Jeremy Clarkson is "the big old dude"... LOL
Big fan of the BBC series myself, and since I'm an old Benny Hill and Monty Python fan I get most of the slang/humor too...
But here's the deal. American TV and their sponsors won't put up with the same stuff that BBC gets away with. The first time one of the US hosts calls BMW owners D-bags or something their going to lose advertisers (revenue) and for those that have never seen the BBC show the American viewers will just feel offended. Plus I simply do not see the chemistry between these guys in the sample clips I've seen like Clarkson, Mays, and Hammond. You have to remember, Top Gear as you know it now is different than the original Top Gear, which was a true serious car review show. It's actually been on BBC since 1977 and Clarkson has been the main host for 20 years! I give the US version about seven episodes or so max.
Mark