Guy Fieri Says Son Ryder Has to Drive a Minivan for 'One Year, No Tickets' Before He Can Buy a Car

Guy Fieri is known for cruising around in a 1968 red Camaro along with a myriad of other vintage cars — but those are his cars, not his sons.

The father to Hunter, 26, and Ryder, 16, tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story that he has a rule when it comes to the boys' first vehicle.

"You know what Ryder drove to school [when] he got his license? He got my parents' old, used 259,000-mile Chrysler minivan," he says. "I'm not buying Ryder a car, and I refuse to let him buy a car until he spends one year with no tickets, no accidents, driving the minivan."

Fieri, whose new show Guy's Ultimate Game Night airs Wednesdays on Food Network, assures that it's not a punishment. "It's a rite of passage," he says. "Show me that you can spend a year driving the car, not getting any dents, not getting any wrecks, not getting any tickets. Prove that you've got it all together. Then you can take your own money out of the bank and go buy a car."

"I want the boys to be self-sufficient," he says.

When Fieri's oldest son, Hunter, first got his license, he drove his grandfather's 1996 truck with "no working windows," Hunter tells PEOPLE, and can now appreciate his dad's decision.

For more on PEOPLE's cover story with Guy Fieri, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"He's a great teacher and a great father and leads by example," says Hunter, who recently signed his own talent contract with Food Network. "He does the right things to train you for the real world. And teaches you discipline and hard work and to not give up, and that not everyone's going to hold your hand through life."

"I'm glad that Ryder is driving the minivan," he adds. "It's a great lesson for him."

Fieri, his wife, Lori, and the boys split their time between a ranch in Ferndale, Calif., a new home in southern Florida, and their main property in Santa Rosa, Calif., 10 miles away from the new house Fieri built for his parents and the old house where he raised his kids, which now serves as Hunter's bachelor pad.

Family time involves "lots of outdoor activities in the mountains," says Fieri. "We're always a big traveling event, taking the RVs around the country."

And no matter where they are, "family is always the first priority," he says.

For more on Guy Fieri, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.