Jason Dante was a young mechanic and street racer in the Third Season of Smallville.
He was the main antagonist of the week in the episode "Velocity".
He was portrayed by Ryan Merriman.
Biography[]
Dante was a mechanic with a passion for racing and hosted illegal street races in Kansas County. He managed to use meteor rocks as a fuel additive in his race cars. He taught Pete Ross how to race and took bets on each race Pete participated in. Clark Kent found out about Pete's illegal activities and tried to talk him out of it.
Clark found Pete at Jason's house working in the barn on a Mustang. It had been outfitted with a nitrous oxide tank that had been boosted with meteorites. Clark insisted that it was dangerous and illegal, but Pete was certain that he knew how to handle the cars. When Pete started winning, he became known as Pete "The Boss" Ross. While Pete was getting ready for another race, Dante told him to take a dive. But Pete didn't listen and won the race.
As a result, Dante lost $20,000 in bets and threatened to kill Pete and his entire family if he didn't pay up with the money to reimburse him, turnover the keys to his Mustang, and stay away from the street races. Pete came to visit Jonathan in the hospital and told Clark about his trouble with Dante. Clark investigated Dante's barn and discovered a collection of license plates and VIN numbers. Chloe Sullivan helped him discover that they were all from stolen cars.
Clark tried calling the sheriff to bust Dante, but Jason had an officer in the sheriff's department in his pocket and so he was never charged and the police raid on his barn failed. Dante guessed that it was Pete who called the sheriff and beat him up, once again threatening to kill his family if he didn't come up with the money. Pete begged Clark to steal the money for him, but Clark hated the idea, so he went to ask Lex for the money.
Lex warned Clark that if he paid off thugs once, they would come back for more, so Clark hatches a new plan: he'll take Lex's Porsche. It's worth a lot more than $20,000, but its not as fast as Jason Dante's other race cars. Pete makes the offer of the Porsche to Dante as the prize in a race against Dante. If Dante wins, the Porsche is his and if Pete wins, the debt is settled.
Clark planned on using his heat vision to overheat Dante's engine, allowing Pete to win the race. They met Jason in his barn and he accepts the challenge. He told his girlfriend, Mara to drive the Porsche out but Pete didn't trust her and chose to drive it himself with her in the passenger seat. While Pete drove the Porsche down to the starting line, Clark overheard Dante talking about putting a bomb in Pete's car that's rigged to blow when he hits 100 mph.
Clark attempted to intervene, but was knocked out with a Kryptonite tank to the head. They stuffed him in the trunk where the Kryptonite keeps him unconscious. Dante locked him in Pete's trunk, and was unable to move due to his proximity to the Kryptonite tubing until Pete burns up that fuel during the race. Clark teared open the fuel tank, causing fuel to leak all over the road, just before Pete reaches 100 miles per hour. Jason Dante loses traction on the spilled fuel and dies in a terrible crash. His death caused a temporary strain between Clark and Pete's friendship.
