Chief executive during the week, off-road truck racer on the weekends. That’s how Greg Adler spends most of his time.

Adler, 47, is chief executive of Transamerican Auto Parts, a Compton supplier of parts and accessories for trucks, jeeps and other off-road vehicles started more than 50 years ago by his father.

As a kid, Adler wanted to race some of the trucks Transamerican worked on. As soon as he graduated college, he entered his first off-road race: the grueling Baja 1,000 desert race down the length of the Baja California peninsula.

“I’ve been stuck 10 hours at a time in silt beds and one time I thought my dad had been kidnapped in Mexico,” Adler said of his many races, noting that his father eventually turned up safe and sound.

But when Adler took over as chief executive 10 years ago, he found he no longer had the time for the long off-road races, which often required days of scouting in advance. So he transitioned to short-course racing in stadiums and on closed-loop tracks. This switch carried an added benefit: getting more exposure locally for the Transamerican name.

Now, at least one weekend a month, Adler is behind the wheel of his racing truck on a short-course track. Almost all of his competitors are professional racers; to his knowledge, he’s the only corporate executive in the ranks.

Adler said he’s not overly concerned about the inherent risk of off-road racing. “Our company has a generous life insurance policy,” he cracked.

Style to Dye For

Michelle Molina is not known for being a wallflower.

So it wasn’t out of character when the wife of Molina Healthcare Inc. Chief Financial Officer John C. Molina showed up at a recent company celebration with her hair dyed “Molina teal,” the managed care firm’s signature color.

“Everyone knows me as being a little different,” said Michelle Molina, 52, who attended the party in the downtown Long Beach Meeker-Baker building in honor of the firm’s one-year anniversary of moving into the renovated landmark. “I thought the timing was good, of course. It would both amuse and startle some people.”

Molina wore two hats as she emceed the event: as a cheerleader for Molina Healthcare and as managing director of Millworks, a Long Beach developer that she and her husband own, which handled the project.

Her penchant for colorful details even extended to the property’s development process. When she hosted a groundbreaking party for the community, for example, it was construction themed.

“The tables were scaffolds, the waiters wore hard hats,” said Molina, who appeared with a sledgehammer in tow.

Staff reporters Howard Fine and Marni Usheroff contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].