From Grocery Getter to Tire Shredder - Cameron Johnson Race Cars Big Block Swaps A Chevy Spark for Cleetus McFarland’s Newest Ride!
Cleetus McFarland has done things a little different in his life, starting with the bodyless C5-model Corvette known as LeRoy that helped him build his YouTube channel.
That led to multiple cars with turbochargers above the hood line, a Pro 275 ’69 Camaro, and even his own media company streaming events, FRDM+. But the newest ride was a big surprise, and not just to Cleetus.
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The Chevrolet Spark, a small car only known to drag racing teams for pit and push car work, first gained some attention on the Cleetus McFarland channel for his ‘Hard Park the Spark’ challenge, where he attempted to park a stock Chevrolet Spark into a standard parking spot. The challenge was sliding the car into the spot using steering and emergency brake work, entering his parking lot at 60 miles per hour!
After more than a dozen days of trying, Cleetus finally conquered the challenge. Many speculated this could led to his next challenge on the popular YouTube channel, but instead it would be one of the Cleetus crew contacting noted chassis builder and fellow enthusiast Cameron Johnson about a surprise for Cleetus.
“LS George came to me about building a new burnout car for Cleetus,” said Cameron. “But when we heard it would be combining a Chevrolet Spark with a big block Chevrolet engine, we knew it would be a challenge.”
The crew was also given less than a month to put the project together, in time to surprise Cleetus for his birthday during an event at the Freedom Factory track in Bradenton, Florida.
“George went out and found a solid used Spark with engine problems, and we went to work on it,” said Cameron.
The front-wheel drive-based drivetrain was given its walking papers, and the CJRC crew got to cutting everything out for a new frame and conversion to rear-wheel drive. While the Spark looks fairly factory on the outside aside from the wheels, little remains of the original car as far as engineering goes.
A fabricated 9-inch from Quick Performance combines with CJRC-fabricated ladder bars and Strange Engineering coil-over shocks at the rear, while Strange struts took their place up front. A full 8.50-second legal roll cage, along with custom floorpans and firewall was whipped up.
Cleetus had purchased five big block Chevrolet engines from Fast Forward Racing Engines specifically for his burnout car fleet a while back, and one of them was plucked from the engine room for work in the Spark. The 540 cubic inch combination is based on a Dart Machinery block with Pro 1 cylinder heads, and is backed by a FTI Performance Powerglide transmission and PST driveshaft. A full set of TBM Brakes brings everything to a halt.
Cleetus has already given the Spark plenty of exercise, during his events at the Freedom Factory in Florida, as well as the recent Indy 800 Cleetus and Cars at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indiana.
Watch the videos on the Spark, with the initial build and surprise below:
Cleetus even made the switch from burnout to drag car, running the Spark at Bradenton Motorsport Park to a ridiculously quick 9.99 pass at 138mph.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Cleetus McFarland, CJRC and Dart Machinery.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com