Cleetus McFarland

I just want to know when things changed? Nascar has always had drivers with zero experience, 3 off the top of my head, Kenny Wallace, no diving experience borrowed a Bush car from Sr. ran one race and then ran the whole season the next year with zero experience, Steve Kinsner, no stock car experience straight to the Cup series and Kyle Petty, these are 3 I can think of if we were to do research we would find dozens of drivers who've run the full Bush schedule with zero experience, Garrett has just as much a right to race as any other driver with limited to no experience. So again, when did this change and why now?
 
Dwayne said:
I just want to know when things changed? Nascar has always had drivers with zero experience, 3 off the top of my head, Kenny Wallace, no diving experience borrowed a Bush car from Sr. ran one race and then ran the whole season the next year with zero experience, Steve Kinsner, no stock car experience straight to the Cup series and Kyle Petty, these are 3 I can think of if we were to do research we would find dozens of drivers who've run the full Bush schedule with zero experience, Garrett has just as much a right to race as any other driver with limited to no experience. So again, when did this change and why now?
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Marty Robbins comes to mind also.
 
If we are talking Cup cars…SVG.

As for when things changed? $$ and a massive dif in cars and competition has been shifting things pretty steadily for decades. You need sponsors but you also have to win. Unless your dad or uncle owns the team anyway. Arca and maybe trucks are still there to earn your way up though. I am sure if Cleetus had next level talent he will have some shots. But I’ll let the track validate it not social media. And that’s is in no way a criticism of Cleetus. I hope he does well and moves up as he shows the skill.
 
Dwayne said:
I just want to know when things changed? Nascar has always had drivers with zero experience, 3 off the top of my head, Kenny Wallace, no diving experience borrowed a Bush car from Sr. ran one race and then ran the whole season the next year with zero experience, Steve Kinsner, no stock car experience straight to the Cup series and Kyle Petty, these are 3 I can think of if we were to do research we would find dozens of drivers who've run the full Bush schedule with zero experience, Garrett has just as much a right to race as any other driver with limited to no experience. So again, when did this change and why now?
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Ricky Rudd only had karting and motocross experience prior to racing in Cup.

He made his first start at Rockingham 1975 finished 11th 64 laps down per racing reference.

 
What's his goal? Does he want to go full time in a national touring series? If so, what level does he hope to reach? If not, does he plan to run occasionally in different series on an ongoing basis, or is runnng Talladega in a Cup car his final objective?

Thanks.
 
Dwayne said:
I just want to know when things changed? Nascar has always had drivers with zero experience, 3 off the top of my head, Kenny Wallace, no diving experience borrowed a Bush car from Sr. ran one race and then ran the whole season the next year with zero experience, Steve Kinsner, no stock car experience straight to the Cup series and Kyle Petty, these are 3 I can think of if we were to do research we would find dozens of drivers who've run the full Bush schedule with zero experience, Garrett has just as much a right to race as any other driver with limited to no experience. So again, when did this change and why now?
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(note: This is not meant to be argumentative or even a counterpoint. I had to doublecheck racing reference etc myself to ensure my memories for Kenny Wallace were accurate).

Kenny Wallace to BGN: There were only two of the premiere types of Nascar racing at the time, the truck series didn't exist yet, meaning the BGN series was the entry level.

Wallace did have ASA experience prior to BGN with about 50 starts, no wins but several top fives. It was a tough series that helped to develop Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwiki and others.

Kenny Wallace had almost 125 Busch Grand National starts prior to getting a full-time Cup ride in 1993. (He did start 6 Cup races prior to the '93 full-time Cup season.) He also finished 2nd in the 1991 BGN points.

Putting Steve Kinser in the Kenny Bernstein car was a real disservice to him imo. Going to one of the better Cup cars straight out of Sprint Car turned out to be a disaster.

I attended the February Rockingham race that year and had a seat in turn two. He was totally out of his element as he should have been based on having no cup experience. He didn't last long and returned to running in the WoO series early into the season.

I think Kyle Petty had more talent than the actual results. I think he would have been better served to have worked up through the ARCA , ASA, LMS, or All-Pro cars prior to jumping into Cup racing with almost no experience.
It was a tough learning curve. He even had an opportunity in a Hoss Ellington car early on but he wasn't ready for it and he returned to Petty Enterprise.
When he got the opportunity to drive for Felix Sabates (the Mello Yello #42) he had over ten years of Cup experience and was a much better driver.

Contrast that to Davey Allison. Bobby put him through the Saturday night Grand American racing to learn and he was better and more prepared when he made it to the Cup Series.

I think the learning curve keeps getting tougher and more specialized over time. The fields keep getting tighter, the cars are more spec with less opportunities for anyone to have an unfair advantage. So many kids being groomed to race with years of experience before they are an adult.

Being good enough to run top 20 in the 1990s might mean just being good enough to run in the top 30 in today's world.
 
BobbyFord said:
So this guy is another Pastrana type?
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That depends on how you define 'Pastrana type'. If you mean 'from outside the conventional development path', I'd agree. But Travis ran full-time in the second tier, and that doesn't describe McFarland at this point.

If he plans to run O'Reilly or Trucks on a regular basis, I'll watch him as I would other upcoming drivers. If his goal is to run Talladega once, I'll group him with
Franchitti in Trucks at St. Pete, Helio at Daytona, or road course ringers - potentially interesting but not likely to be competitive.
 
BobbyFord said:
I believe, as with any sport, athletes that start young have an advantage over players that begin to compete later in life.
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Thanks. That's why I'm asking what his goal is. Is he trying to compete, or is that an early assumption I made in error? Maybe he's checking off a bucket list goal, or looking to boost his viewer numbers.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Thanks. That's why I'm asking what his goal is. Is he trying to compete, or is that an early assumption I made in error? Maybe he's checking off a bucket list goal, or looking to boost his viewer numbers.
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Let's back up a bit. Cleetus is a character Garrett Mitchell created on the spur of the moment while working as a videographer for 1320Video. It's supposed to be him lampooning a kind of "white trash" racing guy who believes in St. Dale, hates Jeff Gordong and has no real opinions about racing beyond that. Him doing a bit as Cleetus turned into a personal brand for him over time with him buying racing facilities in Bradenton and promoting burnout competitions and Crown Vic races with influencers.

Until literally last year when he bought himself a ride to race at Daytona and Talladega, Cleetus had literally zero experience in a race car competing in circuit races except in Crown Vics and Ford Rangers with rebuild titles. Which, to piggy back off another post: it is ABSOLUTELY INSANE to suggest that Garrett Mitchell has a comparable level of experience to someone like Steve Kinser. Kinser's average weekend in the 1980s had him getting more professional racing experience on an oval than Garrett had at all PERIOD before entering ARCA. Kyle Petty I have no issues with as a comparison point because he literally had zero experience but a name; Marty Robbins raced a lot more than Garrett. Anyone else with actual pro experience like Kenny Wallace being compared is, again, absurd and frankly insulting.

What is the Cleetus end game? I don't think he has a clear idea. Not only did he never race a real oval car against other oval cars, HE DIDN'T EVEN WATCH NASCAR. EVER. This is not his dream. He's a drag racer! He's selling some of his drag racing equipment (and other stuff; he auctioned off his jet boat recently because of course he has a Mountain Dew wrapped jet boat) to afford oval racing stuff now. Why? Because, well, there's more money in him racing on ovals than there is in him racing in a straight line. He also pretty much maxed out what he's comfortable with there seeing as he built a 270 mph door slammer and admits to being terrified to drive it.

If and when the NASCAR stuff ends, he'll just keep booking guys like Kenny Wallace in his Crown Vic freakshow races and then he'll pivot to airplane/helicopter content like he SOOOOOOOO BADLY WANTS TO DO. Not a diss because there's no way for you to know that if you haven't watched his YouTube channel, but yeah, that's obviously what he wishes he was doing. Getting companies like Polaris to back up money and resources to the Freedom Factory gets him much closer to that dream.
 
There is no clear-cut way of making it to the big time in racing. Some ways or paths are better and more conventional than others, but it is still more like a buffet of options (having a lot of money helps too).

It is different from going to camp and surviving the final roster cut for a stick-and-ball team.

If a driver gets a ride and isn't a rolling chicane, then more power to them. The world isn't fair, and nobody is going to cure the high cost of racing; just find a ride the best way you can and give it your best shot.

The racing will still be tough for anyone against a crowd that is insanely competitive and will do anything they can to beat you. If you are successful, you will earn it on the track.
 
BobbyFord said:
I would just hope that anyone with ambitions of coming into the sport would aspire to be competitive as opposed just wanting to check a box on their bucket list. JMO.
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StandOnIt said:
Doubt that will happen. Pretty obvious actually.
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Which 'that' are you doubting, that he aspires to be competitive or that he's checking off his list?

Thanks.
 
StandOnIt said:
For people trying to put Cleetus in a box, my take would be that he is a motorsports entertainer all about having fun doing what he is doing. Very popular, definitely his audience is a majority of the younger blue collar crowd.
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This is it. Call him an influencer, call him a content creator, a Youtuber, whatever, it all comes back to this. He's an entertainer and a great self promoter.
 
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