(CBS) Steve Kroft is taken for a hair-raising, 130 mph joy ride by "The Stig" on Sunday's "60 Minutes." A Darth-Vader-like anonymous race car driver who doesn't speak, the Stig is just one of the peculiar features that have helped make the BBC2's car show, "Top Gear," one of the most popular television programs on the planet, with a weekly audience the BBC estimates at 350 million viewers in 170 countries.

Kroft's report on "Top Gear" will be broadcast this Sunday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

BBC UK: "Top Gear"
BBC America: "Top Gear"

What's the mass appeal of a quirky car show that attracts a-list guest stars like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and features a hodgepodge of extravagant races, travelogues, stunts and car reviews? Kroft asks co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, as well as the program's executive producer, Andy Wilman.

"It's a journey into the male mind which, I believe is a really potentially very funny place. Because, let's face it, nothing happens there," says Wilman.

Witty humor, running physical gags, outrageous speed, destructive vehicle stunts and car reviews are the show's hallmarks. It's now entering its fifth decade and is available in the U.S. on BBC America, where it enjoys a cult following. Kroft's story includes some of the show's best moments: driving a Bugatti 259 MPH; driving a truck through brick walls; drinking and driving on the way to the North Pole; cooking up elaborate ways to destroy Toyota pick-ups; and a road trip through Alabama in cars sporting fighting words like "NASCAR SUCKS."

The program courts controversy regularly with their often dangerous stunts and the humor that is often taken as anything but funny by some offended group.

There was the time Clarkson drove a truck for a "Top Gear" segment and upset people with a wry reference to a serial killer who happened to be a truck driver. "It's a hard job," deadpans Clarkson. "Change gear, change gear, check your mirrors. Murder a prostitute, change gear…" Says Clarkson, "It's a weekly occurrence that somebody will complain…but if you start to pay attention to everybody's concerns, you end up with something bland and boring."

Each week, Clarkson, a huge, bombastic character, joins May, a professorial type, and Hammond, an energetic and earnest foil, in a clash of personalities and inside humor that is for many the secret sauce in the show. But Clarkson clearly leads the pack in this race. "The chemistry that exists between Richard, James and I has rather taken over…We really, genuinely loathe each other," Clarkson tells Kroft.

As for "The Stig," who never speaks or reveals his identity, "A happy accident," says Wilman. "We couldn't find a racing driver capable of an intelligent comment…And then, I think Jeremy, said, 'Why does this driver need to talk at all?'" Indeed, The Stig does not speak when Kroft tries to engage him, remaining in his mute, anonymous character behind the dark visor that's become his trademark.

Stig's mystery has become such a critical part of "Top Gear" that when he revealed his identity some weeks ago as Ben Collins, he was shown the door. The former Formula Three driver outed himself so he could publish a book; the search is on for his replacement.