Drag Illustrated Issue 141, February 2019

t the time of this ar- ticle being written, my laptop rests on my kitchen coun- ter among two calendars and a stack of printed race schedules. It seems like only yesterday we were talking world champions, celebrating the successes of many racers around the world and embracing a lit- tle bit of time away from the hustle-and-grind of drag racing at virtually any level. Here I am, though, trying to get organized for the fast-approaching 2019 racing season. While it is hard to be- lieve that it’s already time to kick the tires and light the fires, I can’t help but be excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. On the heels of a championship-themed issue fea- turing the highest achievers the sport has to offer with NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd out front, I felt strongly that we start off the new year by stepping well outside the box. Maybe I’m hyper- sensitive to it, but it feels like I can hardly open my eyes without reading something about “kids today” and how little they care about their cars and, not surprisingly, racing and motorsports. If you were to form your opinion solely from what you might infer via social media, it’d be hard not to believe our sport, and maybe car culture in general, was on the verge of extinction. Enter Cleetus McFarland. I actually met the You- Tube sensation, legally known as Garrett Mitchell, several years back while he was working as part of Kyle Loftis’ 1320Video team, whom I’d known since around 2004 when our paths crossed in and around the booming Kansas City street racing scene. I was told early on that Mitchell had a keen under- standing of social media – the ins and outs of how it works and how to take advantage of it – and spent a little time going back and forth with him learn- ing. At the time 1320Video was seeing incredible growth online, and I knew Mitchell was playing a key role in it. So, it came as no surprise when they launched another channel on the back of the incredible, almost instantaneous connection people made with Mitchell’s “Cleetus McFarland” character. Our goal with this cover feature is not neces- sarily to tell the tale of Mitchell’s passion for cars or background or upbringing, nor delve into the complicated algorithms of social media platforms or what goes into a financial powerhouse YouTube channel. Of course, there’s some interesting nug- gets there that Senior Editor Josh Hachat worked to include, but it’s more of a statement piece for us; more of a reminder of what could be and what al- ready is. We wanted Clee- tus out front to serve as a shot across the bow of tra- ditional thinking and the growing belief that young folks aren’t into hot rods anymore; that drag rac- ing’s fanbase will soon be dead – and is already pri- marily found in retirement communities and nursing homes. There’s no denying the hard facts and readily available statistics that in- dicate young people aren’t as swift to get their driver’s license as they were in years past. It’s a bummer, sure, but it’s not entirely because kids aren’t into cool, fast, loud cars any- more. Spend a few minutes looking at the comments on any one of the hundreds of videos posted on the Cleetus McFarland YouTube channel and the num- ber of people asking about head gasket thickness, boost levels, tire size and 60-foot times is almost un- believable. And that’s if you can get yourself to stop staring at the steadily growing subscriber count, which currently stands at 1,269,406. Compare that to the NHRA’s 69,789 YouTube subscriber count and it’s pretty easy to see that drag racing as an activity isn’t the problem. People – lots of people – love this stuff, probably every bit as much as you and me. The approach, however, is dramatically different. While Cleetus certainly has a handful of cars that are extremely well known and beloved by his fanbase – his salvage-title, twin-turbo, 7-second exo-skeleton C6 Corvette “Leroy the Savage” for starters – it’s Cleetus McFarland himself, the char- acter, that is central to the storyline. This character, this human being that people around the world have fallen in love with (and/or hate or envy or whatever else) is what they’ve built this following on the back of. The cars are important, the rac- ing – and the burnouts and the donuts – are all absolutely important, but nowhere near as much as the personality. Regardless of how people interpret it, we’re thrilled to have a talented, hilarious, enterprising young gearhead on the cover of Drag Illustrated this month, but I hope people – especially people in high, powerful positions – truly understand what it represents. We live in a society that loves con- troversy, that embraces without a bit of hesitation almost any notion that comes across their Facebook newsfeed. I beg you: Don’t believe the hype, don’t buy into the idea that car culture is dying. It is not. Our buddy Cleetus and over a million of his fans – hundreds of thousands of which watch every single piece of content he creates – are telling a much different story. Wesley R. Buck Founder & Editorial Director 8 | Drag I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com I invite you to email me at wes@dragillustrated.com and follow me at facebook.com/wbuck and wesbuckinc on Instagram. Wes Buck Founder & Editorial Director 660.988.2313 wes@dragillustrated.com Scott Dorman Publisher 615.478.5275 scott@dragillustrated.com Mike Carpenter Design & Production Director 704.737.2299 mike@dragillustrated.com Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 440.986.1480 nate@dragillustrated.com Nancy Koeppen Chief Operating Officer 573.552.5551 nancy@dragillustrated.com Will Mandell Senior Sales Executive 615.426.0465 will@dragillustrated.com JT Hudson Sales Executive 660.341.0063 jt@dragillustrated.com Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van@dragillustrated.com Josh Hachat Editor-at-Large 660.988.2313 josh@dragillustrated.com Caroline Fox Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline@dragillustrated.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher, Ainsley Jacobs, Kelly Wade, Tyler Crossnoe, Bobby Bennett, Lisa Collier, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy D’Aprile, Will Hanna, Sadie Glenn PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III, Van Abernethy, Rick Belden, Tara Bowker, Jason Dunn, Paul Grant, Chris Graves, Ron Lewis, Joe McHugh, Gary Nastase, Mark J. Rebilas, Roger Richards, Cole Rokosky, Chris Sears, Jason Sharp, James Sisk, Ian Tocher ADVERTISING SALES: 615.478.5275 SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: 660.988.2313 customerservice@dragillustrated.com DRAG ILLUSTRATED MEDIA, LLC 902 Kings Road, Kirksville, MO 63501 P: 660.988.2313 F: 660.665.1636 www.dragillustrated.com Copyright © 2019 by Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Drag Illustrated is a registered trademark of Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. Printed and mailed by Publication Printers in Denver, CO. All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own, and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. Issue 141 A FOUNDER’S LETTER

Drag Illustrated Issue 141, February 2019 | Page 8