn more and register to join the diecast racing community here.
Editor's note: This story is a part of our Making A Mark series.