The Story of Cleetus McFarland – How Garrett Mitchell Got Started on Cars and Racing, The Origin of The Cleetus Name, 1320 Video, and What the Future Holds
He’s become a household name to most automotive enthusiasts, in everything from drag-and-drive to burnout contests. He purchased an abandoned race track in early 2020, appears or participates at dozens of events every year, and is now licensed to fly planes and helicopters.
But at one time, Cleetus McFarland didn’t even exist, and Garrett Mitchell was in route to a much different career path.
Originally from Nebraska, Garrett found his way into cars through his father. “My dad was a car enthusiast, not on the side of racing but moreso on the side of car detailing,” said Garrett.
His father had a mobile detailing business, and that opened Garrett’s eyes to cars from an early age. But there was a little more. “My dad had a taxi cab business, so we had a lot of Crown Victorias,” Garrett admitted. “I would go work with him on the weekends, moving the Crown Vics around in the parking lot.” Ironic how the Crown Victoria models have become a central part in many of Garrett’s current events.
In Nebraska, you can hold a driver license at age fourteen, and Garrett’s first car would be a Chevrolet Trailblazer. A couple cars later, he got into a Subaru, and that led to a stop light interaction with Chase Lautenbach in a Mazda Speed 3 in 2011.
They ran from that stop light, and they ended up talking at the next stop light, which led to Garrett getting an invite to a car meet at a nearby Sonic. It was there he would be introduced to Kyle Loftis, the owner of 1320 Video, by Chase.
“The next week I go back to the meet, and I think ‘I have to meet these guys,’” said Garrett. He started to become friendly with the 1320 Video crew, and that led to him tagging along to a street race a bit later, featuring what now is a well-known no-prep Fox Mustang.
“It was the Beater Bomb (Mustang), and he’s going to race some street bikes.” Garrett takes out his phone, records the race, and shows it to Kyle. It was used in a 1320 Video clip, and Garrett was able to share his work with friends and family.
“About six months after, I was hanging out with some friends, and they are telling me about Instagram,” Garrett admits. “I hit up Kyle and said ‘we should get (1320 Video) on Instagram.’” Kyle created an account, gave Garrett the password, and the freedom to run it.
Fast forward a few years to 2013, and Garrett’s first time at TX2K. “We just want to come and be a part of it,” Garrett said of himself and Fred, who now is a monumental part of 1320 Video.
At that first event wearing the 1320 Video crew shirts, Fred would be a video guy, and Garrett would take photos and post them to both Facebook and Instagram.
That same year, Garrett graduated high school, and left Nebraska for college in Florida. But he would continue to post things for Kyle on multiple levels, including articles on the main 1320 Video website. By now, Garrett is officially part of the team and getting paid for it, and although his time was limited with college, Garrett joined the 1320 Video crew for as many events as he could.
The next big event they did together would change Garrett’s life forever - Rocky Mountain Race Week in 2015. “This is a new event we’ve never been to, and it’s a drag-and-drive,” he admits. On day four, they’re in Pueblo at the event’s hotel for the evening, and Tom Bailey’s Sick Seconds 1.0 Chevy Camaro is parked out front.
“I had this shirt I had just bought at Wal Mart five minutes earlier,” said Garrett. He and Kyle figured they could create a funny video for a group of friends to watch, so Garrett donned the shirt, and told Kyle to call him ‘Dale McFarland.’ But Kyle subbed in ‘Cleetus McFarland’ instead, and they rolled with it. “Kyle thought it was the funniest thing, and I said ‘send it to the guys,’” said Garrett.
But Kyle decided the performance deserved a bigger audience, working through the night to edit and post it on the 1320 Video YouTube channel, as well as Facebook. In less than twelve hours, it pulled over one million views on Facebook, and close to 30,000 views on YouTube. “I wake up, and my phone is just blowing up,” Garrett admitted.
Just a month later, the first 1320 Video ‘Cleetus’ shirt had been made, and Garrett was making a funny Cleetus video for 1320 Video every three to four months. Still concentrating on college, as well as his job responsibilities for Kyle, Garrett hadn’t pushed the Cleetus avenue much further.
But just a few months later, Garrett decided to see what would happen if he made his own Cleetus YouTube channel, as well as create and host his own videos. “Kyle gave it his blessing,” said Garrett, and he made his first video for his own channel.
By 2017, Cleetus was in full swing, and the first ‘Cleetus and Cars’ was held at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Trying to keep up with law school, as well 1320 Video and his own Cleetus brand, Garrett reached a breaking point.
He decided to put school on hold, and pursue the Cleetus idea full time. He started making more videos, traveling to more events, and pushing the performance of his stick shift C5 Corvette known as Leroy.
Seven years later, Garrett’s law school plans are a distant memory, replaced with constant YouTube videos and a team of people handling everything from the Freedom Factory race track to his large merchandise line, and keeping several cars in working order for daily abuse.
It’s almost crazy to think that Garrett took a leap of faith as big as he did, and he continues to make big moves with events, his evolving content, and even a recently acquired air strip field.
Click below to see the story of how Garrett took a passion for cars and made it his life:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, 1320 Video and Cleetus McFarland.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com