Cleetus McFarland Tries Everything With Leroy At LS Fest West
Cleetus McFarland Tries Everything With Leroy At LS Fest West
Twin-turbo Vette kart dominates drifting, autocross and burnout competitions at LS Fest West.
If there’s one thing a Corvette was always going to be good at, it would be burnouts and at LS Fest West, Cleetus McFarland did not disappoint. But, being that LS Fest is a weekend full of activities, burnouts wouldn’t be the only thing taking place.
Interestingly, one thing that didn’t take place on day 1 was drag racing. Due to Leroy’s exterior cage, and somewhat large open area of the driver’s compartment, it wasn’t allowed on track. McFarland explains, “Even though the car passed tech, it was deemed unsafe. So we picked up some window nets to fix the problem. They didn’t kick us out of the event, and the organizers were more than willing to help get the safety issue straightened out.” Bummer, since drag racing is what Leroy’s all about. But thankfully there was much more to do as well.
Burnouts are always fun, and those were up next while the crew could get a fix in order. Tires were switched out to ones that “definitely won’t last the whole weekend” and Leroy was adorned with two flags. One exclaims “DO IT FOR DALE!” and the other states “HELL YEAH BROTHER!” If that wasn’t enough, a jet fighter fly-over took place just before the burnouts. All of the freedom one could ask for in one space.
Drifting, as we found out previously, isn’t exactly this Corvette’s strongest point. New turbo housings are meant for power, which means it’s hard to modulate throttle – an essential aspect for drifting. McFarland even says of his first session on the larger drift track, “after a start like that, I realized I was way in over my head on this deal. I was definitely a little bit embarrassed, but there was no way I could give up.”
