For some people, the key to living a rich, rewarding life is finding a suitable alter ego. That’s definitely been the case for Garrett Mitchell, who reinvented himself as Cleetus McFarland, who’s been described as the most fascinating and popular car guy on YouTube.
This might sound like a somewhat superficial title, but it’s serious business. Car guys are everywhere on YouTube, and climbing the ladder is a dog-eat-dog affair.
The serious business side has to do with Mitchell’s wealth. As of 2023, Cleetus McFarland has a net worth of $2 million. That’s a lot of money for just being a car guy. So, let’s trace his journey and see how he ended up on top of the pack.
Early Days
Mitchell was born in 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska in 1995, and he studied to become a lawyer during his college days. That sounds like the perfect setup for a boring life, but Mitchell wasn’t having it.
Instead, he went to work supplying automotive content for a company called 1320Video, but the money he made was mostly from his side hustle during his student days.
That all changed in 2015 when Mitchell was filming an automotive event in Florida and invented the Cleetus McFarland persona. The main prop for the gig was a modified Camaro, along with a redneck accent and an outfit to match. The rest, as they say, was history, and a star was born.
Turning Cleetus Into a Business
Plenty of guys have done the redneck schtick with fast cars. But Mitchell has taken Cleetus to a new level. He’s the leader of Team McFarland, and the rules for his YouTube content are simple – make them funny and entertaining, with plenty of fast cars.
Cleetus McFarland takes his cars to the ragged edge, and occasionally he goes over the line. He’s a talented drag racer, and a lot of thought goes into the GM cars and trucks he modifies.
McFarland and his team have a shop called the Freedom Factory, and Mitchell has been so successful turning his alter ego into a business that he actually has a race track of his own to go with the shop in Bradenton, Florida.
His Cleetus-based merchandising line is the key to much of his wealth, and Mitchell takes this quite seriously. He’s often featured in Cleetus videos fulfilling orders along with his team members. His girlfriend even shows up in a few of the videos to lend a hand.
Another key to the Cleetus McFarland experience is the racing vernacular. Phrases like “Do it for Dale” – Earnhardt, of course – “let ‘er rip tater chip” and “what a unit” are staples, along with “freakin’ awesome” and “hell yeah, brother.”
Mitchell clearly knows his audience, and buying his own racetrack has allowed him to expand the automotive shenanigans exponentially. It may not be high art for the high-IQ set, but a guys gotta make a living, and he has clearly found his niche.
Personal Life
Not surprisingly, Cleetus’s girlfriend is a pretty blonde named Madison Lutz, who does clean up nicely. She’s also an entrepreneur in her own right, sort of, and she owns Sunna Swim, a swimwear store that’s a complementary business to Mitchell’s gig.
They started dating in 2019, and last year he put a ring on her finger. No word about any little Cleetuses just yet, though.
