Cleetus McFarland’s Mullet El Camino Getting BIG Upgrades at Cameron Johnson Race Cars!
Many people might associate the ‘LeRoy’ C5 Corvette as the car that kickstarted the Cleetus McFarland YouTube channel, but it was the C7 supercharged C7 Corvette known as ‘The Bald Eagle Machine’ that was featured first by Cleetus. ‘Ruby’ the auction C5 Corvette and ‘Donnie’ the drift Corvette have joined the fleet, but the El Camino known as ‘Mullet’ has become one of the more recognizable rides from the Cleetus’ garage.
The Chevrolet El Camino has captured a slew of drag-and-drive wins, a World Cup Finals victory in 2022, and a fistful of 6-second runs. Now, the combination car and pick-up will get a new chapter started with some BIG upgrades at Cameron Johnson Race Cars.
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Originally bought and slated to be an exhibition vehicle with a one-thousand horsepower LS engine up front, and a jet engine in the back, plans for Mullet changed after Cleetus had a chance to reflect on the dangers of a car so far outside of a traditional jet engine-holding ride.
The result was the El Camino going to KSR Performance and Fabrication to be changed, wired, plumbed, and install a serious LS-based combination with a pair of Precision Turbo and Engine turbochargers.
The car was completed in May of 2021, and initial testing at Bradenton Motorsports Park immediately showed the potential of the new ride, clocking a 7-second pass on only its third run.
Cleetus took Mullet to its first drag-and-drive, Midwest Drags, and won the Modified Power Adder class. Then Cleetus followed it up with Rocky Mountain Race Week in 2021, winning Ultimate Radial and finishing third overall.
The 2022 season started at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and Cleetus pushed Mullet to a 7.89 average, and finished sixth in the Modified class. Despite cracking off his first 6-second pass about a month after Sick Week 2022, Cleetus wanted more power.
Jump ahead a couple months to mid-May 2022, and Cleetus made the switch from LS to a Steve Morris Engines big block Chevrolet sporting a larger pair of 94-millimeter Precision turbochargers.
This combination pushed Mullet into the 6.4-second range, even scoring Cleetus an impressive victory at the World Cup Finals. But despite pushing the nearly 3600-pound car into the low 6-second range, Cleetus knew the car needed changes. “I’ve been a little frustrated with Mullet lately,” said Cleetus this past May. “We’ve been trying to make it go faster, and it just doesn’t seem to want to go faster.”
“It’s been everything; we’ve been 6.30s and 235 mph in this car, and it’s been a bunch of different ideas combined into one. It’s not really good at one thing in particular; it’s decent at a lot of things.”
After getting a 5-second Pro 275-class ’69 Camaro build completed at Cameron Johnson Race Cars (CJRC) in Lakeland, Florida, Cleetus reflected on the future of not just Mullet, but possibly another new build.
“I have two cars sitting behind us – ‘Bald Eagle Machine’ and ‘Mullet’ – and there’s an open spot at CJRC to rebuild or build a car,” said Cleetus in a video pondering the future of these two rides.
After some different opinions from his team, Cleetus decided to let the fans vote on which car would visit CJRC for their touch, Mullet or the Bald Eagle Machine. Mullet got the nod.
In their first video with Mullet in the shop, Cameron and team at CJRC talk about the planned upgrades to the El Camino:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, KWS Images, Cleetus McFarland and CJRC.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com