Cleetus McFarland's Near Death Experience Flying, Dangers of Drag Racing, & His Key to Success

Summary

Life Wide Open with CboysTV - Episode Summary: "Cleetus McFarland's Near Death Experience Flying, Dangers of Drag Racing, & His Key to Success"

Release Date: November 19, 2024

In this riveting episode of "Life Wide Open with CboysTV," host Cletus McFarland engages with fellow YouTubers Mike, Ben, George, and Evan to delve into the high-octane world of drag racing, the complexities of managing large-scale events, Cletus's personal adventures in flying, and invaluable insights into sustaining success in the competitive realm of content creation. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the essence of their discussions, notable anecdotes, and key takeaways.

---

1. Drag Racing Operations and Event Management

Cletus begins by highlighting the dual nature of participants in his racing events:

“Some people bring the show, some people come to win.”
[00:00]

He reflects on the challenges of organizing races, mentioning past giveaways that failed initially due to poor reception:

“Giveaway just did bad because no one liked the truck.”
[00:04]

However, he underscores the paramount importance of safety, revealing that a helicopter is always on standby to handle emergencies:

“By the way, the helicopter is sitting there ready because it's so life or death if something goes wrong.”
[00:24]

2. Building a Strong Team: Hiring Josh and Ryan

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the evolution of Cletus's team and how hiring Josh and Ryan has transformed event management:

“Now I'm like, I'm not even stressed. Like, to do this on the day of the race is unheard of for me. But they're so good. My employees are so good. I can do it.”
[05:01]

Cletus shares the story of how he recruited Josh from a local lawn company during a track cleanup day, impressed by his dedication and work ethic:

“He owned a lawn company... he has a successful business. I was like, how? He came up with a number and said, done.”
[06:28]

This strategic hiring decision allowed Cletus to delegate effectively, reducing his personal stress and ensuring smoother race day operations.

3. Community and Collaboration with Other YouTubers

Cletus expresses gratitude towards the Seaboyz crew, emphasizing the supportive and collaborative spirit within the YouTube community:

“I can see why you keep inviting us back. Because it ain't for the competition aspect of it.”
[14:04]

He contrasts this with the often competitive and sometimes hostile environment fostered by other creators, advocating for a "rising tide lifts all boats" mentality.

4. Challenges with Giveaways and Promotions

The conversation shifts to the intricacies of running successful giveaways and promotions. Cletus recounts a failed truck giveaway that initially received negative feedback but was later turned around to become the highest-performing giveaway:

“It was down probably 60% in the start and then it came back to be the best one ever.”
[28:55]

He advises fellow creators to prioritize quality and customer satisfaction, warning against the pitfalls of poorly executed promotions that can damage brand reputation.

5. Dangers and Thrills of Drag Racing

Cletus delves into the adrenaline-fueled world of drag racing, discussing both its exhilarating aspects and inherent dangers:

“Drag racing is really good because... you can't win in the first half.”
[14:27]

He emphasizes the importance of safety measures, such as protective gear and the readiness of rescue teams, to mitigate the risks involved in high-speed competitions.

6. Cletus McFarland's Near-Death Experience with Helicopter Flying

One of the most gripping segments of the episode is Cletus's recounting of a harrowing helicopter flight experience:

“Flying a helicopter in the clouds is really difficult. It's like closing your eyes and standing on a bowling ball.”
[64:53]

He narrates the scenario of flying into dense fog, dealing with mechanical failures, and executing an emergency landing. This story not only highlights his piloting skills but also underscores the life-threatening risks associated with high-speed activities and aviation.

7. Personal Life and Balancing Business with Family

Cletus opens up about the challenges of balancing a demanding business with family life, particularly after becoming a father:

“Having kids is going to cause all your issues in life to multiply by 2000% because that's what they do.”
[52:15]

He offers heartfelt advice on prioritizing family support systems, such as relying on grandparents, and ensuring that business obligations do not overshadow personal responsibilities.

8. Advice on Business Success and Managing Pressure

Throughout the episode, Cletus imparts wisdom on maintaining success while staying grounded:

“Bring everybody up with you... it's a way that just works out way better.”
[08:16]

He advocates for a collaborative approach over cutthroat competition, suggesting that lifting others leads to mutual growth and a stronger community.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Cletus on Teamwork and Stress Management:

  “Now I'm like, I'm not even stressed... My employees are so good. I can do it.”
  [05:01]

• Cletus on Ethical Standards and Success:

  “They are committed to ensuring that the highest ethical standards are observed.”
  [08:16]

• Cletus Reflecting on Personal Experiences:

  “Flying a helicopter in the clouds is really difficult. It's like closing your eyes and standing on a bowling ball.”
  [64:53]

• Cletus on Balancing Family and Business:

  “Having kids is going to cause all your issues in life to multiply by 2000% because that's what they do.”
  [52:15]

---

Conclusions and Takeaways

• Team Building is Crucial: Hiring dedicated and skilled team members like Josh and Ryan can significantly reduce personal stress and enhance event management efficiency.

• Collaboration Over Competition: Fostering a supportive community among creators leads to mutual growth and a more positive industry environment.

• Quality in Promotions Matters: Successful giveaways and promotions depend on strategic planning and prioritizing customer satisfaction to avoid negative backlash.

• Safety First: Both in drag racing and aviation, prioritizing safety through proper measures and readiness to handle emergencies is essential to mitigate inherent risks.

• Balancing Personal and Professional Life: Establishing strong support systems and prioritizing family obligations are vital for maintaining personal well-being alongside business success.

• Staying Grounded Amid Success: Maintaining humility and staying connected with the audience ensures long-term loyalty and sustains a relatable and trustworthy public image.

Cletus McFarland's candid discussions provide listeners with a deep dive into the complexities of managing high-stakes events, the importance of team dynamics, personal resilience in the face of danger, and the delicate balance between personal life and professional ambitions. His insights serve as valuable lessons for aspiring creators and entrepreneurs navigating similar paths.

Transcript

[Cletus McFarland]

Some people bring the show, some people come to win.

[Mike]

I can see why. Yeah, you keep inviting us back.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, the amount of recklessness watching you guys all try and drift at the same time. Giveaway just did bad because no one liked the truck. Man, I don't think I've ever told this story online. By the way, the helicopter is sitting there ready because it's so life or death if something goes wrong.

[Evan]

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[Josh]

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[Evan]

One minute late.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's not bad for us, dude.

[Mike]

That's actually really good.

[Ben]

Are we going? Are we good?

[George]

I mean, like, that's a miracle for me.

[Evan]

The first thing he said was, just tell your boys not to be too late today, okay?

[George]

And then you said, the earlier, the better, and that stressed me out.

[Cletus McFarland]

This is perfect.

[George]

This is great.

[Mike]

Well, Cletus McFarland, thank you for having us, brother.

[Cletus McFarland]

Hell, yeah. Thanks for having me on. I'm pumped.

[Mike]

We're actually sitting in Cletus's hangar right now on his compound. So thanks for one, having us to your compound and your hangar. But two, having us to the race tonight.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude, I'm excited. I, you know, I was just telling you guys, I cannot believe you guys come and bring the whole crew. That's an operation. So thank you so much for coming.

[Mike]

Yeah, man, we're rolling deep. How many guys we got right now, like, in the Airbnb? It's always tough when you get to the Airbnb and we got like, 10 guys because we're always like, who gets what room and where's everyone staying? Who has to stay with each other? Nobody wants to sleep together. And with Evan, so it's always like, a race to figure out who's where.

[Evan]

Dude, he was sleeping in the garage last night.

[Ben]

It was a pretty dope garage. Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's got a Nice couch and stuff. But the problem with Evan is he really likes egg salad, so if you know where I'm going with that.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, no, George is, like, terrible to sleep with, too, so. And they're kind of alike, man.

[Mike]

I don't know about that, dude.

[Cletus McFarland]

I mean, George snores. Like, you might as well have this airplane running in your room with you if you sleep with George.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's always tough. Well, we know you got a busy day. That's why you wanted to start it.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's gonna be a cranker.

[Mike]

So, like, what is that? Like, when you're putting on a. An event for all these people coming, you got the pay per view, and then you got a corral. What, 40 different racers and influencers?

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, I can tell you this. It used to be the most stressful thing in my life. Like, by far. These race days, this race, and then the Freedom 500, like, the most amount of stress I've ever experienced in my life was, like, the COVID the first one. I would dread these weeks. But you do them because they're not only are they successful, they're a blast. But now they're not stressful because I have Josh and Ryan, those two. Two guys who run the track. Holy smokes. Now I'm like, I'm not even stressed. Like, to do this on the day of the race is unheard of for me. But they're so good. My employees are so good. I can do it.

[Mike]

How'd you find them?

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, Josh, the head guy for the racetracks, I hosted a track cleanup day, like, a month after I bought the Freedom Factory. The dude showed up with his entire lawn crew. He owned a lawn company. Not, like, charging me or anything. It was just a volunteer day. So there was, like, random people just helping clean up the weeds because you, like, every crack in the track had weeds up to here. Shows up with an actual law. Commercial lawn company, mowers, all the equipment, real employees, and just stayed for two days straight and knocked out a ton of work. And then he just kind of hung out, like, came to all the events. And I was like, dude, this guy is, like, so committed to making the track great for no reason. One day I were standing there. I was like, do you want a job? Like, would you work here? And he told me he has a successful business. I said, how? You know? What would it take? He came up with a number and said, done. If you poached him if you want to do it. I poached him from his.

[Mike]

From his own job? Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Shut down his own business. Wow.

[Evan]

He shut it down.

[Cletus McFarland]

He owned the business.

[Mike]

That's pretty crazy. He must have definitely seen, you know, the potential and where he was going to.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude, he sold his trucks, found other jobs for his employees.

[Evan]

He probably was like, where do I want to mow lawns at a racetrack and, like, manage this whole racetrack and be cooler in whatever Lakewood ranch we're in?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, I mean, I don't know what that was like for him, but he has two kids and a wife and he made a big change in his life.

[Ben]

That puts more pressure on you too, though, to, like, make it work.

[Cletus McFarland]

I never was scared to have that pressure, but I know he was worried about it. Like, going to work for a YouTuber, as you guys know, doesn't sound like the most promising thing because YouTubers are one, incredibly unstable, like, just inherently because they're like, we're like squirrels. But two, like, how do you tell your wife, like, hey, I'm going to. I'm going to shut down the company to go work for a YouTuber. That's probably pretty scary. But he did it. And he's the greatest, greatest guy.

[Mike]

How many guys you got around here?

[Cletus McFarland]

I think the Freedom Factory right now. Damn. I know. There's like 25 people in the group chat. So that's full time.

[George]

That's heavy.

[Mike]

That's a full operation.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's between Freedom plus Freedom Factory and the Race Shop. And that's just those full time employees. And then Merch is probably like 30.

[Mike]

Oh, wow.

[Evan]

Dang.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude.

[Mike]

It's always cool to see the. The back end operations of other YouTube channels, you know, because a lot of times people watching, you know, might just think it's just you and George and the. And the boys at the shop. Right. But like, little do they know, there's so much more.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

That goes into the back end.

[Cletus McFarland]

And Merch is like probably 10 full time and then 20 temps. Like when it's busy. It's a lot of temps.

[Mike]

Yeah, we've actually, with. With our operations and our merch guys, you know, we've taken a lot of advice from just what you've done with your operation and how you've set them up and really appreciate that.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, I wish we could help more. We're in.

[Mike]

You're the man. You're not like, you're not one of those guys that has the mentality of like, there's a scarcity to competition. Competition and viewership and like, you know, merch success. Like, since we met you, you've wanted nothing but success. For us. And I think that that says a lot because we've met other YouTubers that think the complete opposite.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, yeah, we all know. But, you know, I can just give you a quick thing. Like, the guy, Kyle Loftus, who brought me up, started my career. His theory was, like, bring everybody up with you. And, like, when I wanted to start my channel, it was never like, oh, I want 20% to help you. Or like, I was like, his top guy for social media. And he was never like, hold on, woke. What's this Cletus thing about? He started it. I mean, he's the one who helped me start it. He was always like, let me help you.

[Mike]

That's from 1320.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. Kyle Loftus, he's like, let me help you. He helped me the whole way. Never a hesitation.

[Mike]

Is that why you still have 1320 as your Instagram username?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Like, you still kind of just pay homage to it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, it's just where I came from and, like, that mentality, I use it every day. That's just how I learned to be around people and, like, care for people is like, just help everybody. And it actually just works out way better. Better in life than worrying about so much. Yeah. Competition. Like, yeah.

[Mike]

Rising tides, rise, rises, all boats. Why do you think that a lot of YouTubers or creators or just business people in general don't think that way?

[Cletus McFarland]

I think they're just scared, you know, they're just scared of what other people could potentially take from them. I do understand that mentality. If you have a lot of obligations, high overhead, something like that, you might be real worried about what someone could take from you.

[Mike]

But it's like a lack of confidence in yourself, maybe.

[George]

Right. Like, scared that you probably the lifespan of your said channel might be shortened because someone else is doing better.

[Mike]

I think that's also why, you know, you can get 40 people to show up and support you on these races. And it's definitely not just like, they're just supporting you and put money in their pocket. They have something to gain by. By showing up and making content, too.

[Cletus McFarland]

But it's still insane that all you guys, like, guys like you take four or five days out of their schedule to come do this. I think it's insane. 40, 40 drivers will be here tonight from all walks of life and motorsport. I'll still never understand that. How I'm lucky enough to get you.

[Ben]

Guys, dude, like, insane list too. Like, really big names. How do you go about getting them?

[Evan]

Yeah, when I was racing, my mom was like, who are you racing? Against. I was like, oh, well, NASCAR drivers, action sports legends, like, celebrities, just everybody. She was like, and you?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. It really doesn't make sense, I think, to put, like, the most tangible things down. It's the car costs you nothing. You know, you don't have any setup required, no obligation on time. You don't have to promote. There's zero requirements besides arriving and racing. And, you know, as us YouTubers and other guys, like, we don't want any obligations. We hate that. At least I do. And so for you to just show up, do whatever you want in the car, and then walk away, it's kind of nice. So I think that's true.

[George]

That's a good point.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's not like we're texting you guys, like, hey, can you promote Freedom Plus? It's literally just a. If you mention it, great. If not, like, we're just happy to have your name on the driver's list. So that works out good. And, you know, now it's grown to a level of viewership that I think some of the racers who are just actual racers, they're allowed to say to their sponsor, like, hey, I'm racing Cletus's race. And it's legit enough, and it has more exposure than, I'd say, 98% of other races. So it's like, their. Their brands love it, so it works out good for them. That's how we get the big dog racers, like the NASCAR guys. And so I think that those are probably the reasons they show up.

[Evan]

It's really cool because obviously, the streaming is gigantic, but every time we mention that we're going to the Freedom Factory, someone in the airport go, hey, me too. From all over, three different airports we're in. People are coming from, like, around the country. I'm sure there's some guy from Australia coming over here for this thing, but, like, 100%.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Like, people come from all over and that they aren't. And they aren't, like, people that probably attend every weekend race. They're like, I'm going to Cletus's race because it's cool.

[Cletus McFarland]

I bet half the people people here. Well, I'd say a third of the people here this weekend have never been to a track in their life. This will be their first time on a track. Like, it's. It's kind of like Disney on Ice of racing than it is like, you know, oh, I'm going to the track.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Evan]

You don't really like skating, but you like Disney.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Are you Disney or are you, the.

[Cletus McFarland]

Ice just you know, the whole show. Like you don't. You don't have to like ice skating to go to Disney on Ice with your kid and think it's just a cool show. So like all these wives and stuff that'll come with these guys who are just hardcore car guys. They'll be like this is the best track experience I've ever had. Cuz the bathrooms are clean and it's not just a race. Yeah. It's like there's going to be like RC planes flying. There's going to be parachute jumpers from the Golden Knuck, bro. I'm monster trucks. I'm telling you the fireworks we bought for this are wait, heavy topped your.

[George]

Birthday though, cuz that was.

[Evan]

That was insane.

[Cletus McFarland]

Way bigger. We had four like safety sections for that one. There's nine.

[Mike]

What do you mean safety sections?

[Cletus McFarland]

Like can't go in areas like launching zones. Yeah.

[Evan]

Hell yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

I think it was five and now there's nine. I know there's already nine. Crazy. Yeah.

[George]

One thing to mention is it is much more than just a race. Like and the last time we were here for your birthday.

[Cletus McFarland]

Freedom 500.

[George]

Yep. For freedom. It just blew my mind. Yeah. Over and over and over and over.

[Mike]

Well, you had a helicopter on the line.

[George]

Well, I mean that. That was just one of many things.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh yeah. Wait.

[Mike]

The winner got a helicopter.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude, here's the deal. After this you guys need to go home and train somebod buddy. Because there's a sick prize for the April race.

[Mike]

Bro.

[Cletus McFarland]

We're so need to get. We need to need to get Evan. We need our own track on the simulator, bro.

[Ben]

What do you think the key is to winning one of these races? Because it seems like it's normally not the like NASCAR guys even. It's like this race.

[George]

I went back and watched the Jew.

[Mike]

Oh damn, Mike. I didn't know you've been training.

[George]

I mean that's about all I did. But dude, he was lasered last race.

[Cletus McFarland]

First and only race he's ever won though.

[Evan]

Really?

[George]

Exactly. So it's like other people. You can study other people too.

[Cletus McFarland]

He's just a big redneck. I don't know how man.

[Mike]

I know a big.

[Ben]

Everybody needs a big redneck in their crew.

[Mike]

He ain't going to win the race.

[Cletus McFarland]

I don't know how he won.

[Ben]

So what do you think the key is?

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, the key for this one is you know how it's. You guys know about the kidney being layout, right? You know that the race goes down.

[Ben]

Into the best A lot of crashes.

[Mike]

Yeah. Ken. Ken took out like three barrels.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's right, dude.

[Mike]

He was the most entertaining racer on the track.

[Cletus McFarland]

I know. Sometimes. See, that's the thing. Some people bring the show, Some people come to win.

[Mike]

I can see why. Yeah. You keep inviting us back. Yeah, yeah. Because it ain't. It ain't for the competition aspect of it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, I love the seaboards, but if you can protect the car, who's driving first?

[Mike]

We got to figure that out.

[George]

Haven't figured it out.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm probably the most run faster.

[George]

I can either buy a little bit.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude. But.

[Mike]

Yeah, but I'm going to break the car.

[Cletus McFarland]

More than likely, whoever's going to protect the car needs to go first. You can't win in the first half.

[Mike]

I saw you kind of cook me up in your prediction video.

[George]

I mean, it was hilarious.

[Mike]

Nothing personal. It's nothing personal. And then you just go in on me for five minutes.

[Cletus McFarland]

I've been meaning to. Ben and Micah, My boys are not.

[Mike]

Dude, Ben.

[Cletus McFarland]

I saw him hit that tree. I knew you were about to say that. A tree. And said it was his brace. She's been there all last 30 years. All right.

[George]

Where are they going?

[Cletus McFarland]

This is no personal offense. You know what I mean? No, yeah. No.

[Mike]

The Seaboys. Great guys. Holy. They do not know how to drive.

[Ben]

I mean, it's the truth. It's just facts.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's just facts, dude. No offense.

[Mike]

No, none taken.

[Cletus McFarland]

About those breaks, because I was actually reviewing the footage. It appeared as though the wheels were locked up.

[Mike]

I'll tell you the problem.

[Travis Pastrana]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I'll tell you.

[Ben]

The back wheels.

[Mike]

I'll tell you.

[George]

Gets out of the car. That E brake didn't work. I'm like, you didn't even pull it.

[Mike]

It didn't work at the beginning. So I come in, I go to initiate it. The E brake doesn't lock them up. And then I black out and panic. So it didn't put me sideways. And I was like, in my brain, it goes. I was supposed to be sideways at this point. What do I do?

[Cletus McFarland]

I love that video. So, by the way, my household. Me and Rip are big C Boys fans. Rip, I think I've sent you guys all videos. Appreciate my son watches. Like, I think a lot of parents do this. We tried to, like, limit screen time for our kids, but also when the little guy won't eat, like, kids just won't eat, like, those today. I'm just not going to eat. It really rattles the mom because they're like, you have to eat Honey, you know, we throw on Seaboy. Dude, he loves it so much, you can just, like, feed him the whole time. No way. This is stuff you guys will learn when your parents.

[George]

But what YouTube channel to put on.

[Cletus McFarland]

We go, we. It's guaranteed Seaboyz for us. Appreciate it. 2023 C Boys video where it opens up and Evan crashes the dirt bike into the frozen lake. Oh. Yep. Like, if you show that to Rip, he's just like, oh, man, you gotta meet in peace. He's in. And then we're just feeding the guy.

[Mike]

So that's funny. I actually heard somebody else was telling us the other day that their little one just watches that video of Evan going through the ice on repeat. Like, that can't be.

[Ben]

Is that kid gonna be okay?

[Cletus McFarland]

Can't be.

[Mike]

Good for the young brain.

[Cletus McFarland]

A little bit of brain rot.

[George]

I got an email about that, but it was specifically hot dogs. They're like, yep. I just show show them the video of you with your hot dog stand, and then I feed him hot dogs because it's the only thing you'll eat.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's bizarre. Feeding America toddlers. Don't make a lot of sense.

[George]

No.

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, I don't want to skip over this break situation.

[Mike]

I thought we were done.

[Cletus McFarland]

So we're, you know, we're big fans. So when we watched this video, it was so funny. Like, I'm glad.

[Mike]

Literally, I'm glad that. That me hitting a tree in our unicorn was funny.

[Cletus McFarland]

It wasn't just that. It was like, when I got my racetrack, I'm out there, no helmets, bombing around, just being an idiot. And I'm watching. I'm like, these guys are being complete idiots with no helmets.

[Mike]

So stupid.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm not trying to back on you guys driving too much, but, like, the amount of recklessness watching you guys all try and drift at the same time.

[Mike]

And then we got trees everywhere.

[Cletus McFarland]

Know you guys can drift, but, like, the separation together.

[George]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Crazy. And then Ben is just. I'm watching him, like, oh, no, I already seen the title and thumbnail. So I'm like, just watching him like, oh, my God, he's got no helmet on. Well, he's just yanking the break and then put her in the tree. Tough break.

[Mike]

Yeah, tough break. You're gonna have that. But I've never claimed to be a wheel man.

[Cletus McFarland]

You get when you.

[Mike]

I've never claimed to be a wheel man, dude. So going into this. Going into this race, I'm like, the previous Seaboyz that have raced in it set an insanely low bar you're good. And then two, it's like everyone that sees me out there is just like, holy shit, which wall is he going to hit?

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, the Crown Vicks are easier to drive than what you were trying to do on the day.

[Evan]

You were drifting super hard.

[Mike]

Super hard to drive. But, yeah, it was half Crown Vic. That's not good for me.

[Evan]

Be familiar.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, that's true. That's true. But it's just that car is off. Probably harder to drift than a typical drift car. You have trees, no helmet. Like, all that was just. It was hilarious to me. And then I watched you guys all learn the lesson at the same time. Like, oh, damn. And I did the same thing. I spun out a Lambo. That a guy let me drive right here in turn three, no helmets. Went within inches of the wall at, like, hauling. And I'm like, damn. That was the moment it all clicked. And I saw that happen to you guys, and I had to bag on you a little bit because you pulled the brakes card out.

[Mike]

Well, yeah, obviously. What else was I going to do?

[Cletus McFarland]

You got to do something.

[George]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Just can't take all of it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, that tree dude can't believe was there for 20 years.

[Ben]

That's the thing, though, Ben, is what the other drivers are going to be scared of is that you're just a complete wild card. They don't know what you're going to do.

[Mike]

Yeah, I don't even know what I'm going to do.

[Cletus McFarland]

A couple people have shown up and won on their first race, so. Brian Deegan.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah.

[Ben]

Big difference between Brian Deegan and Ben.

[Cletus McFarland]

I don't know.

[Mike]

It could be, man.

[Cletus McFarland]

Might be your night. Might be your night if I win.

[Mike]

Boys, we say this every time, but we're getting a private jet. We're going straight to Vegas, and, oh, my. We're betting the company 100%.

[Cletus McFarland]

Let's go. I'm actually going there. I'm going Monday. You guys can just come with. Go.

[Mike]

All right, all right, fuck it.

[Cletus McFarland]

We'll come with, I guess I think you'll be all right. And I will tell you this. Your car and qualifying. Damn. Like I should double check, but I'm pretty sure your car, like, we run them all for 15 laps like you do. Set in the bar for. You have the best car. You have the.

[Evan]

Oh, man.

[Mike]

Duke is.

[Cletus McFarland]

We need that.

[Mike]

I'm pretty sure that we've been getting. We've been getting some lemons.

[Cletus McFarland]

I don't think so.

[Mike]

Yeah, you're right. We might be the problem.

[Evan]

Winter is here and with the sun and the warm weather being gone, getting sick is also more prevalent. In fact, I think all the boys are feeling a little bit under the weather right now, including myself. But thankfully we have Zocdoc so we can have a quick doctor's appointment without wasting the whole morning at the doctor's office. Zocdoc is a free app and website where you guys can search and compare high quality in network doctors and choose the right one for your needs and click to instantly book an appointment online. We're talking about in network appointments with more than 100,000 healthcare providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health, eye care to skin care and much more. Plus Zocdoc appointments happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking booking and you can even score same day appointments. I'm going to book an appointment probably right after this honestly. And if you are sick, so should you. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com wideopen to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That is Z O C D O C.com wideopen Zocdoc.com wideopen I tell you guys each and every week how much Shopify has helped us grow our business and I think it's time for you to create your own story. It costs just $1 per month to get started, so don't stay in the same place and wish you had started earlier next year. Shopify makes it easy every step of the way. I'm telling you guys, nobody does selling better than Shopify and will Shopify Pay checkouts are easy meaning as a customer you guys can check out faster and easier. But also as a business you can convert on more sales. If you are in need of a website and you haven't tried Shopify, you are only holding yourself back. So upgrade your business and get the same checkout that we [e-mail] and sign up for your $1 per month trial [e-mail] wide open. And that is all lowercase. Go to shopify.com wideopen now to upgrade your selling today. That is shopify.com wide open. Thanks for sponsoring the podcast Shopify.

[Mike]

How much money in Crown Vicks do you have?

[Cletus McFarland]

I don't know. I heard there's 140 on property.

[Evan]

Oh my God.

[Mike]

140 Crown Vicks.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's what I heard.

[Mike]

Where do you keep them?

[Cletus McFarland]

They're all back there.

[Ben]

Oh my God.

[Evan]

What are the Crown Vic grave.

[Mike]

Dude, don't let Evan see That. That's his dream. One day, he wants to have just, like every vehicle that he's ever broken lined up in one spot. But we don't. We don't have a big enough spot to put him.

[Cletus McFarland]

There's a ton back there. You should walk back there at some point.

[Evan]

Have you driven up the prices on Crown Vix? Like, there's no way you find a Crown Vic on Facebook marketplace around here.

[Cletus McFarland]

I don't know, dude. There's a million. That's called the Panther chassis. There's over a million of them between all the Grand Marquis and, like, the Marauder and all of them. I'm sure for P71, like, police car Crown Vicks, there's got to be 300, 400,000 of them. I don't know the number. There ain't no way. If I only have 140, I've driven up the price. They're just such a good vehicle price.

[Mike]

Don't people try and drive up the price on you if they find out that you're buying?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, dude. Freaking local auction. It's been jacking me.

[Mike]

Really?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. I have to secretly buy them now.

[Mike]

Like, they weren't. They weren't selling to you, or they were just, like, making them outrageous prices.

[Cletus McFarland]

Dude, this dirtbag auction company. I was buying Crown Vicks online. Normally, I would go in person, but it was so busy, I was buying them online. So I bid on, like, 20 in one day, and I just set the price at, like, 4. You know how you can set the high bid and then when someone bids, it just automatically goes $100 above them. I set the price at, like. Like, 4,000 for all 20 of them. Guess how much all 20 of them sold for?

[Mike]

4,100.

[Cletus McFarland]

4,000. 4,000 even. Oh, they made it to my max bid and stopped.

[Evan]

Yeah, but, like, that's really suspicious. Over 20.

[Cletus McFarland]

Essentially, they bid it up. And a guy called me. He goes, did you set all your max bids at something? He goes, yeah, someone ran. Ran all your cars to the max bid. And they were different. They were like. Actually, it was like 3,800. And then, like, 2011, I'd go like, 4. 4,400. And so in one auction, I got smoked. And, yeah, they got me bad because I was buying them for, like, 2500 to 3000, and they just screwed me.

[Mike]

Yeah, we kind of had the same situation on a much less scale, but with R Sixes. Just because we've been buying so many.

[Evan]

R6s, you see us coming. People know. They're like, all Right. They need it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Buying stuff as a YouTuber, they see you pull up, they can, and they know you. It's not a great negotiating tactic.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, it's really bad. Especially when they see Mike, because they know this guy's money Mike, you know, he ain't gonna negotiate either. He might even pay him more. He might even pay him more. I've seen him. I've seen him do that.

[Cletus McFarland]

He's leaving with it.

[George]

It's bad. And trying to sell stuff is not good either.

[Ben]

Impossible.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I don't know if we've ever sold anything.

[Cletus McFarland]

Selling stuff as a YouTuber just sucks.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Because you don't know if someone's Gonna start a YouTube channel based off of what you sold them. And, like, you're just going to have to deal with that for months. Coming. Like. I'm terrified to sell anything because sometimes we do hack job stuff under the skirt.

[Ben]

Really?

[Cletus McFarland]

If we have to. Like, if I got to get a car out to go race, there might be something, a little sketch going on, like, you know what, re welding a control arm bracket to the frame rail. And then someone comes along and likely just does garbage work on this car. And I'm always just worried about that.

[Ben]

See, I was going to compare your collection. Everything seems to run ours. Really? Nothing works anymore after a video.

[Cletus McFarland]

I think they're actually the same style collection.

[Ben]

Oh, really?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. Most of my stuff's broke too.

[Evan]

Fix it, use it, leave it broken till you need it next.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, we'll use it. And then it's just like put away and left to die.

[Ben]

Yeah, you forget about it because you got to just keep going to the next. It's on to the next thing.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, it's kind of a bad habit.

[Ben]

It is terrible habits, like not cleaning up your mess.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's the hardest part because having fun with it is easy. But I saw your mini trx, dude. Ah, man, that hurt to see it go.

[Cletus McFarland]

Tough break, dude. 30 GS.

[Evan]

It looked real fun when it works to do that.

[George]

Just to do the single cat.

[Cletus McFarland]

I killed the motor in it. Yeah. $30,000 hellfire. Killed it in the dunes. Just being an idiot.

[Mike]

Yeah, the dunes eat up motors, man. We figured that out. We brought two snowmobiles there. Who would have thought those would have blown up?

[Cletus McFarland]

That's crazy.

[Mike]

Honestly, I was a little surprised, though. Did you ever figure out, like, why it did that?

[Cletus McFarland]

No, I haven't messed with it. It's just sitting there or in the corner.

[Mike]

Yeah. Project for another day.

[George]

The second motor's blown up.

[Cletus McFarland]

The elephant motor. They just killed it.

[Mike]

But you said you still got the original Hellcat motor to put in it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Back in if we have to.

[Mike]

Man. We would have slapped that Hellcat motor in something I know. Like the next day that didn't need a Hellcat motor.

[Cletus McFarland]

I think it might just be a supercharger. We'll see.

[Evan]

Do you think if it was a Raptor R, it would have made it a mini Raptor R?

[Cletus McFarland]

I think what it comes down to is the air filtration. So we had sand go through the engine.

[Mike]

Yeah. You're gonna have that in the sand dunes. It's crazy. That's what we were. Sand in the motor.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. You know, we're just kind of idiots.

[Mike]

So you were given that mini TRX away.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And I remember when we were hanging out in Glamis last year, you were telling us that you were having that TRX built and then when you dropped it, you were kind of getting cooked.

[Cletus McFarland]

I got cooked.

[Mike]

Yeah. So I remember you saying that you hate when people hate so much that you went out and you bought a hundred thousand dollar TRX to have as the second option if people wanted that. Which the winner ended up taking. Right. But you don't like getting hate. I mean I'm really.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. Well, some people like Frickin Jake, Paul and Whistle and Diesel, like those two examples, like they, they kind of let it. They love kind of riding the hate. I hate when my comment section is like just not positive. Yeah. Like when it gets real toxic and they're like, you're an idiot. You know, I usually take that into account and I'm like, okay, maybe I am. Maybe I did make a bad call here. So I'm willing to fix it. Plus, you know, the giveaway just did bad because no one liked the truck, man. So I was like, I got to do something here to save this promotion and just like double it up.

[George]

Which yeah, I guess in my opinion like watching from the outside was probably the most notable giveaway because of that move.

[Cletus McFarland]

It actually overall highest performing giveaway ever.

[George]

Really?

[Cletus McFarland]

All of it? Yeah. I think it was down probably 60% in the start and then it came back to be the best one ever.

[Ben]

Dude.

[Mike]

It was just funny that the whole thing was over a mini trx, like when you just look. Every time I'd look at it, I would just laugh. I'd see you promote.

[Cletus McFarland]

Great.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Just chuckle.

[Cletus McFarland]

Maybe a bad call. Dude. People were like, they just hated it. They hated it so much. Like you took a perfectly good $90,000 truck and cut the doors off and now it looks stupid. I'm like, damn, I didn't think about that. It took like a year.

[Evan]

I remember last year you were talking about it, I mean, forever, which sucks. You probably pretty excited.

[Cletus McFarland]

Done spent about 20 grand to shorten it the right way because I wanted to be super legit. And then the dude, like, missed on the paint job and it just snowballed bad.

[Mike]

I get what you're saying, though, how you. You do listen to the comments of, like, you know, if there's an overwhelming amount of criticism, you do take that into account of, like, oh, I, you know, I don't know everything, and these people are here to keep me in check. Right. And I think that if you're a creator that just completely disregards that and you're like, no, my followers are. Are stupid and they don't know. I know better. I think you're just delusional in that aspect. But yeah, I think there's like a fine line of, like, giving people what they think that they want versus maybe what they need.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Or not what they need.

[Ben]

Pens give them the content they need, not that they want.

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, there's a. There's two ways also. Like the content that whistling makes, for example, it brings hate, which brings more views. The things that I'm referring to specifically, like pay per view or giveaway, people are spending money on it. So if you then screw up, it's like, if you sell people bad T shirts, obviously that's bad business. If you advertise a pay per view, they spend $10 on it, and then it's just awful. And the stream cuts and the website crashes. You will receive a roasting like you've never had in your life. You can't play around in those situations. You have to own it immediately, refund, you know, where necessary and make some major changes. Because if you do it twice in a row, like for the same reason, you're pretty much toast. And I think in the merch world too, like, if you. You guys do a good job with your merch, but some of these YouTubers, dude, just burn the bridge with their customers. Like, six months later, they ship out their limited edition hoodies and they're just garbage.

[Ben]

Yeah, we talk about that all the time. I mean, for the last, like, probably two years or I'd say a year, we've been just like, experimenting or like, trying to come up with a. With a product or another way that we can bring some value. But like, every time we're like, okay, if we do this we need to do it right and perfect because like we can't. You don't. You only have so many shots really at like, hey, like I'm bringing this and you guys can and can buy it. If they buy it and it's, and it's shitty. You take two, you're going to have much less of a pool. And then obviously take three, you're probably, you're probably out of there, but you're toast. Yeah, you're, you struck out, but yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

So on the content side, you can do it, you can screw up and they'll come back, but when they're paying money, you gotta treat them right, dude. Let's all about how you fix the problem.

[George]

Let's talk about drag racing. Yeah, you came a long way. And that's not just coming from me. That's coming from, you know, some of the old timers I'm around that watch you. They're, they're like, dude, he's, he's, he's big timing now when it comes to.

[Cletus McFarland]

Drag racing, let me tell you something, dude. I have a car that I'm setting up for you for really anyone to drive. And it was almost done for this. But whenever you're down here next, I like want to let a couple of you guys make a rip on this thing. We'll put that like tentatively out there, but we're doing some passes.

[Mike]

Sounds like a bad idea, bro.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's gonna be sick. You're gonna love it. And you just have to go straight and there's no trees.

[Ben]

No trees.

[Evan]

Except for that one at the beginning.

[Cletus McFarland]

But you know, and we'll make sure the brakes, that's the goal dialed. We'll make sure those brakes, they work. Parachute whole night. But drag racing? Yeah, dude, it's, it's a great sport. You just gotta try it out a little bit. You probably love it. You'd probably get hooked.

[George]

I think I would love it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[George]

I mean I've been in, ridden in a few, but. So like what. I mean, as of recent, like what, you're, you're in the fives?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, I went a 580 at 250 last week.

[Mike]

What does that feel like?

[George]

That's nuts, brother.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's fast. I mean from 0 to 250 in 5 seconds. It is fast. It's, it's stupid. Like you're talking 0 to 60 and like, I think it's 0.8.

[Mike]

What, what like what does your body feel like?

[Cletus McFarland]

You feel that? You just feel the parachutes more than anything. But she's really saying you kind of.

[George]

Feel the, the, I guess reverse GS of the.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, the parachutes actually hit harder than the car, but it just boom. Yeah. So like it's a lot of freedom.

[Ben]

Does anything feel fast after that?

[Cletus McFarland]

Like you hop in other cars feel slow.

[Ben]

I'm sure. Like you hop in this Supra. What does this have, like 1300 horsepower probably. Like what is that like driving just a Subaru nowadays?

[Cletus McFarland]

Nothing. It actually helps you because when you're in a really fast car and your brain gets to that level. Because now I can drive the 5 second car and I understand it as we're traveling down the track. I understand the feelings of okay, the tires are off the ground or they're on the ground or they're just touching or I'm going left or right. Like, like you get. You catch up with it. Then you get in the slower car. It's second slower and like I'm like fully locked in every part of the car. So it's actually helps you, I think because you go. You slow down. It's.

[Ben]

I think I know what you're saying. Kind of on a much smaller scale.

[Cletus McFarland]

Say you're driving a 450 dirt bike on the track. It's probably a little more bike than like I could handle. Then I go down to my 110, right. And like I'm on a. Then I can just like I'm wide open through the berms. Like you're ripping totally different. It's actually more fun driving a slow car fast than driving a really fast car fast. It's just.

[Mike]

I think the Supra is like the fastest car I've ever been in, honestly. And it's your street car.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, that thing's turd. I mean it's fast, but it's like doesn't even hold a flame to what this other stuff does.

[Mike]

Would you ever do a nitro car?

[Cletus McFarland]

So I don't fit in Top fuel dragsters unless it was a custom chassis. And like, I don't think the risk or reward is disc too fast. What do they go? 330? Yeah, 330 mile an hour. I know they're going 330 here.

[George]

That is a good question though. Like you're climbing the ladder of, you know, you're in the 10. Where do you start? Exactly. So that's. That is what I was wondering. Like Top Fuel just seems like you got to make it your like your.

[Cletus McFarland]

Life, I guess it's a big risk. Like you're going 330mile an hour. If that puppy blows over or whatever, you're. You're going for the ride. Your life.

[Mike]

Yeah. I can't even wrap my mind around that.

[Cletus McFarland]

They keep a helicopter here when they run them. Like, the helicopter is sitting there ready, because it's so life or death if something goes wrong. That kind of scares me.

[Mike]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Evan]

I feel like there's no, like, easy crash in that. Like, no matter what, at that speed.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. Like, if your parachutes don't come out or something, like, only a few things have to go wrong. You blow a tire. I don't know, dude. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know when we'll stop, but it might be there, but we might be close.

[George]

And that's what. That doesn't mean necessarily stop. I mean, there's so much fun to be had in the. You know, in the fives.

[Mike]

Yeah, just the fives.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'd be willing to run a top fuel car for the eighth mile, and then I'm sure if I ran it to the eighth, I'd feel comfortable enough to go to the quarter, but damn.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[Cletus McFarland]

Three seconds to go. A thousand feet.

[Evan]

Do they have, like. Like, if your parachute doesn't go, there's no way the. Did they even have brakes on it, or is it just the parachute?

[Cletus McFarland]

They have brakes, but you're going off the track. You're going off the end at probably 130, I would think, is what you.

[Mike]

Could get down to if your parachute doesn't go.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Which is crazy because that's about twice the legal limit on this interstate. So, yeah, go twice.

[Cletus McFarland]

I mean, there ain't really a crumple zone like that thing. Depending on what you hit, you're just gonna take the brunt of it. It's not gonna slow you down. I don't know.

[Mike]

Have you seen that?

[Cletus McFarland]

I've seen parachute. Yeah. Actually, just this last weekend where I was racing Eagles, one of the cars in my class, parachutes ripped right off it, dude. Through the shoes. Both came off immediately rolled, and slid on its roof. Like more than a quarter mile.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's good. One of those things, man.

[Cletus McFarland]

He was good.

[Mike]

You don't really think about. I guess if you're doing it, you do. But, like, to the general public of how many people race in it versus how many people probably get injured or die, like, the percentage has got to be insane, Right? It's got to be pretty high, like, higher than most sports.

[Cletus McFarland]

Drag racing is really good because for the most part, your inertia remains in one direction and can't be stopped immediately. You know what I mean? Unless you go over the wall, there's nothing that can stop you. So your inertia doesn't have an immediate change. You know what I mean?

[Mike]

Like, no trees.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, there's no trees in drifting. I think they have probably more high impact hits than most drag racers. But if you blow over, you know, which is like if you're doing a power wheelie and you get up in the higher 150s, like maybe closer to 200, and you fly.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Cletus McFarland]

And you go off over the walls and find something that can stop all your inertia. That's where people really get hurt or fires. You know, if you're going 250 and a fire breaks out, you can't get stopped for another 20 seconds.

[Ben]

Seconds.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's where your suit, like my suit is 20 layers. It's supposed to be able to survive those 20 seconds while I get the car hopefully stopped or it slides to a stop or whatever.

[Mike]

So your wife, like, get worried?

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, I mean, we're talking about this in the worst case scenario.

[Evan]

True.

[Mike]

No, I know, but even when you're doing, you know, I think five seconds.

[Cletus McFarland]

I think she gets nervous. But we have the best equipment, so that helps. I think she's pretty comfortable with it now. We've been drag racing for a long time and I think she gets worried. When I'm racing those real short wheelbase cars that are crazy, they're like, you know, there's a lot of idiots with fast cars, too. That's something you got to account for.

[Ben]

We know.

[Cletus McFarland]

You freaking pull into this guy that, you know, crashed last weekend. That sucks.

[Evan]

Oh, like up against him and you're looking at him, dude.

[Cletus McFarland]

People will crash and then fix their car in the staging lanes.

[Ben]

That's what Ben's got going for him tonight. People are going to be scared. They are going to be scared of you. Just drive aggressive. Let him pass. Let him pass.

[Cletus McFarland]

What if his brakes go out? Who knows what he'll do? Like, I saw guys this last weekend crash, fix their car in the pits and then be right back on the staging lanes. And I'm like, damn, I don't want to raise him. Yeah.

[Evan]

Because that's a patch job. Like you're throwing it together.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, maybe. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, they do it. It's just a little sketch.

[Mike]

I got a question for you. What's up with you and the song? Love it or hate it?

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, haters. I just When I turned that song on, it hit so damn hard.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

When I. I listened to it on the way to work. Listened to it this morning.

[George]

That's amazing.

[Cletus McFarland]

Hater. Love it. Other dogs on top.

[George]

The best part about that answer.

[Ben]

It's true.

[George]

Is that you. It wasn't some premeditated. Oh, okay. So the reason I use that song, you're just like, I just love it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Good song. Love it, dude. I posted it a couple times. Someone was like, pick a new song. I said, you know what, Hater? Love it.

[George]

I love this.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm posting this for the rest of my life. This will be my Instagram.

[Evan]

Do you know how many times you've posted it?

[Cletus McFarland]

No.

[Evan]

You've posted it 103 times. The main audio, just on Cletus McFarland. Not on all the other ones. Not on Stories.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's pretty good.

[Evan]

Just main audio on thing.

[George]

I would have thought it was more, but that.

[Ben]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Mike]

When you say not counting Stories, only rising.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm trying to get 50 Cent to come race. Yes. That'd be sick.

[Ben]

You could have him perform or something.

[Mike]

Oh, how hard. That's how you. Just one song just to keep it cheap.

[Cletus McFarland]

What if we got him for the Freedom 500? Dude, I wonder what his fee is. Dude, I wonder if someone could reach out to his team.

[Ben]

He'd probably do it for a discount just to be here.

[George]

Yeah, you're boosting his charts and I.

[Cletus McFarland]

Think I've had a few people unfollow because of it, but Hater, love Dude. Yeah. Hundred dogs on top.

[Mike]

I mean, yeah, the comments are pretty funny though. Like, judging by what you said earlier in the podcast, I would have thought that you would have switched because there is so many people that are just like, dude, seriously, stop.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, see, that's something. I don't care about that opinion because, like, I, you know, I guess it goes back to the thing. It's like it's a free Instagram account. It's not that deep. I'm playing the song, Hater. Love it. Dude.

[Evan]

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[Cletus McFarland]

Nah, dude, I'm just. I'm just playing.

[George]

But you should do that or love.

[Cletus McFarland]

It possible, you know, if I could buy it, make a little coin off.

[Ben]

You just own like 0.1% of it.

[George]

Basically, it goes public.

[Cletus McFarland]

I didn't even think of that.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Investing genius now. I'll keep rocking it probably till I die.

[Mike]

Well, I'll tell you this much, every time I hear the song, I think of you.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, good.

[George]

So 100%.

[Mike]

You got that going.

[Cletus McFarland]

Imagine they ban it or something. I'd be so sad, actually.

[George]

I mean, you were the first one to tell me that. Like, back when I would edit a little bit of the videos I would try to use. I mean, it's. I'll just admit it. Like, I just use not good songs. And I would try to use a different song every single time.

[Cletus McFarland]

And then brutal.

[George]

CJ was like, dude, so what we're trying to do is, like, if you use a good song, kind of not use good music. Yeah. But yeah, like, if we find our song and like, use it over and over, then people recognize it. And then I was like, yeah, yeah, you do have a point. And then it's. There's a hundred percent truth to that. Like, Danny Duncan has his transition song, and that's kind of. You use that as example.

[Cletus McFarland]

You guys have, and you just know. Yeah.

[George]

And you guys have done a great job of that. So I think using the same song over and over goes way farther than using a different song every.

[Cletus McFarland]

My viewers rage if I change my time. Laugh song.

[George]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Really? Yeah.

[Ben]

Dude, you gotta have one of the most, like loyal fan bases on YouTube for how much you post and how it's always like over a million views.

[Cletus McFarland]

I definitely am so lucky. Like, I have like the easiest audience to work with of all time, I think, like, they're very responsive, they're cool. They're not like insane. Like, if I meet someone at the grocery store, it's. It's a great experience. It's not like, it's not like I've, you know, I know what some people deal with. I don't have stalkers. I mean, I've had a couple crazy people that have come to my house, but I don't have like crazy people that'll like, interrupt my dinner to tell me they hate me, you know, I'm sure some people have that. Imagine being in politics, like how much people can hate you over an idea. Yeah, I'm sure we share quite.

[Ben]

Yeah, we. Ours is the same experience, honestly. But yeah, no, it's just. It's just crazy watching your work ethic. I feel like we work really hard, but if there's another person that works harder than us, it's you for sure. I mean, appreciate.

[Cletus McFarland]

I know you guys work really hard and actually this is something I want to talk about. Why do you guys only post once a week? Why can't we up those numbers? What's.

[Ben]

Dude, they're gonna love hearing you say that.

[Cletus McFarland]

The hell are we doing here? How many? Five guys.

[George]

You sound just like them.

[Cletus McFarland]

Six guys making these videos.

[Mike]

Are you working for the content?

[Cletus McFarland]

Where is the content?

[Ben]

Well, I mean, look at the content. Look at the content. I mean, great. Every Thursday. It's just. It's just jam packed and it's as high a quality as we can while still keeping it consistent. I mean, we're filming up till Wednesday to make Thursday happen. Then we edit it in one day. God damn it.

[Cletus McFarland]

You're.

[George]

Maybe we don't have a good answer for you.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm pissed about it.

[George]

One day when we have, I'll just.

[Mike]

Say this, dude, dude, it's hard enough to do one a week for us.

[Ben]

Honestly, we literally couldn't. Yeah, I mean, we were. We were uploading in the airport last night. We were editing at the airport on the plane.

[Cletus McFarland]

So talk me through a week here. What time do you guys get to the shop?

[Mike]

Well, I mean, yeah, we'll get to.

[Ben]

The shop if you're Micah Noon.

[Mike]

I don't know, 9. If it's a Monday. If it's a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll keep going. We'll film on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays, a lot of Saturdays. We got a corral, the crew, you know, so we might start filming at 10, 11. But then we're also working on projects. You know, usually when we do a project, it's not like we put some in one video and then some in the next. Like, it's like one. One project is one video. Right. And some projects take two months. So we'll film a bit for that project that we got going on, and then, yeah, we'll film a podcast, and then we'll film another bit for another video that we got going on. And then we'll sit down and we'll edit the video on Thursday.

[Ben]

So C.J.

[Mike]

And I'll show up at like, 6, 7am and then. And Dalton will edit all day on.

[Ben]

Thursday, like seven to eight, seven to nine.

[Mike]

So it's like a 13, 14 hour.

[Ben]

It's just a lot of. A lot of footage. Because, I mean, you were mentioning the five, six guys. But, like, when you're just running the camera, you have so many people talking. So then it's like you have so many jokes, you kind of got to sift through and. And you try and keep it consistent moving forward. At least that's what we do. But a lot of it, like Ben said, is. Is like we're working on projects that are a month or two out and you're filming, you're picking up. So like, oftentimes we're. We're working on like, three, four videos at one time. Yeah, but. And then you got, of course, like, calls and shit and whatever else, but we could up our numbers. We used to do two a week, and we just found that we could make a better video by just doing one a week.

[Cletus McFarland]

Everyone does have a different strategy. Not saying you have to post more than once a week, dude. I. I just feel like nobody posts.

[Ben]

More than you, though. Like, if you look at us, compared to most other YouTubers posting consistently once a week in terms of, like, big, bigger YouTubers, most people aren't doing it.

[Cletus McFarland]

I know.

[Ben]

So, like, you are an anomaly. You really are. And I mean, I've watched you work, you show up, you're just on it, dude. And you have such a good crew. It's like everything's ready to go. And.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's Huge employees is probably the number one thing to make you able to post a lot. But every YouTube channel has a different strategy. And if once a week maximizes your guys ability to reach your audience, then so be it.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean we just focus on the one video. We make it as good as possible. That's just has been working for us. And honestly the biggest thing is we're just trying to mitigate burnout too. Like with all of us. You might not believe it, but we're all like, like strong dude. Like really very rarely do we work less than six days a week, seven days, a lot of weeks. Also, Evan lives four hours away and he's got a whole nother life. Right. So we gotta keep that in mind too of, of his time and when he's at the shop. So you know, there's just a lot of different moving parts that we, you know, try and juggle. And that's just kind of what we found works for us.

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm definitely not trying to criticize you guys. I just, you know.

[George]

No, no.

[Ben]

Putting us on the hot seat.

[Cletus McFarland]

I just want to know, so like.

[Ben]

Do you even take a day off ever?

[Cletus McFarland]

All the time.

[Ben]

Really? How do you ever have time to take a day?

[Cletus McFarland]

Employees.

[Ben]

I mean, we have great employees too.

[Cletus McFarland]

But I have, you know, here's the thing. Now I try to edit, you know, when I'm at work, or I just edit when everyone's asleep.

[Mike]

Mm.

[Cletus McFarland]

So that just solves that problem. Like, so you just don't sleep well. I mean, in all reality it's like, how much sleep do you need?

[Ben]

A couple hours is good.

[Cletus McFarland]

If you're getting six a night, that's pretty solid. I mean, I think Elon sleeps.

[Ben]

That's true.

[Cletus McFarland]

If you got to sacrifice some sleep, that's how I get back ahead because I'm just willing to do that. Yeah, like what you said about my guys get stuff ready and that's crucial. It really doesn't matter how much you post. I guess if you've analyzed this is going to be the most watch time for the channel, period. Then that makes sense. You don't have to post. You might lose money by posting twice a week.

[Ben]

Well, our videos cost a shit ton of money and nothing's worth anything at the end of it. So it's like, like everything's totaled out. It's on fire, you can't sell it. But something I think about a lot which goes back to you is like you have two kids and eventually like I'm gonna have kids. These guys will have Kids. How much has having kids changed the way that you operate in terms of a business? Obviously, it's changed your personal life, but.

[Cletus McFarland]

Like, all right, I'll tell you this. So, like, the first four months of having a kid, your first kid, it will take you and your wife to rock bottom just because of the situation of losing all your sleep. You will lose it because you're going to be so strung out about keeping the thing alive long term. As long as you can set your wife up correctly to have, like, help. Like, we have grandmas that help a lot and you can get her that free time to, like, spend time with you, it can not affect your work life too much. And you definitely have to sacrifice work life first to be with mom and baby, because, you know, there was certainly a point where I didn't prioritize them enough. That doesn't help anything. And, like, the baby just multiplies all your issues. So if you have per say, a drinking problem, the baby is going to take whatever your issue in life is, is and multiply it by 2000%, because that's what they do. They just make your life complicated because of the loss of sleep and what it does to your wife and things like that. So what I would encourage you to do is get to your point where you're not strung out and the businesses ran really well, and you can rely on those trustworthy employees. Then have a baby. And it's really. It's a great process. But no matter what, you're going to hit rock bottom at some point because of loss sleep or any outlying issue you may have in your life. Like, that's what babies do. I think it's actually designed. Part of the process is they're so difficult to raise. We in particular, I think, had a tough baby. Our first one rip. For some reason, they just don't want to sleep or they don't want to eat. What it does to your wife is unbelievable because their mom brain is, I have to keep this baby alive. And I love it so much. They won't prioritize anything but the baby, and you're trying to prioritize other stuff, and then it's just like, boom. It's crazy. Once you get through those difficult times, like right now, I know the kids are set. I don't stress about it at all. The whole day certainly is a process to get to that point.

[George]

It's great advice.

[Evan]

Yeah, sorry, we're quiet on this one. We got nothing.

[Ben]

No, I mean, I've seen Maddie just like, you know. Yeah, obviously she's always around, and she's got the kids with. With, and she's an awesome mom. I don't know if it was your mom or her mom, but they came up to us and. And told us last time we were, yeah, Rip loves watching the vids. I don't know whose mom it was.

[Cletus McFarland]

But it was either of them. But, like, grandmas are absolute key. I mean, obviously some people don't have the luxury of having a grandma, but, like, you got to find someone that really cares for the kids to help the mom, especially with two. And I will tell you guys this. Whether it's the helicopter, the freaking, the coolest thing you've always wanted in your life, it will not hold a flame to the words dada. When your kid says dada, there's nothing that touches it. Not the greatest freaking stark bar powered Ferrari with wings you've ever seen in your life. The first six months, it's like this little baby. You're like, okay, I get it. I'm a dad. When you walk home and that little guy sits is Dada. Nothing touches it.

[Mike]

Were you scared to have kids?

[Cletus McFarland]

It was scary when we found out we were pregnant. Then we were excited. And then when we went to the hospital, it was pretty scary. We waited too long. So Maddie was in labor in the car. Oh, not awesome. And then she was, like, really in hardcore labor during check in. And they're like, dude, the valet guy's yelling at me, just take it. No, dude, the valet guy, you can't park here. I'm in our Tahoe.

[Evan]

I was gonna ask, what car did.

[Cletus McFarland]

You take in the Tahoe? And we got all our stuff, right? Like, you. You pack for this. So you just load that stuff and then you go, dude, Maddie's like, screaming. The valet guy. I'm trying to get her stuff because it's crucial we have her stuff. You know, she has spent weeks organizing this stuff. I'm not gonna let the valet guy jumps in the Tahoe and just starts moving it. He's like, I'll park it. Worry about your wife. Like, brother, let me get my bag in her phone, you know? So me and the valet guy are beefing. Maddie's screaming, and then they.

[Evan]

Rip's coming.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. Ribs on his way. They take your wife into a room. Well, this is this particular hospital. And they ask your wife, are you, like, safe? I don't know why. It's probably because people beat their wives or whatever. And they, you know, people are addicted to drugs or. Or children trafficking. I have no idea. But they take your wife and they want to ask him if they're safe. They also want them to sign some paperwork and stuff. And Maddie's like screaming through all this. So that experience for us was just not good. From the moment the labor started, that was all really scary until the baby was out and alive. And then we were like, now it's amazing again.

[Mike]

But it's got to be one of those things too, where you're. When you're going into it, you don't know what. What to do. You don't know what to expect. This is your first time. You're like, ah, my wife's pregnant. Where do I go?

[Cletus McFarland]

It is.

[Mike]

Or how's that work?

[Cletus McFarland]

Or do you call ahead? You tour the hospital prior, so, you know, I've never. But it is the most incredible experience of your life to see your child come to life from your wife that made it. It's nuts. It's the most like, what is it real? It's euphoric. It's also like, it takes you to like, you're just. You feel like an out of your, like animals. Like.

[George]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

You know, this is real life stuff. No, no, nothing else matters. Like, your wife made this baby and here it is. So I'm not trying to bore you guys. I can't wait for you to all do experience it if you're gonna do it.

[Ben]

I can't wait to see Rip run around this freedom factory dude when he's older.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, he's. He Rips now. I don't know last time you saw him, but that dude is on it.

[Ben]

Really?

[Evan]

How old is he now?

[Cletus McFarland]

Two. Just turned two. Just turned two Wednesday. Yeah. So he'll be. He'll be bombing around with his little helicopter, just living his life. He'll be here?

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Are you gonna get him a helicopter he flies in?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, I mean, he's got it. He has a toy helicopter that he's. He'll be rocking today. I'd be shocked if he didn't have it on on him, but love sp in the helicopter. Him and I cruising it together. He rides up front by himself now. No, mom, that's awesome.

[Mike]

Like, some kids get a first car when they turn 16. He's getting a helicopter.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, dude. He little two seater. I don't think I'm gonna let him fly solo for a long time. But he lives for that thing.

[Mike]

Do you have to be 16 to get your helicopter license or your pilot license? Like, how's that work?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's 16. I think you can solo at 14, but you can't ride with Pat? You can't take passengers as a solo pilot until you're 16.

[Evan]

It's kind of like having your farm permit, right?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, exactly. Same deal.

[Mike]

When I turned 15, I couldn't figure out how to get to school because I was outside of a district and my parents didn't know what to do. Should have just got a helicopter.

[Cletus McFarland]

Ah, there you go.

[Mike]

Imagine.

[Ben]

But this dude used to drive himself to school with no license.

[Mike]

Well, yeah, tell that story.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Might be incriminating me now.

[Ben]

Yeah, they're gonna get you now.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah, dude. No, I.

[Ben]

His parents let him do it.

[Mike]

No, I lived outside of where any school buses went. My parents worked 50 minutes the opposite direction, and, you know, they worked nine to six. And so, yeah, I would just drive with my permit.

[Cletus McFarland]

Get a farmer's permit?

[Mike]

No.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh.

[Ben]

It was completely illegal drivers.

[Mike]

Just a normal driver's permit. And I would drive to my buddy's house and then hop in with my buddy that lived outside of town a little bit. Yeah. And then we would ride to school together. Yeah, I did that for a while.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. We have farmers permits in Nebraska, so I drove to middle school. You could drive at 14.

[Mike]

Is that crazy school, like, when you meet a 14 year old now.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, my God. Isn't that wild?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Dangerous.

[Cletus McFarland]

You know, you start to understand, like, young people so much more when you have kids, like, and they're into the same stuff as you, so it's just so fun. Like, Riv only loves helicopters. Because I love them. If Evan has a kid, it's gonna love Dirt Bike.

[George]

That's how I feel like having Dalton around. I learned so much about young people.

[Ben]

Yeah, Dalton does. Really?

[Cletus McFarland]

They love what you love.

[George]

That is awesome. Yeah. It's still the coolest thing that you take him up in the helicopter. I mean, like, Evan, he's a grown man and he can't do that stuff.

[Ben]

It's even flying, though, for Evan. Like, just flying in a commercial plane.

[Cletus McFarland]

Like, oh, really?

[Ben]

I mean, yesterday it was a nightmare for him, but it was even a nightmare for us because he's so nervous. He starts, you know, drinking a little bit. We had three different planes we had to hop on. Dude, we felt bad for the whole plane. This guy's yelling. Not, like, in a mean way, but he was just happy. Hey, cj, we should. And he's also deaf in one ear, so he's already a little loud. Oh, my God. I thought Ken was going to strangle the guy. And then Mike had to sit next to him. We hop off the plane and Mike just goes, I have a headache.

[Mike]

Well, Evan said that he had eight or ten drinks and they were all doubles. And then Ken added to the point that when you're in the air, it's. It's like one drink equals three.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. The oxygen's lower.

[Mike]

Yeah, so. So Evan.

[Cletus McFarland]

They're hitting a little harder.

[Mike]

Evan had 60. No, I don't know if those numbers.

[Ben]

Are accurate, but he's pretty proud of it, as you can tell.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, I see that. We need to break you out.

[Mike]

Yeah, Ken did strangle him a little bit. Actually, Pop. I. Yeah, I didn't have my flash on, so you can only just imagine what happened in the dark. But Ken got two hands on his neck and wiggled him around.

[Cletus McFarland]

He did.

[Ben]

It looked like Homer Simpson and Bart. But you really pissed him off when you took your skateboard out in the Airbnb and you were insisting on skateboarding on the hardwood floors in our Airbnb.

[Cletus McFarland]

So. My boy was tore up.

[Ben]

I know he was just acting normal, but. Yeah, he was drunk too.

[Cletus McFarland]

Okay.

[Ben]

But it is funny though, cuz, like, you're really only a year or two older than most of us. You don't necessarily feel older, but you're just so much more mature than us. I feel like you are.

[Cletus McFarland]

I mean, I think that you guys might catch me in a certain environment. I mean, like in Glamis.

[George]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

When we were all having a blast together. It's like we're all. I mean, I think you guys are certainly more mature than you think. Like, you guys are running a freaking massively successful company. You're very legit.

[Ben]

Like, we're almost, like, professionally immature. Like, our job is to stay immature.

[Cletus McFarland]

That's good.

[Ben]

And. But like, don't. Don't slip up and start, like, acting serious. You know, Balance.

[Evan]

Because you gotta be serious and then you also gotta be loose. That's why it's great to have Evan.

[Cletus McFarland]

And, well, mix in characters because they are loose. I mean, if you don't have the maturity, it's like all the cards will come crashing down. So, yeah, it's a balance, dude.

[Mike]

I think that you're in a lot of situations too, where you. You gotta be mature. Like when you're flying that helicopter, dude, Like, I watched the video when you were in North Carolina and you were doing all the rescue missions with the helicopter and you were delivering the water and like, you were landing on the sketchiest landing pads in roads that were broken up people's yards. And you Were giving them rides back. Like, the whole time I watched it, I was just like, man, Cletus is one outstanding guy, but two so dialed, dude. Like, you were so laser focused. And I was just. I put myself in that situation, and I was like, God, I don't know if I could do that. I don't know if I could put that many people's lives in the. In the back seat, too.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's not Cletus and that puppy. Like, it's Garrett. And I'm like, you have to understand, like, that thing will yard sale if it touches a stick. You know what I mean? So it's like, there's just zero room for air. And you learn a lot of that when you start flying them. You guys have been around enough to see people, like, some people hot dog them pretty hard. Like, they tear it up. Like, they'll do some sketchy stuff.

[Ben]

I'd imagine a lot of them, like.

[Mike]

The buddy that, like, our only other friend that has a helicopter.

[Cletus McFarland]

Well, you. I think they. Dave definitely pushes it, but, you know, I think there were some guys out at the cabin with the other helicopters who are ripping and, like, some guys just are willing to push it pretty far in a helicopter. And it depends on the helicopter you have. If you have a really good one, like a Blackhawk, which is one of the best ever, you can push it. Because that puppy would get you out of most everything. Talking about these cheaper helicopters that I know you guys have seen and been around those things, you don't have really any room for air.

[Evan]

It's like, because you're operating at the.

[Cletus McFarland]

Limit you're operating, you're already operating them at their max weight and horsepower. And it's like, at that point, if anything goes wrong, everyone's toast. And, like, the pilot on board sometimes doesn't take that as serious as I would. So it's. It's like anything. You have to set your own limits. Mine are pretty strict in the aircraft because they are a death trap if they're treated incorrectly.

[Mike]

Is it true that a helicopter is as safe, not safer than an airplane?

[Cletus McFarland]

Airplane safer, okay.

[Mike]

Because people always have the argument, like, no, you could hover down to the ground. But, like, in my mind, I'm like, dude, I just picture a brick falling out of the air.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, it can for sure land no engine. We could go do it right now.

[Mike]

Oh, good.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Evan]

I saw your testing video.

[Cletus McFarland]

I can. I mean, I can do it 10 out of 10 times.

[George]

Great confidence.

[Cletus McFarland]

If we were all in that thing and that engine died, I can Tell you that if just the engine failed and there was a field underneath us, I feel 100 confident I would land it and the helicopter would be completely okay. Oh, wow. We just need the engine replaced.

[Mike]

So where do things go wrong when you're in, like, sketchy environments that you can't land in a field? Like so in the mountains, when I.

[Cletus McFarland]

Say, like, I could save it. Yeah. Perfect scenario. We're flying at 500ft, 100 knots straight. The engine fails. Fails. I got it. When you're hovering 50ft off the ground above a bunch of trees, with a small landing, you know, zone underneath it and the engine fails, that's outside the profile in which you can save it. There's a velocity chart, and basically you have to be going a certain speed at certain altitudes to successfully auto rotate. Are we going to die? No. Maybe break our backs.

[Mike]

Have you had any sketchy situations?

[Cletus McFarland]

I blew a rear main seal and an R44, which is like a. The, you know, the Robinsons. Yeah. It evacuated all the oil, and when I landed, the oil light came on. So that one wasn't too bad. I did fly in fog one time. See this fog layer right here? This is just overcast. If we popped in that thing and flew up 300ft, it would be perfect. Blue skies on top. I was at my house, and it was broken, which is where there's gaps in it. And it was perfect blue sky. So I kind of popped up, and I'm like, oh, like, well, I gotta go north. North. I was going to meet up with Travis Pastrana, and as I went north, now I'm on top of the clouds, and they're starting to not be broken. So they're more. They're tighter together. I'd only had my license for maybe six months. As I'm going more and more north, I can still see the ground through these gaps. I called the guy ahead, which was where I was going about 30 minutes north. I said, hey, can you see the sky? And he said, yeah, I can see the sky. Should never have trusted that when you. If you go stand straight underneath this and look up, you'll be able to see. See some blue. And people, like, just took that as, oh, you can see the sky, whatever. So I keep flying north. Keep flying north. Now. I can, like, barely see the ground. Well, I'm like, oh, well. He says it's good up ahead. So it's called VFR on top. So I'm still vfr. I can see everything visual flight rules. I'm on top. It's all good. Get to the destination. It is the exact same as what was below me. Like, you can't see the ground now. Flying a helicopter in the clouds is really difficult. It's like closing your eyes and standing on a bowling ball, you know, like if you guys all went in there and I said, close your eyes, I could put the helicopter in basically like a 90 degree bank really softly and then you'd open your eyes and not have realized we shifted into that position. So unless you are really good at reading the instruments, you shouldn't be flying in the clouds. And to fly in the clouds in a helicopter, you have to have an instrument certified helicopter. You have to be an instrument proficient pilot. And it has autopilots, has a lot of equipment required to do that. So anyway, now I'm above the clouds, I said, oh, I gotta go south. I'm going back. I get back, it's socked in. We have about 30 minutes of fuel now and we fly to the nearest airport. I've got a really good friend of mine that I trust with me. Not a pilot, but I said, hey, like I'm gonna line us up with the Runway. This helicopter, by the way, has zero equipment for fly instruments. And now I have instrument ratings as a helicopter pilot. This point I had none of that. So an approach allows you, it, it tells you on the dash a guided line to follow. And it brings you down really gently and in line with the Runway to a minimum altitude of like 200ft. So if you follow it on the gauges, it'll bring you all the way to the end of the Runway. That's how planes and helicopters can fly in bad weather. So anyway, I have none of that equipment. All I have is my phone, which has a app on it. That's. That was my GPS at the time.

[Mike]

Great.

[Cletus McFarland]

So I get to the airport, I decide we have to go in and try and land here because of our fuel reserve. I line up, we fly in at like 800. We go in and I'm watching the attitude indicator and just slowly going down, like you're shooting an approach. We get down to like 150ft on the gauge, still can't see the ground. It is like as fog. I have a picture of it from the day it happened. So I fly back out and it felt like we were in the fog for an eternity.

[Mike]

Is everyone in there tweaking?

[Cletus McFarland]

No one's saying a word.

[George]

Is it?

[Mike]

Because everyone knows what's like going down.

[Cletus McFarland]

It's my wife and then my two friends and me I had told Chad, my buddy, I said, tell me when you see the ground. You know, like, you look down. I have to stare at the dash. I'm. I'm locked in on this dash. We fly back in, and, dude, we're in there for. And it felt so long. And I'm flying. I'm making a descent at 200ft a minute, which is, like, really slow.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

And he just screams out. I see the ground. I look down. We're over the top of a forest. Missed the airport by over a mile.

[Mike]

What?

[Cletus McFarland]

I'm telling you, brother, you can't see anything.

[George]

So disorient.

[Cletus McFarland]

And I literally, like, instinctively I pulled back and I pulled in all the power and drooped the rotor, which is when you pull so much power and when you're heavy in a cheap helicopter, this rotor speed slows down a little bit. I don't think I've ever told this story online, by the way. And this buzzer goes up. It's like. It's a horn.

[Evan]

Oh, man.

[Cletus McFarland]

And, you know, instinctively, I lowered the collective, which is what you're supposed to do, and I kept flying on top of the treetops, and I found a hole, and I went in and landed and waited out the fog.

[Mike]

You guys really just silent, dude.

[Cletus McFarland]

We were in the middle of a fog, and then, like, 30 minutes later, a redneck walks up and all came out with a rifle. Y'all need any help? Some helicopter fuel, but, brother, it was terrible.

[George]

You took back off on reserve and then went dipped to the airport.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. So we were a mile from the airport, luckily, in some guy's field who knows where.

[Ben]

That's scary.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. They say everybody at some point will, like, scare themselves with weather. And I did that. And I can tell you that I have never touched weather like that in a helicopter ever again.

[Ben]

And you deal with crazy weather around.

[Cletus McFarland]

Here, but fog and stuff. I won't touch it, dude.

[Ben]

I always think about, like, when you're buzzing above the clouds, like, what you kind of described it, like, do you ever just see, like, another helicopter and you're like. Like, wave at him?

[Mike]

Do you really just, like, you get.

[Ben]

Up there, just a bunch of helicopters, like, just driving down the road.

[Cletus McFarland]

Oh, it's. Yeah, for sure. Sometimes you'll get with a guy and fly with him for, like, hours. You're just taking a detour, cruising around, and, like, there's. There's channels for helicopters. So, like, if I see the man, county sheriff is flying, like, I'll just jump on and talk to him for a little bit. And say, what's up? Yeah. Like, you just cruise, like, all the new stuff. Like, we have traffic, so we can see where everybody's at in this area. And so you kind of just see somebody, you can say, what's up? And it's pretty insane.

[Evan]

That's so awesome.

[Mike]

You said that you kind of treat your helicopter like a. Like an Uber around here. Like, you'll take it to lunch.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Take it out to dinner. You and Maddie will just bop around Florida. Like.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, dude.

[Mike]

Dude. I think that's, like, the biggest flex.

[Cletus McFarland]

I think the sea boys need one. Dude, Ben's got to be the pilot probably, right?

[Mike]

I want one so bad, bro. Like I said earlier, like, getting yourself just so dialed.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, you got to be dialed.

[Mike]

Like, I don't have an alter ego that's smarter than I am. Like, you can always.

[Ben]

Dude.

[Mike]

I'm just always.

[Cletus McFarland]

Ben, when you do the training, like, if you get into it and you start to love it, you'll just take it serious, seriously. Naturally, I think there's only a few outliers who, like, just are savages with them. Like, you'll just naturally realize the seriousness of the situation.

[Mike]

I want to go up with you. I want to go up real bad. Experience it.

[Cletus McFarland]

I would love you to try and fly it. So it's one of the most difficult things you'll ever do is try and hover a helicopter.

[Mike]

What did you compare it to?

[Cletus McFarland]

I mean, it's like standing on a bowling ball, but it's just. It's so weird to fly them because it's like. Imagine you're, like, hung by a string, but you have to stay under that string, and so you have to give input to the top of the string.

[Mike]

Yeah. It's hard to wrap my mind around, like, what. What? You know, driving anything would be comparable to that. That.

[Cletus McFarland]

Nothing. And I've always thought, like, I'm pretty good at jumping and stuff, being able to drive. I'm sure we all are. Like, you can get in almost anything, right? A skid steer, a backhoe, whatever, and drive it probably with almost no training. It's the one thing I've ever not been able to get into. And it took me a long, like, a while to be able to hover. A couple training sessions.

[Mike]

Did you buy your own and then figure out how to fly?

[Cletus McFarland]

I went and flew a couple lessons, and then I bought an R44, the Robinson that I was telling the story about and trained in that and got my license and then sold it and upgraded because, like, they're Just horsepower limited and a lot of water in Florida. It kind of scares me to be in, like, a piston engine deal in the sky.

[Mike]

So I think one reason that so many people love you is because you're very relatable. You know, when they watch you, they feel like you're kind of just, you know, one of the boys. And obviously, as your channel's grown, you know, you became more and more successful and you can afford things like these helicopters or the planes or boat behind us. But how do you manage to, you know, grow your success but continue to stay grounded and stay that. That guy that people, you know, tune back to every single week?

[Cletus McFarland]

You know, I. That's really nice. You say. I try to, like, stay humble and, like, connected with the people, just like you guys do. And, like, the money spending thing is definitely, it's a hard thing to do because, like, I personally want the helicopter, but I also don't want to be unrelatable. So say I didn't buy the helicopter because I wanted to stay relatable. Like, I. I don't know, I have a hard time just like, what am I supposed to do? Put the money in the bank and, like, hide it? I don't think that's what they want. I think they watch because they want to see cool stuff. I don't know necessarily if. If a helicopter is like, what they want to do, the views are pretty good. So I think people are excited about that. For example, it's something I battle with, like, how do you buy this cool stuff but also stay relatable? I don't know.

[Mike]

I think you've done a really good job at it, especially with buying this helicopter and then showing the, like, restoration process of it. But you also, last time we were hanging out, you were like, yeah, I'm buying this airport and I'm gonna, you know, build my dream home on the airport. And I'm going back and forth whether I want to show that or not. And I. I told you just like, you know, as a friend, but as a fan. And I think that it's so much cooler to see somebody that you watch and support and look up to, you know, living like, the life that a lot of people dream of. Right? So it's like, I think that you do it in a tasteful way of showing it where it's not. It's not braggy, it's not in your face, but it's like, people want to see you win.

[Ben]

It's all hard earned, too.

[Mike]

You're not a douche, too. And I Think it's just so cool where I was like, bro, you have to show building the most insane house because that's what everyone in your position.

[Cletus McFarland]

Would also do on that. So bad. I. I ended up just posting a video asking them if they thought it was something they'd want to see. And it was overwhelming. Yes. But, like, I don't get off on the feeling of, like, showing off. Like, sometimes I feel guilty posting pictures of the helicopter because I don't want to, like, brag about it, but I love that thing, so I genuinely care. So, like, I think that thing is the coolest thing in the world and I love sharing that with people. So, like, I really want to post a picture, but I also don't want to give people the wrong idea that, like, it's all I care about. And I really just like to have fun and do it with cool toys. So I guess if people can get down on that, that's why they stick around. But some people, I'm sure, have left because of all the money spending. But what am I supposed to do? Not spend it? Like, you guys are giving us this money by. By viewing our channels and being a part of it. Like, I want to burn it to keep you entertained.

[Ben]

Yeah, you're giving back.

[George]

And if they left because of that, they were never true fans. But luckily for you, you're not rolling into the dealership buying a brand new helicopter and you're not rolling up to your house saying, yep, everyone built it. My house is done. Like, you were digging the concrete. Like, that was fun to see. And it's same for this. This was a journey to get to. So it certainly helps brought your viewers to feel like they're connected to it too, because they're like, my favorite YouTuber bought a helicopter and they brought it back to life. And now I love it.

[Cletus McFarland]

But you know what I mean? Like, that feeling of it. Yeah, it's not a great feeling to just be like, oh, I'm gonna drop all this.

[Ben]

Like, flexing isn't really. That's definitely not your thing. Yeah, Like, I used to have a Nissan gtr and like, just posting like a picture of that, I felt like I was flexing. Which, like, realistically, like, a pickup costs as much as a gtr, but, like, people perceive it as a supercar. So. Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Trying to say.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, no, I know exactly what you're saying.

[Mike]

I posted a picture of your other helicopter that you have on my story, and there was a response that said, the forbidden helicopter.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Or like the secret helicopter. I Was like, oh, people. Yeah, people don't know about his other one.

[Cletus McFarland]

That one I don't show, particularly because of people tracking where we're at. It's just nice to be able to arrive somewhere. And it's never a thing. Like, if I go anywhere in that one, it really is a thing.

[Evan]

It'd be like putting Cletus stickers all over Maddie's car, you know?

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah. And I just kept it on the DL for the. Honestly, the reason of, like, not flexing and. And Consuela has her own story, so she's just. I love showing her off. She's the coolest thing I. I think I own. And it's just different ballgame. I don't know.

[Mike]

What.

[Ben]

What time are we at, guys? Just out of curiosity.

[Evan]

Probably right there.

[Mike]

Wrap.

[Evan]

We should wrap up.

[Ben]

I know you got a busy day.

[Cletus McFarland]

Yeah, we all do.

[Mike]

Crazy busy.

[Ben]

You're much, much more busy.

[Cletus McFarland]

And you guys have the greatest guest of all time coming.

[Ben]

Yeah, we do.

[Cletus McFarland]

The greatest human being all I think I personally have ever met in my life.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Cletus McFarland]

Travis Pastrana, TP199.

[Ben]

Dude, it's like, without Travis Pastrana, I don't even know if we'd be doing.

[Cletus McFarland]

Probably.

[Ben]

Yeah. And probably same for you. Even, like, like, oh, such an inspiration.

[Cletus McFarland]

Just growing up watching him, the single biggest inspiration for me and to get into motorsports. And he's the exact same person you think he is, but better in person.

[Ben]

Yeah. So kind.

[Cletus McFarland]

How many people can you say that about? Like, he is.

[Ben]

I'd say the same about you, though. Yeah. When people ask, I always say that you're, like, the nicest YouTuber that I've.

[Cletus McFarland]

Met, so that's nice to you. But Travis, like, if we. If we told him to, like, like, get on the Stark Varg right now and, like, we'd make like a jump and do a backflip. He'd probably do it.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I'm gonna have to ask him about these electric bikes, what he thinks, but. Well, sweet. We'll be taking both these Starks home at the end of the race. We'll have some more for the fleet. We'll probably put them in, like, a snowmobile or something, but there you go.

[Cletus McFarland]

Great.

[Ben]

Well, thanks, Cletus. Appreciate it.

[Cletus McFarland]

Appreciate you, brother, to be on here. All right, See you later.

[Mike]

See you later, brother.

[George]

See ya.

[Josh]

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