Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Division: Bandits
Car Number: Amelia: 16 / Piper: 25
Favorite Vacation Spot: Hollywood Universal Studios
Favorite Color: Amelia: Red, White, and Blue / Piper: Blue, Yellow, and Gold
Favorite Movie: Days of Thunder and Top Gun
Favorite Food: Amelia: Pizza and Steak / Piper: Beans, Steak, and Rice
1. What sparked your interest in racing? What made you want to start driving?
Piper: Our dad introduced us to it.
Amelia: So, I wanted to get into something else. We fly planes, and I wanted to do something else. So, we went to the Bullring (The Bulling at Las Vegas Motor Speedway), our local track, and found the Bandoleros. I was hooked. Then the next year after that, the last race, I went into it and loved it.
Piper: [Our dad] raced the class right above us, that's Legends. He raced them when he was younger.
2. How did you get into aviation? What is it like flying a plane?
Amelia: We were born into aviation, because our dad was already flying when I was born.
Piper: When I fly, I feel free and feel like a bird flying through the sky.
3. Do you like oval or road course better?
Piper: Oval, because you only turn one way. There's too much dirt and sand [on the road course].
Amelia: I like the road course better because there's not as many walls. I like going left and right.
Piper: And this year [on the road course], I lost vinyl. It wasn’t the first time. My dad used it on his plane, and it flew off. So, I wasn’t really surprised.
Amelia: This year we did vinyl on our cars. At the road course, her vinyl wasn’t sticking to her car very well, it was flying off.
4. How is the feeling between driving a racecar and flying a plane different?
Piper: Driving my car, it feels like I’m a cheetah on the ground racing across the Sahara Desert. Then in the plane, it feels like I’m a hawk.
Amelia: I fly just mainly one plane. It's a Christen Eagle, anaerobic plane.
Piper: And we have one that we are building, that our friend gave us.
Amelia: We also have a Piper Comanche, which is like a normal plane.
5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in the racing world?
Amelia: I’ve had some big wrecks. My worst, I’ve jumped over a car, and spun into a car twice. What happened with my jumping over the car was he spun out in front of me, and I locked my brakes. I couldn’t stop, and my car just drove over his car.
Piper: I have had one little incident. A friend of ours, Rocco, he spun out in front of me and I spun out and I accidentally hit him. I haven’t had any big wrecks yet.
6. What is your favorite racing memory?
Amelia: My favorite racing memory actually was at the road course right next to the oval track. It was the last lap, I was running third, coming into the straightaway to the checkered line. We were right next to each other all the way to the finish line, and I managed to get second. It was really cool, and really close too. I thought it was super fun.
Piper: It was at the Bullring, we were racing, I was in first. But my car had an accident, and I almost lost a tire.
Amelia: Her bearing was like done, her tire, you could literally move it and it would shake. You could take it off without even undoing the bolts. Thankfully she came off [the track] before it happened.
Piper: When we were exiting turn 4, my wheel wouldn’t turn left and my muffler was making weird sounds. It wasn’t turning.
7. What are your 2023 racing goals? What do you hope to achieve?
Amelia: I hope to get top 3 a lot. This is my second season, and I’m hoping to have a better season than last year.
Piper: And mine is to just finish every race.
8. What is your ultimate racing dream?
Amelia: I have a couple things I want to do when I grow up. One, to be a racer and to fly planes, too. It's one or the other. I don’t really know yet.
Piper: I don't really know which either.
Amelia: One thing I really want to do is like NASCAR or something.
9. Who is your biggest inspiration?
Amelia: Probably Hailie Deegan. She's the only female driver in NASCAR. I think she's a really good inspiration, she races really nice but sometimes she doesn’t have the best times. But it's a part of racing. Also, Major Michelle Curran. Her call sign was Mace, and she was in the Thunderbirds. She's [number] upside down 5, and she's a really big inspiration to me.
Piper: Mine is my dad. Because he does drifting, flying, and racing. And another big inspiration is Hoonigan. They do really cool drifting things, and they are funny. I like the Blue Angels.
10. How do you balance aviation and racing?
Amelia: We mostly do racing because this year is super busy with back to back racing. So, we don’t really have time to fly much. But when we do have time, we try to take advantage of it.
11. If you were pulled into victory lane right now, who would you want to thank?
Amelia: I would probably want to thank my dad, my mom, and our friend Ray. They really help us with the cars.
Piper: Mom and Dad, I don’t really know what to say. Last year, on April 3rd, I finished 4th, and I didn’t really know what to say. My mind was empty.
12. Do you have any pre-race “rituals” or things you always have to do on race day?
Amelia: I do my left before my right for my earplugs because I’m left handed. I also wear Hoonigan shirts because they help me get faster.
13. Outside of racing, what other hobbies or activities are you involved in?
Amelia: We do like to fly, we do karate too.
Piper: We are on a break right now.
Amelia: We are home schooled, so we like to do things at home like go outside and play. I also do sim racing. We usually do bombers or street stocks. Legends are different from Bandos.
Piper: I like the trucks, and I’m just more used to it.
14. What race or track are you most looking forward to this season
Piper: We mostly try to stay put at our home base.
Amelia: We try to support our local track. When that's over, we might try to go to some other tracks. Like travel to California or something, try to go to different tracks with different competitors when the season here is done.
Piper: [I’m looking forward to] the Fourth of July.
Amelia: Yeah, the Night of Fires is a really fun one. They do races, fireworks, it's really fun. [The Drivers] come from all over the place for that one.
15. Do you have any advice to younger kids who are looking into getting started in racing?
Amelia: I would tell them it's a great idea, we need more drivers. A lot of the Bando drivers have gone up to Legends. I would tell them about the car, first start out getting used to the car. Then move up, that's how I started. I do sim racing, and that seems to help a lot.
16. If you could describe your racing style in one word, what would you say?
Amelia: I am more a subtle friendly driver, than a knock you out driver. I am more smooth, not as aggressive. I am still aggressive, but not the dirty kind of aggressive.
Piper: I drive nice aggressive.
17. Who is your favorite NASCAR driver, and why?
Amelia: I have a couple, one in each series. Trucks is Hailie Deegan and Matt Jaskol: he's a friend of ours. From Xfinity, Riley Herbst and for the Cup Series is Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and Ty Gibbs. If they drive good, and are good people, I count them as my favorite drivers.
Piper: And Kyle Busch.
18. If you could have a conversation with anyone, who would it be and why?
Amelia: Probably Kelly Clarkson, I’ve actually talked to her. I was super nervous, there were all these people watching. That was my first time I was on a big TV show. That was actually how I met Michelle Curran, and I got to be an Honorary Thunderbird for the day. They surprised me with her there. It was really fun, and they wanted me to come back. I got to have my name on the actual plane, which was really cool. It was a really good experience for me. It was really, really fun.
19. Do you have any hidden talents?
Piper: Music, and Drawing.
Amelia: I am decent at sim racing, so that counts.
20. How did you pick your car numbers?
Amelia: I picked it because I like the [F-16 plane]. I want to be a Thunderbird one day maybe. They fly an F-16, so I wanted to be 16.
Piper: I couldn’t have 18, so I just stole the number from my dad. This is the last year he will be using it sadly, but I’m staying.