by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher photo: Fremont Speedway
It’s always exciting to see a sprint car driver climbing up the ladder, and this offseason for Kody Brewer, it was time to climb up a few rungs. Brewer has been racing in the 305 ranks since 2019 at Attica Raceway Park and Fremont Speedway, and for the 2024 season, Brewer is bolting in the 410 engine.
“You look at the AFCS [Attica-Fremont Championship Series], and how much money they’re putting out, and then Fremont putting the purse up pretty high, and Attica increasing their payout, it just kind of made sense,” said Brewer.
“With Byron [Reed] retiring, I could move up and take his crew chief [Brewer’s father].”
The elder Brewer was Reed’s crew chief for 24 years, and is bringing on Mike Miller as well, who wrenched on Brewer’s fathers 360 car in the 1990’s.
Going from the 305’s to the 410’s is no easy task, and when asked about what he thought the biggest learning curve would be, Brewer mentioned something that most drivers who have made the jump also mentioned. The speed.
“Probably the speed. That’s what everyone has told me, so far. You get to the corner a lot quicker. The competition level is also going to increase,” added Brewer.
It was announced in the middle of March that Brewer would be tackling the AFCS schedule in his rookie campaign. As for the rest of his schedule, that could be up to the hours spent on his family’s farm.
“I don’t really have a schedule. I farm full-time with my family, so we’re going to go off of that. If we can farm all week, and say I don’t make it to Attica on a Friday, and we want to go somewhere else, we may go somewhere else. We aren’t really set anywhere. It will probably be Attica-Fremont for the first couple of months, and see how we do from there,” Brewer said.
“This season I just really want to make shows and be consistent,” Brewer said about his goals for the season. “I kind of have some big shoes to step into with Mr. Consistency in front of me. That’s really it, you want to make shows and stay consistent. Down the road, I’d like to go to different places and venture, but I know where home is.”
Since hopping in the 305 Sprint Cars, Brewer has sported the paint scheme of Byron Reed; all black with a white #5, but for 2024, that’s going to change. Without divulging too many details, Brewer said that his 2024 scheme will pay homage to both his father’s 360 car, and a vintage Byron Reed car.
“When we decided to make the jump, Byron put it in our ear, ‘Hey, why not do this kind of style?’ So that’s why we did it, to pay tribute to the guys who had a really good career together, and do it the right way.”
“I learned one thing from Byron’s dad: you can waste a lot of money on graphics, or we can put that money towards a really good motor. So I learned that pretty quick; graphics don’t make you go fast!” Brewer said.
“I’m excited to have my dad as my crew chief, to be honest. When we started back in 2019, we were well aware that dad was with Byron and everything we did, he was going to be focused on the black #5 and I was secondary. To have my dad with me full-time, I’m really looking forward to that. He’s my best friend, so to be able to bounce ideas off of him, I’m just really looking forward to that,” Brewer said about what he’s looking forward to this season.
Drivers need support to make it through a race season, and Brewer sure has a lot of people in his corner as the days, hours, and minutes tick away to his 410 debut.
“I’d like to thank Byron and Joyce Reed for letting me be a 5, and letting me do that deal with them. I need to thank my mom and dad for letting me keep my car in their shop and letting me work out of it. Without them, I don’t think I have the bug the way that I do. My uncle Kent and my Uncle Keith [Brewer], Kent races the late model and dirt truck, so for them to even want to support their nephew in racing is pretty damn cool. That’s all my racing is, revolving around my family. My nieces and nephew come to the races, without my family, I don’t think I’d be racing.”