Leroy Corvette Runs New Best Time, Wins Street Car Takeover Class

Twin turbocharged, bodyless Corvette runs an 8.26 at 173 miles per hour

Cleetus McFarland and his unique Corvette named Leroy recently headed to ZMax Dragway for the Street Car Takeover event and the world’s best-known bodyless Chevy sports car came away with a new record time and a big class win. After dealing with some tuning issues in testing and waiting through a lengthy race stoppage when a car caught fire on-track, Cleetus and Leroy managed to run four straight 8.26 passes while winning his way through the stick-shift class.

Practice Runs

Like all of the videos showing Leroy the bodyless Corvette tearing up the track, this one starts with channel host Garrett Mitchell (his name isn’t actually Cleetus) explaining the event and their plans. They made some tuning changes, so Leroy is going to make some roll-race runs first to check the boost levels. That turns out to be a good idea, as the Corvette runs into boost pressure issues on the top end, but they were able to make changes for their next run.

His second practice run is a standing quarter mile pass and after a good burnout, Mitchell and his Corvette make a good, clean run down the track – turning in an 8.45 at 167 miles per hour. He expects that with those numbers, he has a real chance of winning the stick shift class. On this run, he also tests the brakes, as a team member forgot to pull the parachute release pin so the chute won’t open on the top end, but the car still slows safely.

Elimination Round 1

In the first round of eliminations for the stick shift class, Mitchell and Leroy the Corvette take on an LSX-powered Mazda RX-7. The Mazda gets a terrible launch while Leroy spins just a touch, allowing the twin turbo Chevy to get out of the hole and down the track in a hurry. During this run, the serpentine belt comes off and the car loses power steering, but it still runs an 8.26 at 171 miles per hour.

That was Leroy’s best quarter mile time ever, but the team found themselves with a belt problem, so they paid some fans five Cleetus McFarland t-shirts to run to the store and pick up a new belt. While waiting for the belt, the team found that the idler pulley was bad, so they paid a second set of fans five shirts to run to the store to buy a new idler pulley, but in the meantime, they borrowed one from the RX7 that they beat in the first round.

While the team was fixing Leroy, there was an incident on the track where a car caught fire, leading to a lengthy delay in the event. At 10pm, only one round had been run and Mitchell questions whether they will get through the whole class, so he turns up the boost in an effort to focus on record numbers more than wins.

Elimination Rounds 2-4

In the second round of stick shift class eliminations, Leroy took on a 4^th gen Camaro and although the car with the body got the better start, the bodyless Corvette quickly caught, passed and took the win – running another 8.26.

In the third round, Mitchell and Leroy had a solo run, so he was able to crank up the boost and play with the launch, but for the third time in a row, the twin turbo Corvette run an 8.26. On this run, the car hit 173 miles per hour, making this the quickest and fastest run ever for Leroy.

In the fourth round, Leroy took on a wicked 240 and the race was crazy-tight, with the Corvette getting to the line just 0.0212-seconds earlier than the Nissan. On this run, Leroy ran – you guessed it – an 8.26.

At that point, Leroy the Corvette and Mitchell were headed to the stick shift class finals, but the track called the event as it was just too late to continue. The two teams discussed the situation and they decided to split the winnings and the trophy by cutting the small plaque in half with a Sawzall.

While the shared win was nice, the big news here is that Leroy has a new record time of 8.26 at 173 miles per hour.

Crank up your speakers and enjoy!

Join the Corvette forums today!

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com