American race driver and car enthusiast Cleetus McFarland hasn’t been the luckiest contender in the ongoing Street Car Takeover event. His team participated in three classes of the event over the weekend at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Cleetus McFarland had their 1,000 hp plus Chevrolet El Camino, a.k.a, the Mullet, their crazy LS-swapped supercharged Chevrolet Blazer, and a high-powered C5 Corvette, a.k.a Ruby, for three class races at the Street Car Takeover Indy.
The LS-swapped supercharged Chevy Blazer got out early (but in style) in the elimination rounds after doing an insane wheelie, ripping off the bumper, and damaging the motor plates.
The cherry of the team, a crazy-powered C5 Corvette (out of retirement) brought down the house in the first elimination round. It won its first race with an 8.15-second run on the quarter-mile at 140 mph (225 kph).
While the 1,000-hp El Camino didn’t win its first race, it still made it to the next round. It experienced considerable wheel spin during take-off forcing the team to do a few mods before the next race.
“We are going to lower the starting line boost just a little bit because it spun probably five feet out. We’re going to lower the overall boost to get it out a little bit so that we can roll the boost in a little bit later,” McFarland’s team member revealed.
Things didn’t go well for McFarland driving the El Camino. On the first run, he bumped on the beams. According to the rules, drivers don’t get a re-retry when they bump through the beams on a qualifier race. He still went for a run (for the data), but the Mullet spun during take-off.
“Guys, looking at the data, it turns out I did let off the trans brake button for a split second. That’s why the car jumped through the beams. The reason it spun is because we overpowered the truck,” McFarland confessed.
Things didn’t get any better for The C5 Corvette on the next race. It broke down during a pass. It had issues turning on and died midway on the strip. The only remaining car was the El Camino which still had problems.
It didn’t do a clean pass either and was mauled on the next race. It’s back to the drawing board for McFarland and crew.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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