Dusty Russell, Dusty Russell, is dropped off in front of a bar in rural Kentucky. He goes inside to order a drink but can’t pay, so the bartender offers him a job for $100 driving a “tanker”—a souped-up car used for running bootleg moonshine. As Dusty prepares for the run, law enforcement closes in on the bar’s moonshine operation. He manages to escape in the bar owner/moonshiner’s 1939 Dodge, eluding the local sheriff and state police as the car is rolled and the 50 gallons of moonshine in the trunk are destroyed.
Back at the bar, the bartender/moonshiner refuses to pay Dusty and has his bouncers attack him. A stranger joins the fray, and Dusty and his ally escape the bar, taking Jo-Ann, Laura Brooks, a waitress Dusty has taken a fancy to, with them. The stranger turns out to be Buddy Love, who plans to enter a demolition derby but lacks a car. Dusty offers to use the bootlegger’s car he drove for the moonshine run in the derby, and the two form a partnership. Dusty and Jo-Ann grow closer and become lovers as they ride toward the chaotic world of auto daredevils.
Driving in the demolition derby, Dusty is the last car standing and wins the purse of $300. The promoter, Gene Drew, Gene Drew, proves to be the head of a troupe of traveling auto daredevils, The Circus of Death, a group of stunt drivers who perform jaw-dropping feats like head-on collisions and rolling cars. One of the daredevils, an old German showman, performs the Texas dynamite trick as “Atom Man,” lying in a flimsy box that is blown up by dynamite.
Gene hires Dusty as well as his partner Buddy, and Dusty quickly proves to be a first-rate stunt driver. Dusty becomes a breakout star on the auto daredevil circuit, famous for the dive bomber—driving a speeding car off a ramp at 55 mph, flying about 50 feet, and crashing down onto a line of parked cars. The jealous Crash Chambers, who resents Dusty’s meteoric rise, is relegated to a secondary act and grows resentful as he watches Dusty steal the spotlight. Buddy Love performs “The Slide of Death,” a different death-defying stunt, but dreams of moving up to full stunt driving.
Dusty’s ascent continues as he sets records and garners renown. Touring Texas with The Circus of Death, he ties the world record of 60 feet. At a celebration where Dusty receives a trophy, an inebriated Gene challenges him to push the record to 100 feet. A bitter Crash lashes out, insisting Dusty’s success is mere luck, while Gene defends Dusty’s skill and drive. The tension erupts into a mano-a-mano stunt driving challenge, and Dusty prevails when Crash’s car rolls over after a blown tire.
Crash’s temperament only worsens, and he remains a thorn in Gene’s side, threatening to be fired. During an event where Dusty is slated to stage a head-in collision, Buddy pleads for Dusty to let him drive the car to prove himself to Drew. Crash knocks out the other driver and takes the secondary car, hoping to crash head-on into Dusty. Over the loudspeaker, Gene warns the crowd about the dangers of head-on crashes, stressing that the stunt requires perfect teamwork and equal speeds, or tragedy can follow. Thinking Dusty and the other driver are in the cars, Gene notes that Crash’s car is moving too fast and trouble may erupt. The collision finally comes when Crash smashes into Dusty’s car, and Buddy Love is killed.
As Dusty prepared to set a world-record dive bomber jump of 70 feet, Crash sabotages him by cutting his safety belt. Dusty still attempts the stunt and sets a new mark, though the injury leaves him needing clutches to keep moving. Gene arranges for him to attempt another dive bomber record—this time at 100 feet—after a brief hospital stay. Dusty pushes on despite his injuries and manages to extend the record to 100 feet, but the landing on top of five parked cars leaves him unconscious and severely battered. In the final scene, Jo-Ann catches a Greyhound bus alone, tears streaming down her face as the credits roll.
