Cleetus McFarland's Near Death Experience Flying, Dangers of Drag Racing, & His Key to Success

Some people bring the show, some people come to win. I can see why. Yeah, you keep inviting us back. Yeah. The amount of recklessness watching you guys all try and give away just did bad because no one liked the truck. I don't think I ever told this line, by the way. The helicopter is sitting there ready because it's so life or death if something goes wrong.

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831. One minute later. That's not bad for us dude. That's really good. Are we going? Are we good? I mean like that's a miracle for me. The first thing he said was just tell your boys not to be too late today. Oh and then you said that the earlier the better and that stressed me out.

No, this is perfect. This is great. Well, Cletus McFarland. Thank you for having us brother. Oh, yeah. Thanks for having me on. We're pumped. We're actually sitting in Cletus's hanger right now on his compound. So thanks for one, having us to your compound and your hanger, but two, having us to the race tonight. Dude, I'm excited. You know, I was just telling you guys, I cannot believe you guys come and bring the whole crew. That's an operation. So thank you so much for coming.

Yeah, man, we're rolling deep. How many guys we got right now? Like in the Airbnb, it's always tough when you get to the Airbnb and we got like 10 guys because we're always like, who gets what Roman? Where's everyone staying? Who has to stay with each other? Nobody wants to sleep together and with Evan. So it's always like a race to figure out who's where.

Dude, he was sleeping in the garage last night. It was a pretty dope garage. Yeah, I mean, it's got a nice couch and stuff. But the problem with Evan is he really likes egg salad. So if you know where I'm going with that. Yeah, no, George is terrible to sleep with too. And they're kind of alike.

Man, I don't know about that, dude. I mean, George snores like you might as well have this airplane running in your room with you if you sleep with George. Yeah, that's always tough. Well, we know you got a busy day. That's why you wanted to start. It's going to be a cranker. So like, what is that like when you're putting on an event for all these people coming, you got the pay-per-view and then you got a corral, what, 40 different racers and influencers?

Well, I can tell you this, it used to be the most stressful thing in my life. Like by far, these race days, this race and then the Freedom 500, like the most amount of stress I've ever experienced in my life was like the COVID, the first one. I would dread these weeks, but you do them because they're not only successful, they're blast. But now they're not stressful because I have Josh and Ryan, those two guys who run the track, holy smokes. Now I'm like,

I'm not even stressed. Like to do this on the day of the race is unheard of for me, but they're so good. My employees are so good. I can do it. How'd you find them? Well, Josh, the head guy for the racetracks. I hosted a track cleanup day like a month after I bought the Freedom Factory. The dude showed up with his entire lawn crew. He owned a lawn company.

Not like charging me or anything. It was just a volunteer day. So there was like random people just helping clean up the weeds because like every crack in the track had weeds up to here. Shows up with a natural long, commercial lawn company, moers, all the equipment, real employees and just stayed for two days straight and knocked out a ton of work. And then he just kind of hung out, like came to all the events and I was like, dude, this guy is like so committed to making the track great for no reason. One day I was standing there, I was like,

Do you want a job? Like, would you work here? And he told me he has a successful business and said, how, you know, what would it take? He came up with a number and said, done. I just poached him. If you want to do it, I poached him from his own job. Yeah. Shut down his own business.

Wow, he shut it down. Oh, he owned the business. That's pretty crazy. He must have definitely seen, you know, the potential and where he was going to do. He sold his trucks, found other jobs for his employees. He probably was like, where do I want to mow lawns at a racetrack and like manage this whole racetrack and be cooler in whatever Lakewood ranch we're in.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know what that was like for him, but he has two kids and a wife, and he made a big change in his life. That puts more pressure on you too, though, to make it work. I never was scared to have that pressure, but I know he was worried about it. Like going to work for a YouTuber, as you guys know, doesn't sound like the most promising thing, because YouTubers are one incredibly unstable, just inherently, because they're like, we're like squirrels.

But too, like, how do you tell your wife, like, hey, I'm going to shut down the company to go work for YouTube. That's probably pretty scary. But you did it. And he's the greatest, greatest guy. How many guys you got around here? I think the Freedom Factory right now, damn, I know there's like 25 people in the group chat. So that's full time. That's heavy. That's a full operation. That's between Freedom Plus, Freedom Factory and the race shop. And that's just those full time plays and then merch is probably like 30.

It's always cool to see the back end operations of other YouTube channels, you know, because a lot of times people watching, you know, might just think it's just you and George and the boys at the shop, right? But like little do they know there's so much more that goes into the back end. It merges like probably 10 full time and then 20 temps. Like when it's busy, it's a lot of temps.

Yeah, we've actually, with our operations and our merch guys, we've taken a lot of advice from just what you've done with your operation and how you've set them up and really appreciate that. Oh, I wish we could help more. We're in. You're the man. You're not one of those guys that has the mentality of there's a scarcity to competition and viewership and merch success.

Since we met you, you've wanted nothing but success for us. And I think that that says a lot because we met other YouTubers that think the complete opposite. Oh, yeah, we all know. But you know, I can just give you a quick thing. Like the guy Kyle Loftus who brought me up started my career. His theory was like, bring everybody up with you. And like, when I wanted to start my channel, it was never like.

Oh, I want 20% to help you. I was like his top guy for social media, and he was never like, hold on. What's this cleatest thing about? He started it. I mean, he's the one who helped me start. He was always like, let me help you. That's from 1320? Yeah, Kyle Loftus. He's like, let me help you.

He helped me the whole way, never a hesitation. Is that why you still have 1320 as your Instagram username? Yeah, he still kind of just pay homage to it. Yeah, this is where I came from and like that mentality. I use it every day. That's just how I learned to be around people and like care for people is like, just help everybody. And it actually just works out way better in life than worrying about so much competition like.

Yeah, rising tides rises, rises all boats. Why do you think that a lot of YouTubers or creators or just business people in general don't think that way? I think they're just scared, you know, they're just scared of what other people could potentially take from them. I do understand that mentality. If you have a lot of obligations high overhead, something like that, you might be real worried about what someone could take from you, but

It's like a lack of confidence in yourself, maybe. Right, like scared that you're- That's probably it. The lifespan of your said channel might be shortened because someone else is doing better.

I think that's also why you can get 40 people to show up and support you on these races. And it's definitely not just like they're just supporting you and putting money in their pocket. They have something to gain by showing up and making content too. But it's still insane that all you guys, like you take four or five days out of their schedule to come do this, I think it's insane. 40 drivers will be here tonight from all walks of life and motorsport.

I'll still never understand that how I'm lucky enough to get you guys dude like insane list to like yeah, really big names How do you go about getting them yeah when I was racing my mom was like who are you racing again? So I was like oh well NASCAR drivers action sports legends like celebrities just everybody yeah, she's like and you

Yeah, it really doesn't make sense. I think to put like the most tangible things down, it's the car costs you nothing. You know, you don't have any setup required, no obligation on time. You don't have to promote. There's zero requirements besides arriving and racing. And, you know, as us YouTubers and other guys, we don't want any obligations. We hate that.

At least I do. And so for you to just show up, do whatever you want in the car and then walk away. It's kind of nice. So I think that's true. It's a good. And it's not like we're texting you guys like, Hey, can you promote freedom plus? It's literally just a, if you mention it, great. If not, like we're just happy to have your name on the driver's list. So that works out good. And

You know, now it's grown to a level of viewership that I think some of the racers who are just actual racers, they're allowed to say to their sponsor like, hey, I'm raising this race and it's legit enough and it has more exposure than I'd say 98% of other races. So it's like their brands love it. So it works out good for them. That's how we get the big dog racers, like the NASCAR guys. And so I think that those are probably the reasons they show up.

It's really cool because obviously the streaming is gigantic. But every time we mention that we're going to the Freedom Factory, someone in the airport go, hey, me too, from all over three different airports we're in, people are coming from like around the country. I'm sure there's some guy from Australia coming over here for this thing for like 100%.

Like people come from all over and that they aren't sure. And they aren't like people that probably attend every weekend race. They're like, I'm going to clean this is race because it's cool. I bet half the people here. Well, I'd say a third of the people here this weekend have never been to a track in their life. This will be their first time on a track. Like it's it's kind of like Disney on ice racing that is like, you know, along going to the track. Yeah.

You don't really like skating, but you like Disney. Yeah. Are you Disney or the ice? Just, you know, the whole show. Like you don't have to like ice skating to go to Disney on ice with your kid and think it's just a cool show. So like all these wives and stuff that'll come with these guys who are just hardcore car guys, they'll be like, just the best track experience I've ever had because the bathrooms were clean and it's not just a race. Yeah, it's like there's going to be like RC planes flying and there's going to be parachute jumpers from the Golden Knights.

Monster truck, bro. I'm monster trucks. I'm telling you the fireworks. We bought for this are Wait, but top your birthday though. Oh that was that was insane way bigger with four like Safety sections for that one. There's nine. What do you mean safety sections like you can't go in areas like launching zones? Yeah, hell yeah, I think it's five and now there's nine. I know there's already nine

Yeah, one thing to mention is it is much more than just a race like and the last time we were here for your birthday freedom for freedom. Yep for freedom. It just blew my mind yet over and over and over and over. Well, you had a helicopter on the line. Well, I mean that that was just one of many things. Oh, yeah. Wait. The winner got a helicopter dude. Here's the deal after this. You guys need to go home and train somebody. There's a sick prize for the April race.

Bro, we're so fucked. We need to get Evan, like, your own track on the simulator. Bro, what do you think the key is to winning one of these races? Because it seems like it's normally not the like NASCAR guys even. It's like this. JH. I went back and watched the JH footage. Oh, did you? Oh, damn, Mike, I didn't know you've been training. I mean, that's about all I did.

Dude, he was lasered last race. First and only race he's ever won. Yeah, really exactly. So it's like other people. You could study. He's just a big redneck. I don't know how. Man, I know a big redneck in their crew. He ain't going to win the race. I don't know how he won. So what do you think the key is? Well, the key for this one is you know how you guys know about the kidney being layout, right? You know that the race goes down in the.

The best. A lot of crashes. Ken took out like three barrels on that side. He was the most entertaining racer on the track. I know. Sometimes, see, that's the thing. Some people bring the show, some people come to win. I can see why, yeah, you keep inviting us back. Yeah. Yeah, because it ain't for the competition aspect of it. Well, I love the seat boys, but if you can protect the car, who's driving first?

We got to figure that out. I haven't figured it out yet. I'm probably the most run faster. I need to throw up on the bend by a little bit. Dude, but yeah, but I'm going to break the car more than like whoever's going to protect the car needs to go first. You can't win in the first half. I saw you kind of cook me up and you're pretty good. I mean, it was hilarious. It's nothing personal. It's nothing personal. And then you just go in on me for five minutes. I've been meaning. Ben and Micah, my boys are not.

Alright where they go

This is no personal offense, you know what I mean? Yeah, no. The seaboys, great guys. We'll talk about the really shit. They do not know how to drive. I mean, it's the truth. It's just facts. It's just facts. No offense. No, none taking about those breaks because I was actually reviewing the footage. It appears those wheels were locked up.

I'll tell you the problem. Yeah. I'll tell you the back wheels. I'll tell you the problem. And Ben gets out of the car. It was that E-brake didn't work. I'm like, you didn't even pull it. It didn't work at the beginning. So I come in, I go to initiate it, the E-brake doesn't lock them up, and then I black out and pan it from me. So it didn't put me sideways. And I was like, in my brain, it goes, I was supposed to be sideways at this point. What do I do?

Dude, I love that video. By the way, my household, me and Rip are big Seaboys fans. Rip, I think I've sent you guys all videos. Appreciate it. My son watches. I think a lot of parents do this. We tried to limit screen time for our kids, but also when the little guy won't eat, kids just won't eat. Those would be like, ah, today I'm just not going to eat.

It really rattles the mall because they're like, what's wrong? You have to eat, honey. You know, we throw on seaboys, dude. He loves it so much. You can just like feed him the whole time. No way. This is stuff you guys will learn when your parents, but what's YouTube channel to put on? We go. We it's guaranteed seaboys for us. That's all that. 2023, fast up 2023, seaboys video where it opens up and Evan crashes the dirt bike into the frozen lake. Oh, yeah. Like if you show that to rip, he's just like,

Man got a man peace. He's in and then we're just feeding the guy That's funny. I actually heard somebody else was telling us the other day that their little one just watches that video of having going through the ice on repeat Like that can't be okay. That can't be good for the young brain a little bit of brain rot I got an email about that, but it was specifically hot dogs They're like, yeah, I just show show them the video of you with your hot dog stand and then I feed him hot dogs cuz the only thing you eat

It's bizarre. Todlers don't make a lot of sense. No. Well, I don't want to skip over this break situation. That we're done. That we're done. So we're big fans. So when we watched this video, it was so funny. I'm glad that me hitting a tree in our hoona corner was funny for you. It wasn't just that. It was like, when I got my racetrack, I'm out there. No helmets, bombing around, just being an idiot.

And I'm watching them like these guys are being complete idiots with no helmets. So stupid. I'm not trying to back on the guys driving too much, but like the amount of recklessness watching you guys all trying to.

And then we got trees everywhere. A couple of you, you know, you guys can drift, but like the separation's crazy. And then Ben is just, I'm watching him like, oh, no, I already seen the title and thumbnail. So I'm like, just watching him like, oh my God, he's got no helmet on. Well, just yanking the break. And then let's turn the tree. Tough break. Yeah, tough break. You're gonna have that, but I've never claimed to be a wheel man. You get when you,

So going into this race, I'm like the previous seaboys that I've raced in it, set in insanely low bar. You're good. And then two, it's like everyone that sees me out there is just like, holy shit, which wall is he gonna hit?

Well, the Crown Vicks are easier to drive than what you were trying to do on the day you were drifting. The horn is half crowded. Super hard to drive. But yeah, it was half crowded. That's not good for me. Oh, that's true. That's true. But it's just that car is off probably harder to drift than a typical drift car. You have a tree, no helmet, like all that was just it was hilarious to me. And then I watched you guys all learn the lesson at the same time, like, oh, damn.

And I did the same thing. I spun out a Lambo that a guy let me drive right here in turn three No helmets went within inches of the wall at like hauling and I'm like damn That was the moment it all clicked and I saw that happen to you guys and I had to back on you a little bit because you pulled the brakes card out Well, yeah, obviously what else was I gonna do you got to do something. Yeah That tree dude, you can't believe it was there for 20 years

That's the thing, though, Ben, is what the other drivers are going to be scared of is that you're just a complete wild car. They don't know what you're going to do. Yeah, I don't even know what I'm going to do. A couple people have shown up and won on their first race. So Brian Degan. Oh, it's a big difference between Brian Degan and Ben.

I don't know what could be man might be your night might be your night if I win boys We say this every time but we're getting a private jet. We're going straight to Vegas and we're betting to come on a fly 100% Let's go. I'm actually going there. I'm late Monday. You guys need to come with whatever we go. All right. All right fuck it will come with I think you'll be all right, and I will tell you this your car and qualifying

Yeah, I'm like, I should double check, but I'm pretty sure your car, like we run them off 15 laps like you do. To go to set in the bar for you, you have the best car. Oh, man. Dude, because I'm pretty sure that we've been getting we've been getting some lemons. I don't think so. Yeah, right. We might be the problem.

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How much money in Crown Vix do you have? I don't know. I heard there's 140 on property. Oh my god. 140 Crown Vix. That's what I heard. Where do you keep them? They're all back there. Oh my god. What the Crown Vix great dude? Dude, don't let Evan see that. That's his dream one day. He wants to have just like every vehicle that he's ever broken lined up in one spot, but we don't have a big enough spot to put him. There's a ton back there.

You should walk back there at some point. Have you driven up the prices on Crown Vicks? Like there's no way you find a Crown Vic on Facebook marketplace around here. I don't know, dude. There's a million. That's called the Panther chassis. There's over a million of them. No, between Grand Marquis and like the Marauder and all of them. I'm sure for P-71, like police car Crown Vicks, there's got to be 300, 400,000 of them. I don't know the number.

There's an ain't no way if I only have 140. I've driven up the price. They're just such a good vehicle price. So don't people try and drive up the price on you if they find out that you're buying? Yeah, dude, freaking local auction and jacking me. Really? Yeah, I have to secretly buy them now. Like they weren't they weren't selling to you or they were just like making them outrageous prices. Dude, this dirt bag auction company.

I was buying convicts online. Normally I would go in person, but it was so busy I was buying them online. So I bid on like 20 in one day. And I just set the price at like fourth, you know, how you can set the high bid. And then when someone bids, it just automatically goes $100 above them. I set the price at like 4,000 for all 20 of them.

Guess how much all 20 of them sold for. 4,000. 4,000 even. Oh, they made it to my max bid and stopped. Yeah, but like that's really over 20. Essentially they bid it up and it got called me. He goes, did you set all your max bids at something? He goes, yeah, someone ran and ran all your cars to the max bid.

And they were different. They were like, actually it was like 3,800. And then like 2011, I'd go like 4,400. And so in one auction, I got smoked. And yeah, they got me bad because I was buying them for like 2,500 to 3,000. And they just screwed me.

Yeah, we kind of have the same situation on a much less scale, but with R6s. Just because we go by so many R6s. You see us coming. People know they're like, all right, they need it. Buying stuff as a YouTuber. They see you pull up. And they know you. It's not a great negotiating.

Yeah, yeah, it's really bad. Especially when they see Mike because they know this guy's money Mike, you know, he ain't gonna negotiate either. He might even pay him more. I've seen him. I've seen him do that. He's leaving with it. It's bad. And trying to sell stuff is not good either. Impossible. I don't know if we've ever sold anything.

Selling stuff as a YouTuber just sucks. Because you don't know if someone's going to start a YouTube channel based off of what you sold them. And you're just going to have to deal with that for months coming. I'm a terrified to sell anything because sometimes we do hack job stuff under the skirt. Really?

If we have to, like, if I got to get a car out to go race, there might be something a little sketch going on, like, you know, what re welding a control arm bracket to the frame rail. And then someone comes along and is like, well, he just does garbage work on this car. And I'm always just worried about that. See, I was going to compare your collection. Everything seems to run ours. Really nothing works anymore after a video. I think they're actually the same style collection. Oh, really? Yeah. Most of my stuff's broke too. Fix it, use it, leave it broken till you need it next.

Yeah, we'll use it and then it's just like put away and left to die. Yeah, you forget about it because you got to just keep going to the next it's on to the next thing. Yeah, it's kind of a bad. It is terrible habits like cleaning up your mess.

Yeah, it's the hardest part because having fun with it is easy. But I saw your mini TRX, dude. Ah, man, that hurt to see it go. I've braked it. 30 G's. It looked real fun. When it worked, do that just to do the single cat. I killed the motor in it. Yeah, he blew it up. 30,000 more health and killed it in the dunes. Just being an idiot. Yeah, the dunes eat up motors, man. We figured that out. We brought two snowmobiles there. Who would have thought those would have blown up? That's crazy.

Honestly, I was a little surprised though. Did you ever figure out like why it did that? No, I have any mess with it. It's just sitting there in the corner. Yeah, project for another day. The second motor's blown up. The hell of a motor. It just killed it. Well, you said you still got the original. Still got the helicopter to put it back in if we have to. Man, we would have slapped that Hellcat motor in something. I know. Like the next day that didn't need a Hellcat motor. I think it might just be a supercharger. We'll see. Do you think if it was a Raptor R, it would have made it a mini Raptor R?

I think of what it comes down to is the air filtration. So it's saying to go through the engine. Yeah, you're going to have that in the sand dunes. It's crazy, dude. That's what we were saying too. What the hell did we get sand in the motor? Yeah, you know, we're just kind of idiots. So you were given that mini TRX away. Yeah. And I remember when we were hanging out in Glamis last year, you were telling us that you were having that TRX built. And then when you dropped it, you were kind of getting cooked. I got cooked.

Yeah. So I remember you saying that you hate when people hate so much that you went out and you bought $100,000 TRX to have as the second option if people wanted that, which the winner ended up taking. Right. But you don't like getting hate. I really don't really. Yeah. Well, some people like freaking Jake Paul and whistling diesel, like those two examples, like they, they kind of let it. They love

Kind of riding the hate. I hate when my comment section is like just not positive. Yeah, like when it gets real toxic and they're like, you're an idiot, you know, I usually take that into account. I'm like, okay, maybe I am. Maybe I did make a bad call here. So I'm willing to fix it. Plus, you know, the giveaway just did bad because no one liked the truck. Man.

So I was like, I got to do something here to save this promotion. And it's like double it up. Which, yeah, I guess in my opinion, like watching from the outside was probably the most notable giveaway because of that move. It actually overall, high performing giveaway ever. It was so integral. All of it. Yeah. I think it was down probably 60% in the start. And then it came back to be the best one ever.

Dude, it was just funny that the whole thing was over a mini TRX. Like when you just look at every time I'd look at it, I would just laugh. I'd see you promote. Yeah. I would just chuckle. Maybe bad call, dude. People were like, they just hated it. They hated it so much. Like you took a perfectly good $90,000 truck and cut the doors off. And now it looks stupid. I'm like, damn, I didn't think about that.

It took like a year, I remember last year you were talking about it. Yeah, it took forever. Which sucks. You're probably pretty excited they do it. They done spent about 20 grand shortening the right way, because I wanted it to be super legit, and then the dude missed on the paint job.

snowballed bad I get what you're saying though how you you do listen to the comments of like you know if there's an overwhelming amount of Criticism you do take that into account of like oh I you know I don't know everything and these people are here to keep me in check right and I think that

if you're a creator that just completely disregards that and you're like, no, my followers are stupid and they don't know, I know better. I think you're just delusional in that aspect, but I think there's like a fine line of like giving people what they think that they want versus maybe what they need. Or not what they need, but let's give them the content they need, not that they want. There's two ways also like the content a whistlin makes, for example,

It brings hate, which brings more views. The things that I'm referring to specifically like pay-per-view or giveaway, people are spending money on it. So if you then screw up, if you sell people bad t-shirts, obviously that's bad business.

If you advertise a pay-per-view, they spend $10 on it and then it's just awful and the stream cuts and the website crashes, you will receive a roasting like you've never had in your life. You can't play around those situations. You have to own it immediately, refund, you know, where necessary and make some major changes because if you do it twice in a row, like for the same reason, you're pretty much toast.

And I think in the merch world, too. Like, you guys do a good job with your merch, but some of these YouTubers, dude, just burn the bridge with their customers. Like, six months later, they ship out their limited edition hoodies, and they're just garbage. Yeah, we talk about that all the time. I mean, for the last, like, probably two years or, I'd say, year, we've been just, like, experimenting or, like, trying to come up with a product or another way that we can bring some value. But, like, every time we're like, okay, if we do this, we need to do it

right and perfect because like we can't you don't you only have so many shots really at like hey like I'm bringing this and you guys can and can buy it if they buy it and it's and it's shitty your take to you're gonna have much less of a pool and then obviously take three you're probably you're probably out of there but your toes yeah you're you struck out but

Yeah. So on the content side, you can do it. You can screw it up and they'll come back. But when they're paying money, you got to treat them right. It's all about how you fix the problem. Let's talk about drag racing. Yeah. You had came a long way. And that's not just coming from me. That's coming from some of the old timers I'm around that watch you. They're like, dude, he's big time in it now when it comes to drag racing.

Let me tell you something dude. I have a car that I'm setting up for you for really anyone to drive and it was almost done for this But whenever you're down here next I had like when I let a couple of you guys make a riff on this thing We'll put that like tentatively out there, but we're doing some passes like a bad idea It's gonna be sick. You're gonna love it and you just have to go straight. Oh, yeah, no trees. Okay That one at the beginning, but you know and we'll make sure the brakes are the goal

dialed and make sure those breaks. They work. Hold on. But drag racing. Yeah, dude. It's a great sport. You just got to try it out a little bit. You probably love it. You'd probably get hooked. I think I would love it. Yeah. I mean, I've been in written in a few, but so like what? I mean, as a recent, like what you're you're in the fives. Yeah, I went to 580 at 250 last week. What does that feel like? That's nuts.

Brother, it's fast. I mean, from 0 to 2.15, 5 seconds. It is fast. It's stupid. Like, you're talking 0 to 60, and like, I think it's 0.8. What? What? Like, what does your body feel like? You feel that you just black out. You feel the parachutes more than anything, but she's really cool. She's saying you kind of feel the, I guess, reverse Gs of the parachutes more than that. Yeah, the parachutes actually are harder than the car, but. Like it just boom. Yeah. So like, it's just a lot of freedom.

Does anything feel fast after that? Like you hop into other cars feel slow. I'm sure like you hop in this super. What does this have like 1300 horsepower? Probably. Like what is that? Like driving just a Subaru nowadays? Nothing. It actually helps you because when you're in a really fast car and your brain gets to that level because now I can drive the five second car and I understand it as we're traveling down the track. I understand the feelings of okay, the tires are off the ground or they're on the ground or they're just touching or I'm going left or right.

You catch up with it, then you get in the slower car, it's the second slower, and I'm like fully locked in every part of the car. So it actually helps you, I think, because you go at least slow down. I think I know what you're saying kind of on a much smaller scale. Say you're driving a 450 dirt bike on the track, it's probably a little more bike than I could handle.

Then I go down to my 110. Right. And like, I'm on a... Then I can just like, I'm wide open through the berms like... You're ripping? Totally different. It's actually more fun driving a slow car fast than driving a really fast car fast. It's just...

I think the Supra is like the fastest car I've ever been in, honestly, and it's your street car. Yeah, thanks, Turd. I mean, it's fast, but it's like, doesn't even hold a flame to what this other stuff does. Would you ever do a nitro car? So I don't fit in top fuel dragsters unless it was a custom chassis. And like, I don't think they're risk to reward this. Because they're too fast. What do they go? 330? Yeah, 330 mile an hour. I know they're on 330 here.

That is a good question, though. Like you're climbing the ladder of, you know, you're in the 10s. Exactly. So that's that is what I was wondering. Like top fuel just seems like you got to make it your like your life, I guess. That's a big risk. Like you're going 330 mile an hour if that puppy blows over or whatever you're going for the ride of your life.

Yeah, I can't even wrap my mind around that. They keep a helicopter here when they run them. Like the helicopter is sitting there ready because it's so life or death of something goes wrong. That kind of scares me. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, I feel like there's no like easy crash in that like no matter what at that speed. Yeah, like parachutes don't come out or something like.

Only a few things have to go right. You blow a tire. I don't know, dude. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know when we'll stop. But it might be there. But it might be close. And that doesn't mean necessarily stop. I mean, there's so much fun to be had in the fives. Yeah.

Just the fives. Yeah, I'd be willing to run a top dual call to the eighth mile and then I'm sure if I ran into the eighth I'd feel comfortable enough to go to the quarter, but damn. Yeah, it's crazy seconds to go a thousand feet. Do they have like like if your parachute doesn't go? There's no way the do they even have brakes on it? It's just a parachute. It breaks, but you're going off the track. You're going off the end at probably 130 I would think is what you could get down to if your parachute doesn't go.

Yeah, which is crazy because that's about twice the legal limit on this interstate. So yeah, go twice and there. I mean, there ain't really a crumple zone. Like that thing, depending on what you hit, you're just going to take the brunt of it. It's not going to slow you down. I don't know. Have you seen that? I've seen Parrish. Yeah. Actually, just this last weekend where I was racing Eagle, it's one of the cars in my class. Parrish was just ripped right off it.

Dude through the shoes both came off immediately rolled and slid on through like more than a quarter mile You don't really think about I guess if you're doing it you do but like to the general public of how many people Race in it versus how many people probably get injured or die like the percentage has got to be insane, right? It's got to be pretty high like higher than most sports

Drag racing's really good because for the most part, your inertia remains in one direction and can't be stopped immediately. You know what I mean? Unless you go over the wall, there's nothing that can stop you. So your inertia doesn't have an immediate change. You know what I mean? Like, no trees. No trees. No trees. In drifting, I think they have probably more high impact hits than most drag racers. But if you blow over,

You know, which is like, if you're doing a power wheelie and you get up in the higher 150s, like maybe closer to 200 and you fly and you go off over the walls and find something that can stop all your inertia. That's where people really get hurt or fires. You know, if you're going 250 and a fire breaks out.

You can't get stopped for another 20 seconds. That's where your suit like my suit is 20 layers. It's supposed to be able to survive those 20 seconds while I get the car hopefully stopped or it's slides to a stop or whatever. It's your wife like get worried. Well, I mean, we're talking about this in the worst case scenario. True.

No, I know. But even when you're doing, you know, five seconds, I think she gets nervous. But we have the best equipment. So that helps. I think she's pretty comfortable with it now. We've been drag racing for a long time. And I think she gets worried when I'm racing those real short wheelbase cars that are crazy. They're like, you know, there's a lot of idiots with fast cars too. That's something you got to count. But we know you freaking pull into this guy that you know crash last weekend. That sucks.

I was like up against him and you're looking at him. Dude, people will crash and then fix their car in the staging lanes. That's what Ben's got going for him tonight. People are going to be scared. They are going to be scared of you. Just drive aggressive. I see I see boys driving around. Let him pass. Let him pass. What if his brakes go out? That was a little bit.

Like I saw guys this last weekend crash fix their car in the pits and then be right back on the stage lanes And I'm like damn I don't want to raise him Yeah, cuz that's a patch job like you're throwing it together. Yeah, maybe oh, yeah No, I mean they do it. It's just a little sketch I got a question for you. It's up with you and the song lover to hate it. Oh Hey

I just when I turn that song on it hits so damn hard. Yeah, I listen to it on the way to work listen to it this morning That's a really hey your love it the dogs on top That's true is that you it wasn't some premeditated. Okay, so the reason I use that song you're just like I just love it good. I love it dude I posted it a couple times someone's like pick a new song I said, you know what hey, you're love it. I love this I'm posting this for the rest of my life Do you know how many times you posted it?

Now, you've posted it 103 times.

The main audio just on Cletus McFarland, not on all the other ones, not on stories. Yeah, that's pretty good. Just main audio on the thing. I would have thought it was more of that. Yeah, that makes sense when you say not counting stories. Only rising. I'm trying to get 50 cents, come race. Yes. That'd be sick. You could have them perform or something. Oh, how hard for your birthday, bro. That's how you... No, it's just on repeat. That's on repeat. It's just one song. Just to keep it cheap.

What if we got him for the freedom 500? I wonder what his feet is. I wonder if someone could reach out to his team. He'd probably do it for a discount just to be here. A lot of people are into it now. Yeah, you're boosting his charts. I think I've had a few people unfollowed because of it, but hey, you're low, dude. Yeah. Not a dog's on top. I mean, yeah, the comments are pretty funny though. Like judging by what she said earlier in the podcast, I would have thought that you would have switched because there is so many people that are just like, dude, seriously, stop.

Yeah, see, that's something I don't care about that opinion because like, I, you know, I guess it goes back to the thing. It's like, it's a free Instagram account. It's not that deep. I'm playing the song. Hey, we love it, dude. The holidays are a marathon from grandmas to aunties to in-laws to friendsgiving. Do not forget to take care of yourself and keep liquid IV on hand to stay healthy and hydrated throughout the holidays.

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I don't want to blow up your spot, but I bought the rights to chill Bill. So I was wondering if you did that with hated or loved it. You bought some of the streaming rights for it, and now you're pushing it out there. No, dude, I'm just playing it because I hate it. But you should be that if it's possible. If I could buy it, make a little coin off it. You just own 0.1% of it. Basically, it goes public. I didn't even think of that. Yeah. Genius. Genius. Now, I'll keep rocking it probably till

I die Well, I'll tell you this much every time I hear the song I think of you good so 100% you got that go imagine they ban it or something I'd be so actually I mean you were the first one to tell me that like back when I would edit a little bit of the videos I would try to use I mean I'll just admit it like I just use not good songs and I would try to use a different song every single time I

And then CJ was like, dude, so what we're trying to do is if you use a good song, kind of not every good music. But yeah, if we find our song and use it over and over, then people recognize it. And then I was like, yeah, you do have a point. And then there's all.

100% truth to that like Danny Duncan has his transition song and that's kind of you use that as an example and you guys have no Yeah, and you guys have done a great job of that So I think using the same song over and over goes way farther than using a different song every time viewers rage If I change my time laughs off. Yeah, really. Yeah, dude You got to have one of the most like loyal fan bases on YouTube

for how much you post and how it's always like over a million miles. I definitely am so lucky like I have like the easiest audience to work with of all time. I think like they're very responsive. They're cool. They're not like insane. Like if I meet someone at the grocery store, it's a great experience.

It's not like, it's not like, you know, I know what some people deal with. I don't have stockers. I mean, I've had a couple crazy people that have come to my house, but I don't have like crazy people that'll like interrupt my dinner to tell me to hate me. You know, I'm sure some people to have that. Imagine me in politics, like how much people can hate you over an idea. Yeah, I'm sure we share it quite. Yeah, ours is the same experience, honestly, but yeah, no, it's just, it's just crazy watching your work ethic.

I feel like we work really hard, but if there's another person that works hard on us, it's you, for sure. I know you guys work really hard, and actually, sometimes I want to talk about why do you guys only post once a week? Why can't we up those numbers? They're going to love hearing you say that. What the hell are we doing here? How many? Five guys? Oh, you sound just like them.

six guys making these videos. Are you working for the audience? Where's the content? Where is the content? Well, I mean, look at the content. Look at the content. I mean, great. Every Thursday, it's just, it's just jam-packed and it's as high a quality as we can while still keeping it consistent. I mean, we're filming up till Wednesday to make Thursday happen. Then we edit it in one day.

Goddamn it, maybe we don't have a good answer for you. I'm going to do about it. One day when a man rip us. We have a... I'll just say this, dude. It's hard enough to do one a week for us, honestly. We literally couldn't. I mean, we were uploading in the airport last night. We were editing at the airport on the plane. So talk me through a week here. What time do you guys get to the shop? Well, I mean, yeah, we'll get to the shop if you're Micah noon. I don't know, nine. If it's a Monday, if it's a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

I'll keep going. We'll film on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays. A lot of Saturdays. We got to corral the crew, you know, so we might start filming at 10, 11, but then we're also working on projects. You know, usually when we do a project, it's not like we put some

in one video and then some in the next like it's like one project is one video right and some projects take two months so we'll film a bit for that project that we got going on and then yeah we'll film a podcast and then we'll film another bit for another video that we got going on and then we'll sit down and we'll edit the video on Thursday so CJ and I'll show up at like six seven a.m. and then and Dalton we'll edit all day

on Thursday, like seven to eight, seven to nine. So it's like a 13, 14 hour. It's just a lot of footage. Cause I mean, you were mentioning the five, six guys, but like when you're just running the camera, you have so many people talking. So then it's like you have so many jokes. You kind of got to sift through and, and you try and.

keep it consistent moving forward, at least that's what we do. But a lot of it, like Ben said, is like we're working on projects that are a month or two out and you're filming, you're picking up. So like oftentimes we're working on like three, four videos at one time. But and then you got, of course, like calls and shit and whatever else, but we could up our numbers. We used to do two a week and we just found that we could make a better video by just doing one a week.

Everyone does have a different strategy. I'm saying you have to post more than once a week I just feel like nobody posts more than you though Like if you look at us compared to most other youtubers posting Consistently once a week in terms of like big bigger youtubers most people aren't doing it I know so like you are an anomaly you really are and I mean I've watched you work you show up you just on it dude and you have such a good crew it's like everything's ready to go and

Yeah, yeah, that's huge. Employees is probably the number one thing to make you be able to post a lot, but every YouTube channel has a different strategy. And if once a week maximizes your guys ability to reach your audience, then so be it. Yeah, I mean, we just focus on the one video. We make it as good as possible. That's just has been working for us. And honestly, the biggest thing is we're just trying to mitigate burnout too. Like with all of us, you might not believe it, but like we're all like,

Strong dude like very rarely do we work less than six days a week seven days a lot of weeks also Evan lives four hours away and he's got a whole another life, right? So we got to keep that in mind too of of his time and when he's at the shop So, you know, there's just a lot of different moving parts that we you know try and juggle and let's just kind of what we found works for us I'm definitely not trying to criticize you guys. I just you know

No, no. Put us on the hot seat. So like, do you even take a day off ever? All the time. Really? How do you ever have time to take a day? I mean, we have great employees too, but I have, you know, here's the thing. Now I try to edit, you know, when I'm at work, or I just edit when everyone's asleep. So that just solves that problem. Like, so you just don't sleep.

Well, I mean, in all reality, it's like how much sleep do you need? A couple hours is good. If you're getting six at night, that's pretty solid. I mean, I think Elon sleeps. That's true. If you got to sacrifice some sleep, that's how I get back ahead, because I'm just willing to do that. Yeah, like what you said about my guys get stuff ready, and that's crucial.

It really doesn't matter how much you post. I guess if you've analyzed this is going to be the most watch time for the channel period, then that makes sense. You don't have to post. You might lose money by posting twice a week. Well, our videos cost a shit ton of money and nothing's worth anything at the end of it. So it's like.

Like everything's totaled out. It's on fire. You can't sell it. But something I think about a lot, which goes back to you is like, you have two kids. And eventually, like, I'm going to have kids. These guys will have kids. How much is having kids change the way that you operate in terms of a business? Obviously, it's changed your personal life. But like, all right, I'll tell you this. So like the first four months of having a kid, your first kid,

it will take you and your wife to rock bottom. Just because of the situation of losing all your sleep, you will lose it because you're going to be so strung out about keeping the thing alive. Long term, as long as you can set your wife up correctly,

to have like help. Like we have grandmas that help a lot and you can get her that free time to like spend time with you. It can not affect your work life too much. And you definitely have to sacrifice work life first to be with mom and baby. Cause you know, there was certainly a point where I didn't prioritize them enough. That doesn't help anything. And like the baby just multiplies all your issues. So if you have for say a drinking problem

The baby is going to take whatever your issue in life is and multiply it by 2,000%. Because that's what they do. They just make your life complicated.

because of the loss of sleep and what it does to your wife and things like that. So what I would encourage you to do is get to your point where you're not strung out and the businesses ran really well and you can rely on those trustworthy employees. Then have a baby and it's really, it's a great process. But no matter what, you're going to hit rock bottom at some point because of loss of sleep or any outlying issue you may have in your life. Like that's what babies do. I think it's actually designed part of the process is

They're so difficult to raise. We in particular, I think, had a tough baby, our first one rib. For some reason, they just don't want to sleep or they don't want to eat. What it does to your wife is unbelievable because their mom brain is, I have to keep this baby alive and I love it so much.

They won't prioritize anything but the baby and you're trying to prioritize other stuff. And then it's just like, boom, it's crazy. Once you get through those difficult times, like right now, I know the kids are set. I don't stress about it at all the whole day. Certainly it's a process to get to that point. It's great advice. Yeah, sorry, we're quite on this one. We got nothing. Yeah, I'm just looking at it. I mean, I've seen Maddie just like, you know, obviously she's always around and she's got the kids with and she's an awesome mom.

I don't know if it was your mom or her mom, but they came up to us and told us last time we were, yeah, Rip loves watching the vids. I don't know whose mom it was, but either. But like grandma's are absolute key. I mean, obviously some people don't have the luxury of having a grandma, but like.

You gotta find someone that really cares for the kids to help the moms, especially with two, and I will tell you guys this. Whether it's the helicopter, the frickin', the coolest thing you've always wanted in your life, it will not hold a flame to the words, dada.

When your kid says dad out, there's nothing that touches it. Not the greatest frickin' Stark Vark powered Ferrari with wings you've ever seen in your life. The first six months, it's like this little baby, you're like, okay, I get it, I'm a dad. When you walk home and that little guy says dad out, nothing touches it.

Were you scared to have kids? It was scary when we found out we were pregnant, then we were excited, and then when we went to the hospital, it was pretty scary. We waited too long, so Maddie was in a labor in the car. Oh, not awesome. And then she was like really in hardcore labor during check-in, and they're like, dude, the valet guy's yelling at me. Just take it! No, dude, the valet guy. Oh, fricked it.

You can't park here. I'm in our Tahoe. I was gonna ask, what car did you take? We're in the Tahoe and we got all our stuff, right? Like you packed for this. So you just load that stuff and then you go, dude, Maddie's like screaming. The valet guy, I'm trying to get her stuff because it's crucial we have her stuff. You know, she has spent weeks organizing this stuff. I'm not gonna let the valet guy jumps in the Tahoe and just starts moving it. He's like, I'll park it. Worry about your wife.

Like, brother, let me get my bag in her phone. You know, me in the valet, I are beefing, Maddie's screaming. And then they- He's coming. Yeah, rips on his way. They take your wife into a room. Well, this is this particular hospital and they ask your wife, are you like safe? I don't know why. It's probably because people beat their wives or whatever and they, you know, people are addicted to drugs or children trafficking. I have no idea, but they take your wife and they want to ask him if they're safe.

They also want them to sign some paperwork and stuff and Matty's like screaming through all this so that experience for us was just not good. From the moment the labor started that was all really scary until the baby was out and alive and then we were like

Now it's amazing again, but it's got to be one of those things to where you're when you're going into it. You don't know what to do. You don't know what to expect. This is your first time. You're like, my wife's pregnant. Where do I go? It is. Or how does that work? Or do you call ahead? You tour the hospital prior. So you know, I've never, but it is the most incredible experience of your life to see your child.

Come to life from your wife that made it. It's nuts. It's the most like, what is it? It's the real. It's euphoric. It's also like, it takes you to like, you're just, you feel like an, you're like animals. Like, you know, this is real life stuff.

No, no, nothing else matters. Like your wife made this baby and here it is. So I'm not trying to bore you guys. I can't wait for you to all do experience it. Dude, I can't wait to see Rip run around this freedom factory, dude. When he's older.

Yeah, he's, he rips now. I don't know the last time he saw him, but that dude is on it. Really? How old is he now? Two? Just turn two on Wednesday. Yeah. So he'll be, uh, he'll be bombing around with his little helicopter. Just living his life. He'll be here. Yeah. Are you going to get him a helicopter? Flies it. Yeah. I mean, he's got it. He has a toy helicopter that he's, he'll be rocking today. I'd be shocked if he didn't have it on him, but, uh, loves riding in the helicopter him and I cruising it together. He rides up front by himself now. No mom.

That's awesome. Like, some kids get a first car when they turn 16. He's getting a helicopter. Oh, dude. He's a little two-seater. I don't think I'm going to let him fly a solo for a long time, but he lives for that thing. Do you have to be 16 to get your helicopter license or your pilot license? Like, how's that work? Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's 16. I think you can solo at 14, but you can't ride with Pat. You can't take passengers as a solo pilot until you're 16. It's kind of like having a farm permit. Right. Exactly. Same deal. When I turned 15,

couldn't figure out how to get to school because I was outside of a district and my parents didn't know what to do. Should have just got a helicopter. Yeah, there you go. Imagine. But this dude used to drive himself to school with no license.

Well, yeah, tell that story. Yeah, it might be incriminating me. Yeah, they're going to get you now. Yeah, dude. No, I parents let them do it. No, I lived outside of where any school buses went. My parents worked 50 minutes, the opposite direction. And you know, they worked nine to six. And so, yeah, I would just drive with my permit. The farmers permit. No.

Oh, it was completely illegal. Oh, just a normal driver's apartment. And I would drive to my buddy's house and then hop in with my buddy that lived outside of town a little bit. Yeah, and then we would ride to school together. Yeah, I did that for a while. Yeah, we had pretty sketchy permits in Nebraska. So I drove to middle school. You could drive at 14. Is that crazy school? Like when you meet a 14 year old now? Oh my God. Is that wild? Yeah, dangerous. You know, you started to understand like young people so much more when you have kids like,

And they're into the same stuff as you, so it's just so fun. Like, we have only lots of helicopters, because I love them. Evan has a kid that's gonna love dirt bikes. That's how I feel like having golf in the round. I learned so much about young people. They just share the world with somebody. It does really, they love what you love. That is awesome. Yeah, it's the still the coolest thing that you take them up in the helicopter. I mean, like, Evan, he's a grown man, and he can't do that stuff.

It's even flying though for Evan like just flying in a commercial plane like really I mean yesterday It was a nightmare for him, but it was even a nightmare for us because he's so nervous He starts, you know drinking a little bit. We had three different planes We had a hop on dude. We felt bad for the whole plane. This guy's yelling not like in a mean way, but he was just happy Hey CJ

We should and he's also deaf in one year. So he's already a little out. Oh my god I thought Ken was gonna strangle the guy and then Mike had to sit next to him we hop off the plane and Mike just goes I have a headache

Well, Evan said that he had eight or 10 drinks, and they were all doubles, and then Ken added to the point that when you're in the air, it's like one drink equals three. Yeah, the oxygen's lower. Yeah, so Evan. They're hitting a little harder. Evan had 60 drinks. No.

Don't know if those numbers are accurate, but he's pretty proud of it as you can tell We need to break you out yet Ken did strangle him a little bit actually pop I yeah I didn't have my flash on so you can only just imagine what happened in the dark But Ken got two hands on his neck and wiggled him around he did it looks like Homer Simpson and Bart but uh You really pissed him off when you took your skateboard out in the Airbnb and you were insisting on skateboarding on the hardwood floors in our Airbnb So my boys tore up

Uh, no, he was just acting normal. But yeah, he was drunk too. Okay. But it is funny though, because like you're really only a year or two older than most of us. You don't necessarily feel older, but you're just so much more mature than us. I don't know if that's true. I feel like you are. I mean, I think that you guys might catch me in a certain environment. I mean, like in Glamis, when we were all having a blast together, it's like we're all, I mean, I think you guys are certainly more mature than you think.

Like, you guys are running a freaking massively successful company. You're very legit. We're almost like professionally immature. Like, our job is to stay immature. That's good. But like, don't slip up and start acting serious, you know? It's a balance. Because you got to be serious, and then you also got to be loose. That's why it's great to have Evan. Well, it makes them characters because they're loose. Makes them in. I mean, if you don't have the maturity, it's like all the cards have come crashing down, so. Yeah, the balance.

Dude, I think that you're in a lot of situations, too, where you gotta be mature. Like, when you're flying that helicopter, dude, like, I watched the video when you were in North Carolina, and you were doing all the rescue missions with the helicopter, and you were delivering the water, and like, you were landing on the sketchiest landing pads, and roads that were broken up. People's yards, and you were giving them rides back. Like, the whole time I watched it, I was just like, man, Cletus is one, outstanding guy, but two, so dial.

Dude, like you were so laser focused and I was just I put myself in that situation and I was like God I don't know if I could do that I don't know if I could put that many people's lives in the in the back seat too It's not cleanest in that puppy like it's Garrett and I'm like you have to understand like that thing will yard sale if it touches a stick You know what I mean? So it's like there's just zero room for air and you learn a lot of that when you start flying them You guys been around enough to see people like

Some people hot dog them pretty hard. Like they tear it up. Like they'll do some sketchy stuff. Imagine a lot of them. Like the buddy that like our only other friend that has a helicopter. Well, I think Dave definitely pushes it. But you know, I think there were some guys out at the cabin of the other helicopters who were ripping and like some guys just are willing to

to push it pretty far in a helicopter. And it depends on the helicopter you have. If you have a really good one like a Blackhawk, which is one of the best ever, you can push it. Because that puppy would get you out of most everything. Talking about these cheaper helicopters that I know you guys have seen and been around. Those things, you don't have really any room for air. It's like, because you're operating at the limit.

You're already operating them at their max weight and horsepower. And it's like at that point, if anything goes wrong, everyone's toast. And the pilot on board sometimes doesn't take that as serious as I would. So it's like anything. You have to set your own limits. Mine are pretty strict in the aircraft because they are a death trap if they're treated incorrectly.

Is it true that a helicopter is as safe, not safer than an airplane? Airplane's safer. Okay, because people always have the argument like, no, you can hover down to the ground. But in my mind, I'm like, dude, I just picture a brick falling out of the air. Yeah, I can for sure land no engine. We could go do it right now. Oh, good. Yeah, I saw your testing video. I can have good. I mean, I can do it 10 out of 10 times. It's great confidence. If we were all in that thing,

And that engine died, I can tell you that if just the engine failed and there was a field underneath us, I feel 100% confident. I would land it and the helicopter would be completely okay. Oh, I would just need the engine replaced. So where do things go wrong when you're in like sketchy environments? They can't land in a field like in the mountains. When I say like I could save it. Yeah, perfect scenario. We're flying at 500 feet, 100 knots straight. The engine fails.

I got it. When you're hovering 50 feet off the ground above a bunch of trees with a small landing zone underneath it and then it fails, that's outside the profile in which you can save it. There's a velocity chart and basically you have to be going a certain speed at certain altitudes to successfully auto-rotate.

Are we going to die now? Maybe break our backs. Have you had any sketchy situations? I blew a rear main seal and an R44, which is like, you know, the Robinson's? Yeah. It evacuated all the oil. And when I landed, the oil light came on. So that one wasn't too bad. I did fly in fog one time.

See this fog layer right here? This is just overcast. If we popped in that thing and flew up 300 feet, it would be perfect blue skies on top. I was at my house and it was broken, which is where there's gaps in it. And it was perfect blue skies. So I kind of popped up and I'm like, oh, like, well, I got to go north. It's going to meet up with Travis was trauma. And as I went north now, I'm on top of the clouds and they're starting to not be broken. So they're more, they're tighter together.

I'd only had my license for maybe six months. As I'm going more and more north, I can still see the ground through these gaps. I called the guy ahead, which was where I was going about 30 minutes north. I said, hey, can you see this guy? And he said, yeah, I can see this guy should never have trusted that. When you if you go and stand straight underneath this and look up, you'll be able to see see some blue and people like just took that as I see this guy, whatever. So I just keep flying north, keep flying north. Now I can like barely see the ground. Well, well,

He said it's good up ahead. So it's called VFR on top. So I'm still VFR. I can see everything. Visual flight rules. I'm on top. It's all good. Get to the destination. It is the exact same as what was below me. Like you can't see the ground now.

Flying a helicopter in the clouds is really difficult. It's like closing your eyes and standing on a bowling ball. If you guys all went in there, I said, close your eyes. I could put the helicopter in basically a 90 degree bank really softly. And then you'd open your eyes and not have realized we shifted into that position. So unless you are really good at reading the instruments, you shouldn't be flying in the clouds. And to fly in the clouds in a helicopter, you have to have an instrument certified helicopter. You have to be an instrument professional pilot. And it has auto pilots.

Has a lot of equipment required to do that. So anyway, now I'm above the clouds. I said, oh shit. I got to go south. I'm going back. I get back. It's sucked in. We have about 30 minutes of fuel now. And we fly to the nearest airport. I've got a really good friend of mine that I trust with me, not a pilot. But I said, hey, like, I'm going to line us up with the runway. This helicopter, by the way, has zero equipment for fly instrument.

And now I have instrument ratings as a helicopter pilot. At this point, I had none of that. So an approach allows you, it tells you on the dash, a guided line to follow. And it brings you down really gently and in line with the runway to a minimum altitude of like 200 feet. So if you follow it on the gauges, it'll bring you all the way to the end of the runway. That's how planes and helicopters can fly in bad weather.

So anyway, I have none of that equipment. All I have is my phone, which has a app on it. That was my GPS at the time, man. So I get to the airport. I decide we have to go in and try and land here because of our fuel reserve. I line up, we fly in at like 800, we go in and I'm watching the attitude indicator and just slowly going down like you're shooting an approach.

We get down to like 150 feet on the gauge Still can't see the ground. It is like the biggest fog I have a picture of it from the day it happened So I fly back out and it felt like we were in the fog for any Turnity is everyone in there tweaking no one's saying a word

Is it? Because everyone knows what's like going down. It's my wife and then my two friends and me. I had told Chad, my buddy, I said, tell me when you see the ground. You know, like you look down, I have to stare at the dash. I'm locked in on this dash. We fly back in and dude, we're in there for him. It felt so long. And I'm flying. I'm making a descent at 200 feet a minute, which is like really slow. Yeah. And he just screams out, I see the ground.

Look down we're over the top of a forest Miss the airport by over a mile. What I'm telling you brother. You can't see anything so disorient and I literally like instinctively I pulled back and I pulled in all the power and

droop to the rotor, which is when you pull so much power and when you're heavy in a cheap helicopter, the rotor speed slows down a little bit. I don't think I've ever told this story online, by the way. And this buzzer goes up. It's like, it's a horn. Oh, man.

And instinctively, I lowered the collective, which is what you're supposed to do. And I kept flying on top of the treetops. And I found a hole. And I went in and landed and waited out the fog. You guys are really all silent. Dude, we were in the middle of a forest. And then like 30 minutes later, a red neck box up in all camo with a rifle. It's not y'all know you need help. Some helicopter fuel. But brother, it was terrifying. So you took back off on reserve and then went dip to the airport.

Yeah, so we were a mile from the airport, luckily, in some guys' field, who knows where. That's scary. Yeah, they say everybody at some point will scare themselves with weather, and I did that, and I can tell you that I have never touched weather like that in a helicopter ever again. And you deal with crazy weather around here. Yeah, fog and stuff. I won't touch it. Dude, I always think about when you're buzzing above the clouds, what you kind of described it.

Do you ever just see like another helicopter and you're just like wave at them? Do you really just like you get up there? It's just a bunch of helicopters like just driving down the road. Oh, it's yeah for sure. Sometimes you'll get with a guy and fly with him for like hours. You're just taking a detour cruising around.

and like there's uh there's channels for helicopters so like if I'd see the man to county sheriff is flying like I'll just jump on and talk to him for a little bit and what's up yeah like you just cruise like all the new stuff like we have traffic so we can see where everybody's at in this area and uh so you kind of just see somebody and say what's up and it's pretty insane that's so awesome

You said that you kind of treat your helicopter like an Uber around here. You'll take it to lunch, take it out to dinner, you and Maddie will just pop around Florida. Dude, I think that's the biggest flex. I think you always need one, dude. Ben's got to be the pilot, probably, right? I want one so bad, bro. Like I said earlier, getting yourself just so dialed. Yeah, you got to be dialed. I don't have an alter ego that's smarter than I am. You can always...

I'm just always been like you get into it and you start to love it You'll just take it seriously seriously naturally. I think there's only a few outliers who like just are savages with them like you'll just naturally realize the seriousness of the situation and

I want to go up with you. I want to go up real bad and experience it. I would love you to try and fly it. So it's one of the most difficult things you'll ever do is try and hover a helicopter. What did you compare it to? I mean, it's like standing on a bowling ball, but it's just, it's so weird to fly on because it's like imagined. You're like hung by a string, but you have to stay under that string. And so you have to give input to the top of the string.

Yeah, it's hard to wrap my mind around like what what, you know, driving anything would be comparable to that. Nothing. And I've always thought like I'm pretty good at jumping and stuff. Me and I will drive. I'm sure we all are. Like you can get in almost anything, right? Skid steer, a backhoe, whatever and drive it probably with almost no training. So one thing I've ever not been able to get into and it took me a lot like a while to be able to hover a couple training sessions. Did you buy your own and then figure out how to fly?

I went and flew a couple lessons and then I bought an R44, the Robinson that I was telling the story about and trained in that and got my license and then sold it and upgraded because like they're just horsepower limited and a lot of water in Florida kind of scares me to be in like a piston engine deal in the sky.

So I think one reason that so many people love you is because you're very relatable. You know, when they watch you, they feel like you're kind of just, you know, one of the boys. And obviously as your channels grown, you know, you became more and more successful and you can afford things like these helicopters or the planes or boat behind us. But how do you manage to, you know, grow your success?

but continue to stay grounded and stay that guy that people tune back to every single week. You know, that's really nice, you say. I try to stay humble and connected with the people, just like you guys do. And the money spending thing is definitely a hard thing to do because I personally want

the helicopter, but I also don't want to be unrelatable. So say I didn't buy the helicopter because I wanted to stay relatable. Like, I don't know. I have a hard time just like, what am I supposed to do? Put the money in the bank and like hide it? I don't think that's what they want. I think they watch because they want to see cool stuff. I don't know necessarily if a helicopter is like what they want to do. The views are pretty good. So I think people are excited about that, for example. It's something I battle with. Like, how do you buy this cool stuff but also stay relatable? I don't know.

I think you've done a really good job at it, especially with buying this helicopter and then showing the restoration process of it. But you also, last time we were hanging out, you were like, yeah, I'm buying this airport, and I'm going to build my dream home on the airport, and I'm going back and forth whether I want to show that or not. And I told you, as a friend, but as a fan, I think that it's so much cooler to see somebody that you watch and support and look up to, living the life

that a lot of people dream of, right? So it's like, I think that you do it in a tasteful way of showing it where it's not, it's not braggy, it's not in your face, but it's like people want to see you win. It's all harder and you're not a douche, too. And I think it's just so cool where I was like, bro, you have to show building the most insane house. Cause that's what everyone in your position would also do. I went back and forth on that. So bad.

I ended up just posting a video asking him if they thought it was something they'd want to see and it was overwhelming. Yes, but I don't get off on the feeling of like showing off like sometimes I feel guilty posting pictures of the helicopter because I don't want to like brag about it, but I love that thing so I genuinely care so like I think that thing is the coolest thing in the world and I love sharing that with people so like I really want to post a picture, but I also don't want to get people the wrong idea that like it's all I care about and

I really just like to have fun and do it with cool toys. So I guess if people can get down on that, that's why they stick around. But some people I'm sure have left because of all the money spending. But what am I supposed to do? Not spend it? Like you guys are giving us this money by viewing our channels and being a part of it. Like I want to burn it to keep you entertaining. Yeah, you're giving back.

And if they left because of that, they were never true fans. But luckily for you, you're not rolling into the dealership buying a brand new helicopter, and you're not rolling up to your house saying, yep, everyone built it. My house is done. Like you were digging the concrete. Like that was fun to see. And it's same for this. This was a journey to get to. So it brought your viewers to feel like they're connected to it too, because they're like,

My favorite YouTuber bought a helicopter and then brought it back to life and now I love it. But you know what I mean? Like that feeling of it. Yeah, it's not a great feeling to just be like, oh, I'm gonna drop all this guy. Like flexing isn't really, that's definitely not everything. I hate that feeling of flexing. Yeah, like I used to have a Nissan GTR and like just posting like a picture that I felt like I was flexing, which like realistically like a pickup cost as much as a GTR, but like people perceive it as a supercar. So yeah, but I'm trying to say, yeah.

Yeah, no, I know exactly what you're saying. I posted a picture of your other helicopter that you have on my story. And there was a response that said the forbidden helicopter or like the secret helicopter. I was like, oh, people. Yeah, people don't know about his other one.

That one, I don't show particularly because of people tracking where we're at. It's just nice to be able to arrive somewhere. And it's never a thing. Like if I go anywhere in that one, it really is a thing. It'd be like putting Kaita stickers all over Matty's car, you know? Yeah. And I just kept it on the DL for the honestly, the reason of like not flexing and and can Swela has her own story. So she's just, I love showing her off. She's the coolest thing I think I own and

It's just different ball game. I don't know what what time are we at guys just out of curiosity probably right there a wrap We should wrap I know you got a busy day. Yeah, we all do crazy, but you're much much more busy And you guys have the greatest guest of all time coming. Yeah, we do the greatest gas human being all I think I personally have ever met in my life. Yeah, I'm Travis Pastrana TP 1 9 and 9

Dude, it's like, without Travis Pastrana, I don't even know if we'd be doing what we got. Probably same for you even, like, such an inspiration, just growing up, watching him. A single biggest inspiration for me, and to get into motorsports, and he's the exact same person you think he is, but better in person. Yeah, so kind. How many people can you say that about?

I'd say the same about you though. Yeah, when people ask how we say that you're like the nicest YouTuber at I've met so that's nice you but Travis like if we if we told him to like get on the Stark Vark right now and like We'd make like a jump and do a backflip. He'd probably do. Yeah, I'm gonna have to ask him about these electric bike what he thinks but

Well, sweet. We'll be taking both these Starks home at the end of the race. We'll have some more for the fleet. We'll probably put them in like a snowmobile or something, but great. Well, thanks, cleanest. Appreciate it. Appreciate your brother. It was an honor to be on here. All right. See you later. See you.