And with a substantial following at Summernats. People come up to him to shake his hand and to get selfies. His mullet is topped nicely with a Mohican cut. That plus an affectionate laugh is a draw on the Summernats roaring fields.

"G'day, I'm Mr Mullet," he says. "If we see someone else with a good mullet, you give them a wink. Give them a nod. We're all mates."

The mullet's a badge - a badge of national pride, and perhaps a badge of class pride. "I'm a full Aussie, and all Aussies have it," Brock Davis from Gippsland said.

"We love growing our mullets. Everyone in Australia's got one, basically. I've been growing it for the past two-and-a-half years."

Seventeen-year-old Jye Harris from Adelaide and his brother Jake have identical mullets. "I've been growing my mullet for three years. It's an Aussie tradition," Jye says.

"I'm loud and proud," John Restall from Seven Hills testifies. "I wouldn't change it. I love it. It's my hair style.

"I've been growing my hair for the last two years. It's been a lot of maintenance. Every two weeks, I shave the side bald and then a one-and-half on top to keep it clean."

There may be a PhD in this. Certainly, learned magazines and academics have offered theories.

One is that the pandemic brought the style back in its hirsute luxurious abundance. If people couldn't go to a shop to get their hair cut, runs the theory, what better way than to grow it at the back and shave off the top?

"Australians love mullets because we consider ourselves to be larrikins," Ailsa Weaver who teaches fashion and style at the University of Technology Sydney told the BBC.

"Larrikins used fashion as a form of rebellion, and mullets can really be seen in Australia to be a descendant from the extreme self-made hairstyles of the larrikins."

And remember that Australian sprinter Rohan Browning ran at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with his nickname "The Flying Mullet". Are there any rugby league players who don't have mullets?

International magazines have had much to say, musing in a tone of amusement. The Huffington Post informed its readers around the world: "The word 'mullet' is said to come from the fish of the same name. Love it or hate it, the mullet became a symbol of working class Aussie identity and set them apart from the white collar conservatives."

The Economist magazine, also of global renown, said the mullet has a "good claim to being Australia's national do.

"The controversial hairstyle is either an embarrassment or a point of national pride - or both."

Pride at Summernats - no two ways about that. Even bald men claimed to have mullets - long beards they called "front mullets".

And pride may mean prizes. Summernats trumpets its fashion competition.

Mr Mullett will be there. Who would bet against him?