“When you’re going like 150 miles an hour through a turn,” Lindsay Brewer told me, “trying to hold the G-forces, open-wheel cars are very physical. There’s no power steering in Open-wheel cars, and that’s why there aren’t as many women in open-wheel racing as there are in like NASCAR, or sport racing, because the power steering is such a big issue. It doesn’t mean that women aren’t able to do anything men can do. But we are at a disadvantage physically. But it is something I love, and that’s why I do it.”

When I was writing my questions for my conversation with Brewer, I knew I had to ask about the jumpsuits that racing drivers wear. This may be obvious, but in case anyone does not know, the uniform a race car driver wears is important safety gear.

There’s this issue with firefighter’s uniforms, in that they are only made in one set of sizes, mens size, though this is starting to change. For a very long time, female firefighters have had to make do with men’s uniforms. Regardless of any other factors, the proportions in mens and womens bodies are different, which affects standard sizes in off the rack clothing. I wanted to know if there was a similar issue in the uniforms racing drivers wear.

“It’s my understanding,” Brewer told me, “that there’s no women’s suits, it’s all just a generic suit, which, of course, is tailored to men, because most race car drivers are men. But then, it’ll be baggy up here on the chest or something. But if it’s too big on you, that’s a safety issue, that’s why I get them custom. You can get them tailored, which is nice. But they don’t have women’s suits, from my understanding.”

Back in 2022, Brewer had a close call at the Road America race in Wisconsin. After hitting a curb at a turn, her car went airborne. “My car caught on fire with me in it, that was really scary. I jumped out. But, that’s what the safety’s for. It’s not as common as you would think, but it’s definitely a driver’s worst fear is fire. So like, I know there’s always a chance of fire.” How does a driver protect themself? Mitigate the potential damages? “There’s this undersuit,” Brewer explained, “it’s called Nomex. It looks like a black, long sleeve shirt, and there’s pants, all fireproof. Then you put your fire suit on over that, which is also fireproof. Obviously, the helmet has the fireproof Nomex material inside, in case I catch on fire and it’s on the gloves and the shoes.”

Even setting aside the custom jumpsuits, it is expensive, all the gear a racing driver requires. And these costs are on top of the cost of the vehicle, its maintenance, the team who keeps a vehicle running in peak condition. Then there’s training time, travel, coaches, all the things any athlete needs. This is why, I learned, so many drivers rely on sponsorships, unless a driver can fund their own set-up. “This past season,” Brewer told me, in 2024, “I jumped up to IndyCar, and I did probably ¾ of a season, maybe half a season this year, most drivers don’t do a full season.” This was another something I learned, which is also related to expense.

NASCAR might be the car anyone of us might imagine, if asked to envision a race car covered in branding. “There’s so much surface area of a NASCAR that you’re able to really sell a lot of sponsorships on it, which is cool,” Brewer told me. “There’s a whole kit that you sell to sponsors. And you’re like: Do you want the wing or the side pods or the front wing, or the nose cone? There are different spots that you can package in for sponsors, and you give a whole diagram of what packages they can get.” It’s kind of like one of those old butcher’s posters; an outline of an animal with dotted lines marking off various cuts. Positioning and placement on a driver’s uniform or vehicle can cost more or less for a sponsor, depending on various factors.

“Gtechniq and C4 Energy were my sponsors the past few years, and they had a big ‘C4’ on the car,” Brewer told me. “Gtechniq was also on it. They didn’t pay as much, so they had a smaller logo. Sometimes the driver keeps the helmet for themselves, but I had C4 on mine, just like Red Bull has their name on the helmets for F1 drivers. But a lot of drivers keep their helmets for their own designs and don’t put sponsorship on it.”

In the past few years though, things have been changing, especially as social media has become more and more important. Instagram, for example, where Brewer has 2.8 million followers, has allowed her more options for sponsorship than she might have had even a decade earlier. “It’s cool,” Brewer explained, “because I’m able to also package in my social media to help leverage that and give potential sponsors more benefits. That’s how I was able to get back in the race car as it is, having my public persona and my social media, and being ambassador for brands and sponsors and my team, and for myself.” Brewer has been taking more promotional work with brands, including one racing-focused project which will soon send her to Qatar. “I’m working with Qatari brand,” she explained to me. “I’m doing a deal to highlight Formula One, which is obviously the worldwide premiere racing series.”

So how exactly does a person become a professional racecar driver? “It was a lot of hard work,” Brewer said. As a teen, she raced go-karts nationally, on the National Circuit in go-karting and traveling around the country, partially homeschooled during the second half of her high school years. “Then I jumped into this race car school,” Brewer explained. “Skip Barber Racing School. That’s the transition you take, from go-karting to cars. I jumped into those cars when I was 17, back in 2015. I got my SCCA Competition License, and I was going to race a full season of USF2000, which is like the bottom level of the IndyCar ladder. I did this legend car series in 2016, and I ended up winning the championship in the US Legend Cars series, the 2015-16 season. And that was really cool, because it was my first experience racing cars.”

Legend cars are not the regular type of vehicle, I did not know this. Let me pause and explain for anyone in a similar situation. They’re fiberglass replicas, ⅝ scale, of iconic American cars from the 1930s and 1940s. “They’re almost like big go-karts,” Brewer told me, “these cool little funky cars, not at all like what I’m racing now.”

But then, unfortunately, her sponsorship fell through. “I wasn’t able to race for a few years,” Brewer said. “My family was unable to financially support it. So I went to university, got my business degree at San Diego State University. 2021 was the first year that I started racing professionally, in touring cars, and it was really cool. My first race was incredible. Just getting back in the field, and just being there at Sonoma Raceway. I looked around, and it was like a ‘pinch me’ moment, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to race again.”

Off the racetrack, clothing is still important in Brewer’s life. It can be, she told me, “quite literally, armor. I feel like when I dress up for an event or something, it is sort of protective in a certain way. I enjoy dressing up, and I love fashion.” There are times and places in her life where Brewer’s interests, which previously may have seemed divergent, are starting to come together.

“I have two different sides of me,” Lindsay Brewer told me. “I have a very bubbly, girly side. People sometimes look at me and don’t take me seriously, because I’ll have fake nails and fake hair and makeup. A lot of people will put me in a sort of box. Because I look a certain way doesn’t mean I’m able to perform any less. It is a crazy experience, being underestimated. Then, when I put the race suit on, and especially once I put my helmet on, that’s really when the switch flips and I’m like locked on, and I’m like, all right, let’s go. And I get in the car and I’m a completely different Lindsey.”