For those longing for the colorful characters of the past, Randy Brewer may be what you seek. His late model sportsman carries a chrome green wrap that stands out among a field of mostly black cars. Brewer, himself, doesn’t blend in with the crowd. He wears not only a Mohawk hairstyle, but a Mohawk with a mullet.
“As a kid, the bright colors, mirror numbers, color-changing outlines — those were the cars that caught my eye,” Brewer, 37, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, said. “[That’s why I go] with the bright colors.”
Brewer drew inspiration for his current paint scheme from a car hundreds of miles away.
“I had seen a wrap on an East coast modified car, like a [NASCAR] Whelen [Modified Tour] car,” said Brewer. “We were watching races on one of them streaming sites. It was unreal. It was unlike anything I’ve seen before. When I had seen that, I knew I had to have it.”
Brewer found the wrap from Teckwrap, of Los Angeles, California. The neo chrome vinyl wrap color is dubbed “Ammolite gem,” named after an opal-like gem found in the Rocky Mountains. Brewer applied the wrap to his car last December.
“People love it,” Brewer said. “Kids walk up to it and wave to themselves [in the reflection]. I even had one kid kiss [their reflection] on the car.”
As far as his hairstyle, Brewer admired the mullet sprint car driver Rico Abreu had. So, he decided to apply his own spin to the hairstyle by fashioning it as a Mohawk.
“That comes from Alabama, just being redneck, down south,” said Brewer. “If you’re going to grow a mullet, [you ask yourself,] ‘How can I make it tackier?’”
Brewer steers a 2009 chassis from Trak-Star Race Cars. He races primarily at a pair of two Alabama dirt ovals, Moulton Speedway in Danville and North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia.
“Typically, I’m just average,” Brewer said of his on-track performance. “That’s why I try to stand out a little more, because my performance doesn’t speak for itself.”
However, Brewer has other reasons for his car’s appearance.
“I run the white wheels because it’s a nod to the older [racers] from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s,” Brewer said. “You weren’t cool if you didn’t run the white wheels [back then].”
Randy Brewer represents the third-generation of Brewers racing. His grandfather, Mardis Brewer, was one of the pioneers of dirt racing, racing as far back as the late 1940s. His father, Roger Brewer, competed from the 1970s to 2000s.
“My dad drove wedge cars,” said Brewer. “My grandpa drove winged supermodifieds on dirt. They were balls-to-wall, eccentric people. I’m still living through them in a way.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
