millionaire? no. reporter: meet alan and debbie francis. a year ago, they were struggling wheat farmers worried about the crops, the weather, the massive mortgages on their land. today, they are still farming, but with some new toys. the tractor sells for like $174,000. i think that s what this one cost. that s a ferrari. well, yeah, yeah. i d rather have the tractor. reporter: a knock on their door changed their lives. an oil company leased their land for big money. they haven t hit oil yet, but if they do, the francises could get a second payout. royalty checks that could be enormous. that would be about $500,000 or better. a month. $500,000 a month which is why everyone is hoping oil man kenny hoop knocks on their door. he s one of the new kingmakers of kansas. scouring dusty land records and
he s one of the new kingmakers of kansas. scouring dusty land records and back roads, banging out deals on the spot with land owners. depending on how much acreage they had, the bonus money has got these landowners millionaires overnight. reporter: like carl willy. the retired grocer had no idea he was sitting on gobs and gobs of oil, but today his property is pumping out hundreds of barrels a day and pumping big money into his bank account. and we saw up close what s creating hundreds of new millionaires in kansas. a new drilling technique that finds oil on lands once thought to be sucked dry. there are rigs popping up everywhere. reporter: susan croft is one of the new oil barons of harper county. an oil well now sits on her family s old farm. she just hopes the rest of the world doesn t stampede their way into kansas. often i think maybe i should tell them about the tornadoes and the hot weather so nobody is tempted to flood our state. reporter: a temptation that could t