The Freedom Factory. It’s got a nice ring to it don’t you think? Well of course it does! What else would you expect from Cleetus McFarland. I can’t imagine how much fun it was to make this deal happen. What deal you ask? Well Cleetus has indeed bought an old racetrack in Florida. What will happen there? What kind of events will they hold? What videos will come from this place? The answers will flow and change over time I’m sure, because they will figure out more and more cool stuff to do here, but man we sure can’t wait to see what goes on in the short term.
We also hope Cleetus invites us for some fun because we would love to tear it up at this place. Can you imagine what you’d do if you owned a race track like this? I’d have cars there all the time and would be playing non stop. Hell, tires and fuel would become my issue because I’d be using so much of them. Is there something special you’d want to do if you owned a place like this? We’re sure the videos coming out of the Freedom Factory will be epic, so stay tuned to Cleetus to see what they come up with next.
Sounds like tons of fun. I sure hope this doesn’t turn into a money pit and drag him under.
From what I have read the track he bought was a really popular asphalt short track for many years before running into financial trouble and shutting down a few years ago. It was foreclosed upon snd went to auction but didn’t sell as no one apparently was willing to offer up the minimum bid of $1.1 million.
Cleetus mentioned possibly returning circle track racing “if the right promoter comes along”. If you live in the area and are hoping this comes to fruition I wouldn’t hold my breath. The place is pretty run down and the entire track would need to be completely resurfaced along with repairs to the buildings and the wood bleachers (plus sho knows what else), I would guess the needed repairs would run close to a million bucks. No way Garrett/Cleetus is going poney up this kind of mulla for his playground. It simply isn’t necessary for him to have a race ready place for his YouTube videos and Cleetus and Cars events. By promoter I think he means someone to not only do all the race promoting but also come up with the money to resurface the track (last estimate was around $500K).
I think Cleetus would like to start a US version of the Aussie Street Nats burnout contest along with drifting on the track and drag racing next door at Bradenton. He also alluded to building a dirt area for SXS fun. It will be interesting to follow what he does with the place. Garrett is a smart dude (was in law school before starting the (YouTube) thing and is fun and charismatic with well over a million YouTube followers.
Nothing can go wrong here.