Cameron Johnson Race Cars Cuts ‘Mullet’ In Half! Cleetus McFarland Responds and Reveals Plans for the Next Phase on the El Camino!
Sometimes to get the desired results, you have to make a big change. For Cleetus McFarland, nearly every car and truck he’s owned has gone through a major change. ‘LeRoy’ the C5 Corvette moved from a street and strip car to a pure race car, now with a removable body.
The ‘Dale Truck’ was recently switched from a naturally-aspirated RWD combination to a twin-turbo all-wheel-drive configuration. Most recently, the Chevrolet El Camino known as ‘Mullet’ made a trip to Cameron Johnson Race Cars for its next phase, and things are escalating to levels we didn’t expect!
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Even though the 1986 model El Camino has scored wins on both the drag-and-drive calendar, as well as a World Cup Finals victory in 2022, the last few years haven’t been as good. Competition has gotten faster, and although Tye and the Cleetus crew revamped the car with a new rear end and aftermarket 4-link set-up, it wasn’t the answer.
After tapping Cameron Johnson Race Cars (CJRC) in Lakeland, Florida to build a 5-second Pro 275-class ’69 Camaro, Cleetus took advantage of an open spot in their schedule to slide Mullet in for the next round of upgrades.
Part one was Mullet getting delivered to CJRC, and the crew getting an overview of the rides, as well as some measurements. Read about the history of Mullet, as well as our part one recap and video by CLICKING HERE!
In the next video, the CJRC team stripped mullet of its running gear, plumbing, wiring and interior parts:
In the most recent video, CJRC took a Sawzall to the front half of the El Camino, including the roll cage bars, factory frame, and the 6.50-legal roll cage inside was cut completely out. At this point, Cameron noticed a few rusty areas, and damage to the quarter panels, and decided to get Cleetus on the phone to discuss the next stage.
“I think to make this thing right, we really need to cut it up and start over with some new quarters and a new roof,” said Cameron. “If the quarters have rust, the roof already has dents in it, we got to do it right,” Cleetus answered. “It’s Mullet 2.0; don’t hold back.”
After the phone call ended, Cameron addressed the camera directly. “We did find some soft spots and some rust in Mullet unfortunately,” Cameron said. “We’re going to start over, but before we do that, we’re going to cut Mullet in half.”
Check out CJRC’s newest video below:
Parts of the front part of the El Camino, including doors and front end, are likely to end up on ‘Mullet 2.0’ which is scheduled to get its start in the next video.
After a lot of comments and feedback on cutting Mullet in half, Cleetus took the time to put together his own video about the changes for Mullet below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Cleetus McFarland and CJRC.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com