From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishput/press/push the pedal to the metalput/press/push the pedal to the metalAmerican English a) to drive a car, truck etc very fast b) to work harder or faster, especially so that you can win a game → pedal
Examples from the Corpus
put/press/push the pedal to the metal• Later, Brooks' brother alleged that racism helped put the pedal to the metal.• By the second half of the game, the Tigers had really started to put the pedal to the metal. 