She drives one of the most recognizable Bandoleros you'll ever see, Lily Impellizzeri has put her head down and put in hard work over the past few seasons, improving her race craft to become one of the regular faces at the front of a Bandolero field. She shares how she impressed from the first time she stepped foot in a go-kart, and how a family book inspired her paint scheme as she sets her goals to one day race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. 

Hometown: Monroe Falls, Ohio 

Car Number: M00

Division: Outlaws 

Team: Curt Britt Motorsports 

Favorite Color: Blue 

Favorite Food: Sushi

Favorite Vacation Spot: The Beach 

1. What made you get in to racing?

My dad used to have this one racing game and I used to play it all the time. After we played the heck out of it I was like, “Hey dad can we go go-karting,” and he was like, “Sure why not.” We went go-karting and it was just the little go-karts that don’t go very fast and I almost lapped him like 3 times. And he thought they gave me a souped-up go-kart and I was like “no I don’t think so.” So then he was like, “ok let’s go high speed go-karting.” So we went and after the second time I walked up to the owner and was like, “My kart wasn’t as fast this time.” He pulled my dad aside and said, “Her times were 0.2 seconds faster than the first time,” and then basically said to get me into a race car. Then my dad just did his research and found Bandos.

2. What’s your favorite thing about racing?

Getting to meet a lot of different people, that you wouldn’t normally get to meet. 

3. What made you choose the number on your car?

Well we were just going with a cow themed car and so we were like why don’t we just go with M00 so then it says MOO and just goes with the cars theme. 

4. What is the story behind the cow themed car?

So my family has a book called “The Nite Nite Cow” and the book is about when I was a little girl and I was scared of the monster under my bed. Everytime I was scared at night my dad would open the door and go “Moooo” and say, “Did you hear a cow? No." Then do it again about like 3 or 4 more times and I would just be sitting there dying of laughter almost falling out of the bed. To take away from the fear of the monster under the bed to help me, we wanted to help all kids get over their fears of the monster under the bed so we created “The Nite Nite Cow” book to help other kids get over that fear. My stepmom is the one that created the book and it has really stuck and it’s meant a lot to me and my family. So, when we started racing we thought to take the book and the inspiration behind it and put it into my race car. 

5. What has been your favorite memory since you started racing?

My favorite memory was getting my first feature win back up at my home track. 

6. What advice would you give to other people wanting to get into racing?

It’s a lot of fun to sit here and race cars but what really matters the most is if you had fun. The only thing that really matters is if you had fun or not. 

7. If you weren’t racing what do you think you’d be doing?

Probably just relaxing. 

8. Do you travel down to Atlanta from Ohio for races?

We mostly travel down, but sometimes we will stay here for like two weeks at a time. But mostly we just travel down and race and then go back. 

9. How has racing impacted your life?

It has made my life do a full 180, it's changed everything about me. It’s become a huge part of my life and everyone’s always like, “So you do racing, that's so cool!” I can tell them all these stories and it gives me something cool to talk about when I meet new people. 

10. What are your long term goals for racing?

I wanna try and make it to the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in NASCAR. But if I can’t make it there I just want to make it as far as I can. 

11. What does it mean to you to be a girl in a male dominated sport?

I think it definitely changes a lot of things for me. It has definitely made me tougher. Everyone just thinks since I’m a girl I’m not as tough or whatever so they try to wreck me and push me out of the way a lot more. I’ve definitely had to learn to be more aggressive and fend for myself. Everyone thinks that I’m a girl and won’t be able to beat them but in reality I can. 

12. Does being underestimated by the boys you race against make you want to prove them wrong even more?

Yes, it definitely does. I really want to prove them all wrong. 

13. How has your season been so far?

It’s been pretty good, we’ve been traveling everywhere and I’ve done really well this year. We’ve been winning everywhere, mostly at Cordele but it’s been really great. I went from being like a 28th finishing to 15th finishing to an always top 5 driver in every race now. 

14. What is your favorite track to race at and why?

Cordele, Georgia because it’s a drafting track and it just makes you sit there and think more about how I am going to be able to win this without having a teammate there, it’s a harder track so it definitely gives me more of a challenge but that just helps to make me better. 

15. What is one word that describes your racing style?

Comeback, because every time that I fail I always make a comeback. Everytime something happens to me during a race I always make the best out of the situation. 

Story was edited, July 30, 2024, to remove question.