Coming off the first lead role of his career in “Machete” last year, actor Danny Trejo is slated to star in about 15 films in 2011 according to imdb.com, Trejo’s most recent project is “Death Race 2,” a prequel to the violent 2008 action thriller remake about prisoners who participate in a brutal car race to win their freedom.

The 66-year-old actor recently sat down with EXTRA and spoke about why people stay away from him on the road and who he hopes to hang out with when he films “The Muppets” movie this year.

Tell me about your character Goldberg in “Death Race 2.”
You know, it caught me by surprise when they told me they wanted me to play a character named Goldberg. I said, “Whaaaaat?!” (Laughs) Goldberg is a lead mechanic in the prison. He’s chingón when it comes to working on cars.

Are you pretty knowledgeable under the hood of a car in real life?
Yeah, on older cars, but I don’t mess with anything new. I got a ’36 Dodge I got all cherried-out, a ’52 Chevy pickup, and a ’76 Cadillac DeVille that I work on all the time. But they’re not race cars, they’re lowriders.

So, are you more of a defensive or offensive driver?
(Laughs) Let’s just say if I’m bumping loud sounds people stay away from me.

Did any of the cars on the set of “Death Race 2” catch your eye?
I loved all of them. You have to know, these cars weren’t made to carry the weight they had on them. They had a lot of steel and metal. It wasn’t like driving a regular car. It was like driving a tank. To make a turn, you had to start turning about five seconds before ...