The Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office said Michael Wilson was going more than 100 miles per hour on I-10 last February when he crashed into a barrier.
RICHMOND, Texas — A San Antonio man known for driving Dodge Hellcats at dangerous speeds and allegedly promoting illegal activity through videos of high-speed chases with police is now headed to prison.
Michael Wilson, 39, also known as “Hellcat Mike,” was sentenced to 10 years in prison on July 7. He pleaded guilty to felony evading arrest with a vehicle during a February 2024 high-speed pursuit with a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.
Prosecutors said Wilson dangerously sped through traffic on I-10 in Katy in a Dodge Hellcat with a fake New York license plate reading “MAFIA.” Dash cam video obtained by KHOU 11 shows Wilson accelerating at a high rate of speed and weaving through heavy westbound traffic.
When the trooper once again caught up to Wilson, he allegedly hit the gas again, clipped a landscaping truck, and then crashed into a concrete barrier.
“It’s incredibly lucky nobody was hurt,” Fort Bend County Second Assistant District Attorney Wesley Wittig said. “He’s playing Grand Theft Auto in real life, but that’s incredibly dangerous to our community.”
Wilson was arrested. Inside the car, officers found a female passenger, a French bulldog, an open container of alcohol and steroids.
According to prosecutors, Wilson had turned reckless driving into a marketing tool by posting videos of himself outrunning police and racing on highways to promote his illegal car-related business. Further investigation revealed an Instagram account under the name “Hellcat Mike,” where Wilson appeared to document his police chases.
At his sentencing hearing, he admitted to fleeing law enforcement in at least one video posted on social media. He told the court he used the content to promote his business, which involves sourcing and selling Dodge Charger Hellcats.
“This was his thing. That I am going to find and sell Dodge Hellcat Chargers and that’s how I’m going to do it, is by showing myself outrunning the cops,” Wittig said.
In the dashcam video, after Wilson’s arrest, he can be heard saying: “This is bad for business. I work on Hellcats for a living.”
Auto expert Paul Fix III, with Car Coach Reports, told KHOU 11 that the trend of using street racing to boost illegal operations is growing.
“It’s definitely a piece of this new trend among the car community, the criminals in the car community, that are trying to find ways to promote their illegal businesses by doing illegal street racing,” Fix said. “They’re doing this purely for the adrenaline rush. How quickly can they weave through traffic? How fast can they go? How long can they do it? And they’re getting into cop chases almost daily.”
This was not Wilson’s only brush with law enforcement. He was also the subject of a year-long law enforcement sting in San Antonio, where he was accused of operating a chop shop targeting high-performance vehicles. He is still facing charges in that case.
Wilson is now being transferred to Guadalupe County, where he is awaiting sentencing in another felony evading arrest case.