Cresting the 5,000 Horsepower in Cleetus McFarland’s ‘69 Camaro on the FuelTech Dyno – and a Wheelie As Well!
Although he got his start with cars that can cover street and strip duty, Cleetus McFarland made the decision in spring of 2024 to have Cameron Johnson Race Cars (CJRC) in Lakeland, Florida construct a ’69 Chevrolet Camaro.
Despite the car having minimum testing, Cleetus and crew debuted the car in competition at the World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway (MDIR) in November, and clocked a best of 5.89 at 246 mph.
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At the conclusion of the event, Cleetus revealed the car needed some changes and updates. In the process of trying to get the car finished in time to qualify to be eligible for the World Cup Finals, the CJRC thrashed on the Camaro, but they discovered some areas that needed help.
After returning to Florida from Maryland, Cleetus sent the car to CJRC for those changes, as well as getting the car touched up on the paint.
But in the quest to get the Camaro known as ‘Eagle’ a little more dialed in and tune it up to see what power potential it has, Cleetus and crew visited Pro Line Engines in Georgia. “At World Cup Finals, we hit the rev limiter, which is really bad for these big engines,” said Cleetus.
So, the engine was pulled out before delivering the Camaro to CJRC, and Zachary Walker from the Cleetus crew came up to help with the engine work. “Zach came here a day early, worked with the Pro Line guys, changed out the rods.”
They swapped on a spare set of cylinder heads, gave the engine a once over, rolled the car over to FuelTech to bolt it to the hub dyno, get some tuning done and make some pulls.
Unlike some dyno pulls where the run happens in high gear, or in a 1:1 gear ratio, the pulls at FuelTech would simulate a full run with the transbrake launch, gear changes and lockup engaged.
The first pull, noted by Cleetus as a ‘baby pull,’ pulled the front wheels off the stands and returned a figure of 3623 horsepower! This was done on a pull that Pro Line’s Steve Petty described as “that was making the 1-2 gear change.”
Zach pulled the spark plugs, the valve covers and gave everything a once over before the next pass. “Every 20 runs or so, we’ve got to change the (connecting rods),” said Cleetus, highlighting the importance of checking things after each and every run.
As they prepared for the second run, Cleetus noted “we’re taking it a little further, we’re going to lock it up and go the whole way this time.” After stating the first run was “less than 60 pounds of boost; I don’t know what Petty is targeting this time, but I can only imagine it’s significantly more.”
The second pull did return a high figure, with 4986 horsepower on the screen as a result from 68 pounds of boost, and Cleetus reflected for a moment about the significance of what was happening. “I remember my first dyno session ever,” said Cleetus. “It was always a blast and so cool to make a little bit of horsepower.”
Despite the excitement of the run, Cleetus brought the moment full circle. “Seeing Eagle just pop out 4900 horsepower is unbelievable, and the opportunity is thanks to you guys, so thank you.”
After reviewing the data, the lock-up was found to not be fully engaged, and the CO2 was a little low, meaning there was still power and performance on the table. The Camaro was prepped for a third run, where the 5000 horsepower mark was crested with a 5052 figure on 78 pounds of boost! But a pop from the intake also signaled something wasn’t right, as the burst panel checked out.
After reviewing the data with Steve Petty, it was discovered that cylinder eight was a little hotter than the rest, which allowed the mixture in the manifold to ignite back once the intake valve opened.
The burst panel did its job, saving further damage to the engine, and Cleetus deemed the session a success. Looking at the graph, the run was similar to the start of the line for the record run of 5394 horsepower on FuelTech’s dyno, set in October of 2024. And once the engine is fixed, the Camaro’s next stop will be the track to aim for better times.
The latest video on Cleetus’ channel highlighting all the action is below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Cleetus McFarland and 1320 Video / Scott Witty.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com