This is not to take anything away from the super-sized effort in the driving in Size Matters II — the followup to the bitchin’, tire-smoldering video from 2011 — but there’s a lot missing from Mike Ryan’s latest video that makes you realize how great the first video was.

The stunts? They’re beyond reproach, with Ryan’s 1,950hp Banks Super-Turbo Castrol Freightliner pulling mad donuts in an area where the truck barely fits, eventually jumping a dozen Smart cars. Ryan dukes it out with stunt driver Daniel Leavitt, driving a heavily modified Nissan 240 SX drift car.

The action scenes are really cool, but what was great about the first edition was that it was three minutes of badass big-rig drifting action, where the latest edition centers a lot on story.

Then there’s the music. Size Matters had a perfectly suited soundtrack provided by a kick-ass cover of George Thorogood’s “Gear Jammer” by Chad Reisser. Size Matters II has some obnoxious techno-disco-dialup-modem nonsense that would be great at a rave with a handful of glowsticks high on ecstasy, but maybe not so much when relaxing with a few beers, watching some smoky burnouts.

We’re also not sure why there’s so much story here. The story in the first one was “Hot chick flags Mike Ryan. Mike Ryan smolders eight sets of tires. Aaaand scene.”

We miss you, hot chick.

The story in this second one just tries too hard to be a blend of Bullitt and those great BMW Films from the early 2000s, with a B-Story about some Jim Varney-looking skater dood named “INDI 200.”

It’s a case of the director running away with the art of the project, rather that just strapping a GoPro to the rear fender and letting Mike have at it.

The tale of the tape? Size Matters has a cast of two (three if you include the driver of the S-15). Size Matters II has a cast of 10. The list of credits on the second version has dozens of key grips, gaffers, best boys and Second ADs. The credits in the first one include 26 people, including the craft service people that supplied lunch. Version 2? A crew of 68.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d sure rather watch this than sit through one more episode of Chopped, but when Episode 3 rolls around, I’m hoping it focuses a lot less on contrived story and mad techno beats and more on badass driving skills.