{"id":4429,"date":"2026-08-18T13:43:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=4429"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:43:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:43:46","slug":"give-him-the-keys-how-camilo-bad-bunny-velez-became-puerto-ricos-hired-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=4429","title":{"rendered":"Give Him the Keys: How Camilo \u201cBad Bunny\u201d V\u00e9lez Became Puerto Rico\u2019s Hired Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a violent little Toyota Starlet in Puerto Rico to rotary-powered Mazdas, a 2JZ Pro Mod, an Australian RX-3 and a 260-mph RB-powered monster, Camilo V\u00e9lez has built a reputation on something rarer than speed: people trust him with their race cars.<\/em><\/p>\n

There may be no greater compliment in drag racing than somebody handing you the keys.<\/p>\n

Think about what that really means.<\/p>\n

A race car can represent years of work. Thousands of hours. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Missed dinners. Late nights. Broken parts. Family sacrifices. Friendships. Arguments. Dreams.<\/p>\n

For some people, that car is as close to another member of the family as a machine can possibly become.<\/p>\n

Then they look at another person and say:<\/p>\n

You drive it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is the story of Camilo \u201cBad Bunny\u201d V\u00e9lez.<\/p>\n

Because if you spend enough time tracing Camilo\u2019s career, a pattern begins to emerge. The names on the doors change. The engines change. The chassis change. The countries change.<\/p>\n

Camilo keeps getting the call.<\/p>\n

A turbocharged 13B Toyota Starlet.<\/p>\n

A first-generation RX-7.<\/p>\n

A 2JZ-powered Outlaw car.<\/p>\n

An Australian Mazda RX-3.<\/p>\n

An RB-powered R34 GT-R concept capable of going 260 mph.<\/p>\n

Each one presents a different problem.<\/p>\n

Each one belongs to somebody who has every reason in the world to be selective about who sits behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

And somehow, over and over again, the answer has been the same.<\/p>\n

Give it to Bunny.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Car That Made People Notice<\/h2>\n

For many racers, Camilo V\u00e9lez will always be connected first to La Bollinqui<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The little Toyota Starlet from Bollinqui Racing is everything that makes Puerto Rican import drag racing so intoxicating: compact, violent, unconventional and almost comically fast for the amount of automobile surrounding the driver.<\/p>\n

Powered by a turbocharged Mazda 13B and competing on a small tire, La Bollinqui became the car through which a much larger racing world began to recognize Camilo\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

By 2024, racing coverage reported Camilo wheeling La Bollinqui to 6.611 seconds at 214.11 mph<\/strong>, billed at the time as a world-record performance for a 10.5-tire 13B Starlet.<\/p>\n

Read those numbers again and remember what we’re talking about.<\/p>\n

A Toyota Starlet.<\/p>\n

A short-wheelbase car with a rotary engine, an enormous amount of power and very little room for mistakes.<\/p>\n

Cars like La Bollinqui don’t politely ask their drivers to participate.<\/p>\n

They demand it.<\/p>\n

And Camilo proved he could do more than point one straight when everything went according to plan.<\/p>\n

There have been moments when the car didn’t cooperate\u2014moments where the difference between a highlight reel and a destroyed race car came down to what the driver did in fractions of a second.<\/p>\n

That matters.<\/p>\n

Because speed will get somebody’s attention.<\/p>\n

Car control earns trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And eventually, people outside Camilo’s immediate circle started paying attention.<\/p>\n

Including someone from the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s Driving That Car?\u201d<\/h2>\n

In 2019, Australian racer and car owner Tony Grgich was in Florida watching an event when a driver caught his attention.<\/p>\n

Grgich later told the official Jamboree organization that he asked who was driving the car.<\/p>\n

The answer he received was Camilo.<\/p>\n

And, as Grgich remembered it, he was told the guy was a rookie.<\/p>\n

They were introduced.<\/p>\n

Camilo told him something personal: one of his childhood dreams had been to race in Australia.<\/p>\n

Grgich made him a deal.<\/p>\n

Win the event, and I’ll bring you to Australia to drive my car.<\/p>\n

Camilo won.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And Tony Grgich remembered the promise.<\/p>\n

What makes the story even better is what happened afterward. Grgich said the two became more than racing acquaintances\u2014they became like family. He also noted that Camilo had gone on to drive numerous cars throughout Puerto Rico and the United States.<\/p>\n

So when the time came to choose someone to drive Grgich’s The Ghost RX-3<\/strong> in Australia, the decision wasn’t based on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 arriving in an email.<\/p>\n

It began with something Tony had seen with his own eyes.<\/p>\n

He had watched Camilo drive.<\/p>\n

And he trusted him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Halfway Around the World<\/h2>\n

By 2023, the promise had become reality.<\/p>\n

The Australian Jamboree officially promoted Camilo V\u00e9lez as a star Puerto Rican driver coming to take over driving duties in The Ghost.<\/p>\n

Think about the distance involved.<\/p>\n

A Puerto Rican racer develops his reputation in the Caribbean and the United States.<\/p>\n

An Australian car owner sees him drive in Florida.<\/p>\n

Years later, that owner flies him across the world to strap into an entirely different race car and compete against Australia’s best.<\/p>\n

You don’t do that because a guy is popular on social media.<\/p>\n

You don’t do it because his helmet looks good in photographs.<\/p>\n

You do it because you believe that when the tree drops and your race car starts doing everything a high-horsepower drag car is capable of doing, the person sitting inside it can handle the responsibility.<\/p>\n

Australia also showed the other side of that responsibility.<\/p>\n

During testing for the 2023 Sydney Jamboree, Camilo lost control of The Ghost at the top end. The RX-3 went into a violent barrel roll.<\/p>\n

Australian Drag News didn’t describe Camilo simply as a visitor.<\/p>\n

They called him a Puerto Rican \u201chired gun.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thankfully, he emerged from the crash unharmed.<\/p>\n

That phrase\u2014hired gun\u2014might be the simplest way to explain what Camilo was becoming.<\/p>\n

Not because he was detached from the teams he drove for.<\/p>\n

Quite the opposite.<\/p>\n

It meant that when someone had a serious race car and needed someone capable of making serious decisions at serious speed, Camilo V\u00e9lez had become one of the names worth calling.<\/p>\n

And the crash didn’t end that story.<\/p>\n

He kept driving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From Rotary Starlets to Five-Second Cars<\/h2>\n

This is where Camilo’s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 becomes particularly impressive.<\/p>\n

Plenty of excellent racers master one combination.<\/p>\n

They know exactly how their car feels. They know where every switch is without thinking. They know what the chassis will do when the track gets marginal and what the engine sounds like immediately before something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

That familiarity is incredibly valuable.<\/p>\n

Camilo has repeatedly volunteered to give it up.<\/p>\n

He moved from cars like La Bollinqui into R&R Racing’s Toyota Solara<\/strong>, a completely different animal powered by Toyota’s legendary 2JZ platform and capable of running deep into the five-second zone.<\/p>\n

Race coverage documented Camilo driving the R&R machine to 5.81 at 252 mph<\/strong> at the World Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

That isn’t a small progression.<\/p>\n

Going from a short-wheelbase rotary Starlet to a five-second, 250-plus-mph Outlaw car is not like borrowing your friend’s different brand of street car.<\/p>\n

Everything becomes more serious.<\/p>\n

The speed.<\/p>\n

The braking zone.<\/p>\n

The way the chassis reacts.<\/p>\n

The amount of ground covered during a mistake.<\/p>\n

At 250 mph, the race car travels more than a football field every second.<\/p>\n

And Camilo adapted.<\/p>\n

Again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

El Father<\/h2>\n

Then there is El Father<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At the 2025 World Cup Finals, the official event roster listed Camilo driving El Father, a first-generation Mazda RX-7, in Warriors vs. Tres Cuarto.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t merely another name on his growing list of cars.<\/p>\n

On November 6, 2025, at Maryland International Raceway, Camilo drove El Father to 6.565 seconds at 210.37 mph<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

KB Performance’s maintained ranking of first-generation 13B RX-7s placed that performance among the world’s quickest examples of the combination. The listing credits Moncho Performance on the mechanical side, Wilbert Performance with tuning duties and Camilo \u201cBad Bunny Racing\u201d V\u00e9lez as the driver.<\/p>\n

Another car.<\/p>\n

Another team.<\/p>\n

Another rotary combination.<\/p>\n

Another 200-plus-mph timeslip.<\/p>\n

But on that same World Cup roster was something that might explain Camilo’s career better than any quote ever could.<\/p>\n

His name appeared twice.<\/p>\n

In Warriors vs. Tres Cuarto, Camilo was entered in El Father.<\/p>\n

Up in Outlaw vs. Extreme, he was entered in an Australian car called Big Mack<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two different cars.<\/p>\n

Two different classes.<\/p>\n

Two radically different combinations.<\/p>\n

One driver.<\/p>\n

Big Mack<\/h2>\n

Big Mack took the story to another level.<\/p>\n

The Mack Racing machine is an Australian R34 GT-R concept powered by Nissan’s RB engine architecture.<\/p>\n

Once again, an Australian team had chosen the Puerto Rican driver.<\/p>\n

Only this time, Camilo wasn’t flying to Australia to drive their car.<\/p>\n

They were bringing the program to America and putting him behind the wheel against some of the quickest import and domestic combinations in the world.<\/p>\n

The official World Cup Finals roster didn’t list Camilo’s home as Puerto Rico next to the entry.<\/p>\n

It listed the car’s team representation:<\/p>\n

Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Driver: Camilo V\u00e9lez.<\/p>\n

Car: Big Mack.<\/p>\n

R34 GTR Concept.<\/p>\n

If the story ended there, it would already say plenty about how widely Camilo’s reputation had traveled.<\/p>\n

Then the car went 260 mph<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In November 2025 at Orlando Speed World, GRS Motorsports reported Big Mack running 5.68 at 260 mph<\/strong> with Camilo at the controls, identifying the performance as a new RB and speed world record. The reported incrementals included a sub-one-second 60-foot and a 3.80-second eighth-mile at more than 200 mph.<\/p>\n

Two hundred and sixty miles per hour.<\/p>\n

Now go back to La Bollinqui.<\/p>\n

Go back to the little 13B Starlet.<\/p>\n

Go back to the Australian standing beside a Florida drag strip in 2019 asking:<\/p>\n

Who’s driving that car?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s the journey.<\/p>\n

Not simply from 6.60 to 5.68.<\/p>\n

Not simply from 214 mph to 260.<\/p>\n

From being a driver someone noticed to becoming the driver international teams sought out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There Is a Difference Between Fast and Versatile<\/h2>\n

This is where Camilo V\u00e9lez deserves more credit than a list of personal bests can provide.<\/p>\n

Drivers specialize for a reason.<\/p>\n

Every race car has a personality.<\/p>\n

A short-wheelbase rotary car wants something different from its driver than a long-wheelbase Outlaw car.<\/p>\n

A 13B doesn’t deliver power like a 2JZ.<\/p>\n

A 2JZ isn’t an RB.<\/p>\n

Different turbo combinations behave differently.<\/p>\n

Different transmissions change routines.<\/p>\n

Different chassis communicate differently.<\/p>\n

Different teams have different procedures.<\/p>\n

Different tuners expect different feedback.<\/p>\n

Yet Camilo’s documented r\u00e9sum\u00e9 crosses all of those lines.<\/p>\n

La Bollinqui:<\/strong> turbo 13B Starlet.<\/p>\n

The Ghost:<\/strong> Australian rotary RX-3.<\/p>\n

R&R Racing:<\/strong> 2JZ Toyota Solara.<\/p>\n

El Father:<\/strong> first-generation rotary RX-7.<\/p>\n

Big Mack:<\/strong> Australian RB-powered R34 concept.<\/p>\n

At some point, calling that a coincidence becomes ridiculous.<\/p>\n

It’s a skill.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more importantly, it’s a reputation.<\/p>\n

The Part a Timeslip Can’t Measure<\/h2>\n

There are things we can measure easily in drag racing.<\/p>\n

Reaction time.<\/p>\n

Sixty-foot.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Eighth-mile.<\/p>\n

    Mile per hour.<\/p>\n

    Elapsed time.<\/p>\n

    Then there are the things that never appear on the timing slip.<\/p>\n

    Does the crew trust what the driver tells them?<\/p>\n

    Does the tuner believe the feedback?<\/p>\n

    Does the owner feel comfortable watching someone else strap into the car?<\/p>\n

    Does the driver respect the equipment?<\/p>\n

    When things go wrong at 200 mph, does panic take over or does training?<\/p>\n

    Can somebody arrive in a different country, work with a different team, sit in a different car and immediately become part of the program instead of simply being the person holding the steering wheel?<\/p>\n

    Tony Grgich’s explanation of his relationship with Camilo may tell us as much as any ET ever could.<\/p>\n

    He didn’t describe him as somebody he hired and forgot about.<\/p>\n

    He described a relationship that became like family.<\/p>\n

    That’s different.<\/p>\n

    And it’s probably why the phrase \u201chired gun,\u201d while accurate, doesn’t completely describe Camilo V\u00e9lez.<\/p>\n

    A hired gun shows up, does a job and leaves.<\/p>\n

    Camilo seems to keep becoming part of the teams that call him.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Puerto Rico Builds Drivers<\/h2>\n

    There’s also a bigger story here.<\/p>\n

    Puerto Rico’s influence on import drag racing is impossible to separate from the island’s culture around small cars, rotary engines and enormous horsepower.<\/p>\n

    For decades, Puerto Rican racers have taken combinations that look unreasonable on paper and made them terrifyingly effective on asphalt.<\/p>\n

    They have traveled.<\/p>\n

    They have raced in the mainland United States.<\/p>\n

    They have gone to Australia.<\/p>\n

    Australia has come to them.<\/p>\n

    World Cup Finals entry sheets regularly read like international roll calls, with Puerto Rican cars and drivers scattered throughout classes that once would have seemed completely disconnected from one another.<\/p>\n

    Camilo V\u00e9lez is a product of that environment.<\/p>\n

    But he has also become one of its exports.<\/p>\n

    A racer from Puerto Rico who can be placed into somebody else’s program and immediately carry the expectations that come with it.<\/p>\n

    That’s significant.<\/p>\n

    Because representation isn’t only carrying a Puerto Rican flag on the roof.<\/p>\n

    Sometimes it’s an Australian car owner deciding the person he trusts most to drive his creation lives thousands of miles away on an island in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

    Give Him the Keys<\/h2>\n

    Drag racing is full of fast people.<\/p>\n

    Some are tremendous tuners.<\/p>\n

    Some are incredible fabricators.<\/p>\n

    Some can build an engine that survives abuse nobody thought possible.<\/p>\n

    Some are natural drivers.<\/p>\n

    And then, every so often, somebody develops the kind of reputation where the particular car almost stops mattering.<\/p>\n

    Put him in it.<\/p>\n

    He’ll figure it out.<\/p>\n

    Camilo V\u00e9lez isn’t done building that r\u00e9sum\u00e9, which may be the most exciting part.<\/p>\n

    The numbers are already ridiculous.<\/p>\n

    6.61 at 214 in a 13B Starlet.<\/p>\n

    6.56 at 210 in a first-generation RX-7.<\/p>\n

    5.81 at 252 in a 2JZ Solara.<\/p>\n

    A trip to Australia to drive someone else’s RX-3.<\/p>\n

    And then a reported 5.68 at 260 mph<\/strong> in an Australian RB-powered monster.<\/p>\n

    But the numbers are almost secondary.<\/p>\n

    Because eventually someone will go quicker.<\/p>\n

    Someone will run faster.<\/p>\n

    Records will change hands. They always do.<\/p>\n

    What is harder to earn is the reputation Camilo \u201cBad Bunny\u201d V\u00e9lez has built along the way.<\/p>\n

    The reputation that makes an owner thousands of miles away watch him drive once and remember his name.<\/p>\n

    The reputation that gets him invited across the world.<\/p>\n

    The reputation that puts his name beside two different race cars in two different classes at one of the biggest import races on the planet.<\/p>\n

    The reputation that says it doesn’t particularly matter whether the engine has two rotors, six cylinders, a 2JZ badge or an RB block.<\/p>\n

    The reputation that makes another racer look at the machine he loves, the machine he has invested everything in, and make one of the biggest decisions a car owner can make.<\/p>\n

    Give him the keys.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Because Bunny can drive.<\/p>\n

    Also, check out RevMind<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    From a violent little Toyota Starlet in Puerto Rico to rotary-powered Mazdas, a 2JZ Pro Mod, an Australian RX-3 and a 260-mph RB-powered monster, Camilo V\u00e9lez has built a reputation on something rarer than speed: people trust him with their race cars. There may be no greater compliment in drag racing than somebody handing you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[55],"class_list":["post-4429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CV6-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CV6-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Kline Whitley","author_link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/author\/klinewhitley"},"authors":[{"term_id":55,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"klinewhitley","display_name":"Kline Whitley","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Me.png","url2x":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Me.png"},"first_name":"Kline","last_name":"Whitley","user_url":"http:\/\/www.DragCoverage.com","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4429"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4453,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429\/revisions\/4453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4429"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=4429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}