It's been an amazing journey with my 2015 Toyota Prius, aka Dave the Prius! 🥹🙌 I first bought it in July 2021 after months of researching online and hunting for the most reliable, realistic car I could afford. I bought it from a local dealership in the Iowa/Illinois Quad Cities area and actually scared the salesman because I did my own full inspection of the car in their parking lot for over an hour! 🤣
After a couple years of ownership and learning that this car is basically a combination of a work truck and a tank, I was watching an Elliot Alvis video on YouTube. During the video, he mentioned autocross and encouraged viewers to check out their local autocross events. Being curious, I opened Google on my phone and the first link that popped up was a local SCCA group called the Great River Region held events in Davenport, Iowa and Moline, Illinois throughout the summer.
Over the course of the summer of 2023, I would go to their events and watch. I never went on ride alongs or anything more than just signing the waiver and finding a good place to catch the action. It looked like a blast. But in the back of my head, I was having the same thoughts that just about every car enthusiast has had about a Prius: It's a Prius. You're going to need a faster car to be out here. The thing was that I didn't want to get a new car, let alone another car. I grew attached to Dave the Prius. We've gone on road trips with Dave. We've shocked friends and family with how much stuff I could fit in the car. My wife got "hybrid fever" after taking Dave out on a work trip (and now has Terri, the RAV4 Hybrid). We drove Dave around on the day of our wedding. I was not getting rid of him. So I did what any realistic, logical human being would do in this situation: I said "f*** it, let's go out there and have fun!"
It's now 2026. Since attending the final two events of the 2023 autocross season with the Great River Region, I've been slowly adding modifications to Dave the Prius to make him more autocross-ready, while maintaining the comfort of daily driving. I've attended several other autocross events throughout the Midwest. I've beaten Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and even a Viper out on course. I've received sponsorships from Tire Streets, Pro Import Tuners, Mishimoto, and Ignition Speed. I've been growing my Instagram page (@davetheprius) to a humble 2k followers, and continue to grow my online presence through multiple other platforms. I'm an All-Star Contributor on the Modified Prius Facebook group. I'm also on the Council of Dragonslayers for the annual Prius and the Dragon event, and have even talked our local autocross board about hosting a Prius Invasion run group during our last event of the 2026 autocross season.
Most importantly, I've received countless messages across all platforms from people who say something along the lines of, "Hey, you really encouraged me to go out to autocross! I've been wanting to go for years now, but always thought that my car was too slow. But then I see you're out there all the time, and I just love it! Keep doing what you're doing!" I may not always win at events, but winning the hearts of thousands of car enthusiasts and inspiring them to go out and have fun with their cars is the best trophy of them all! 🥹🫶
