Carson High School grad competes on ‘R U Faster Than A Redneck?’

He laces up his red ankle-high canvas shoes, zips up his red leather jacket and dons his Elvis-esque aviators before announcing to the world that he is Ben Adler, to his friends he is Badler, and to his enemies … They never see him coming.Adler, or Badler as he calls himself, has an addiction to high class kind of speed that costs just as much as its lower-class counterpart but is done on a racetrack, not with a spoon and a lighter.On Monday night, the world will learn if Adler won $10,000 in a SPEED series, “R U Faster Than A Redneck?”The episode, titled “Adam vs. Badler” is on the SPEED channel at 9 p.m. Monday night.Adler, 26, entered the contest when he saw an advert looking for young import drivers interested in a chance to win $10,000 at his local race track. Although it looked like a spam sort of ad, he went ahead and read on. He sent an email. The producers were interested and asked for a video from him. Within 24 hours, Adler produced a video and honed in on his inner Badler, an American getting his MBA to become the head of a foreign auto company. A man who moved to the south thinking the stereotypes on TV were false but, sadly, found out they are based in truth.A man who expresses his disdain for southern diction succinctly: “I’m not your boss. I’m not your son. Just because my dog isn’t some big, inbred, ugly pit bull, stop calling him a she. Just because your wife weighs twice as much as I do doesn’t mean I call her sir … And yeah, I voted for Obama. Deal with it. And I’m going to do it again, just to piss you rednecks off,” he said in his video to the producers, posted on YouTube.Adler, a born and bred Carsonite, graduated from Carson High School and moved on to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., majoring in both international relations and Japanese.Adler then moved on to an English teaching job in South Korea for two years, where his lust for speed blossomed into its full addiction glory. Adler credits South Korea’s lack of officers for his ability to learn how to drive incredibly fast. It probably didn’t hurt that he owned the faster car he’s ever owned, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.“I was able to explore driving very, very quick,” he said. While South Korea allowed Adler to explore the possibilities of driving, it also opened his heart to the adrenaline speed brings.“It’s an addiction,” he said.When he came back state-side and started school at the University of South Carolina, his speed-lust was dampened, nay, crushed by America’s prevalence of state troopers patrolling the roads.“You can’t drive any way you want in America,” he said, in contrast to South Korea.Into the gap we goAdler had a Saturn he “absolutely hated” in high school, which he traded up for a ’79 Camaro. But the Camaro, being the muscle car it is, had little control — or, Adler had little control over it.“(The Saturn) prompted me to buy a car I thought was cooler (the Camaro),” he said. He ditched the Saturn in favor of the muscle car. “Eventually I put it into a ditch,” he said. Putting the Camaro into the dumps allowed him to have an epiphany — every car has a limit and with the Camaro, he had hit it, or at least fallen into it.Ultimate driving machineAdler has a classic sports car he left in Carson City, perpetually getting refurbished and he would have taken it with him to South Carolina in 2011 if it weren’t for the fact that the car has no air conditioning.“I found the BMW and it wasn’t in perfect shape,” he said. With a little bit of tender loving care, he brought it up to where he thought it should be. Then a deal came up, which promised him a weekend of racing on a local track at well below half the normal cost. He could not pass it up.Once Adler went for that weekend of track racing, he was hooked on what he had been missing since he moved back state-side.“Nothing beats driving on a race track,” he said. “Just going as fast as you can with lots of turns and corners.”The track also taught him and his wallet something else. Although the BMW was perfectly suited to the road, it was the little things that mattered on the race track. He endeavored to take his driving machine to the limit between taking it to the track on the weekends and driving it to school on the weekdays. He still needs a back seat, the air conditioning, his headliner and gadgets, he said.“A lot of the modifications are pointless for day-to-day driving but are essential for going out on the track.”With lots of tweaks and money poured into mostly the suspension and steering of the car, he found it was where he wanted. “I can really feel how rough or how smooth (the road) is,” he said.Adler, drawing from his experience in Japanese culture, is a hybrid of an import driver. He lives in Germany for a study-abroad program and hopes to return after his six months to do an internship at a car company. He drives a 2000 Bavarian Motor Works 328Ci, yet, he said he strides to make it like a Japanese performance car.The Badler character he plays is “a ridiculous guy with ridiculous fashion driving a German car ... and I also speak Japanese.”