Stephen Mallozzi

Stephen John Mallozzi (born January 15, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is a part-time competitor in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and was formerly a development driver for Truck Series team Reaume Brothers Racing (RBR), competing in late model racing.

Mallozzi started competing in childhood by racing go-karts at the age of nine. After winning various karting championships, he abruptly stopped racing when his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After spending most of his college years working in various journalism and law fields, he eventually returned to racing, citing motivation from his father. Initially joining RBR in 2021 as a development driver, he later made a one-off Truck Series start for the team the following year. He later raced in more Truck Series races in 2023 for both RBR and AM Racing.

Early life

Early racing career

Mallozzi was born to Stephen Anthony Mallozzi (born 1971) and Melissa Marie Miller (born 1970). Mallozzi stated that he became a fan of auto racing when he was three years old, while watching auto racing on television. His interest in auto racing grew after playing ''NASCAR Thunder 2004'', ''Mario Kart'', and a "bunch of ther auto racinggames". Mallozzi, with assistance from his father, later went to a local go-kart track at the age of nine years old and raced his first event. By the age of 11, he had started to race go-karts on a frequent scale.

During his karting career, Mallozzi won multiple Northeast Karting Challenge championships, which earned him a spot to race overseas in Portugal for the United States. His go-karting career lasted around five years; before a scheduled race in 2016, his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, with his father only given six months to live. As a result of the diagnosis, Mallozzi decided to step away from auto racing.

Transition to journalism

After stepping away from auto racing, Mallozzi transitioned to a journalism and broadcasting career. After graduating from Salesianum High School in 2019, he originally intended to join Rutgers University due to transport conflicts with the University of Virginia (UVA). However, after talking to a dean at UVA, he was persuaded to commit to Virginia in the fall of 2019, majoring in economics. While at UVA, he worked as a sports commentator for various sports programs.

Gradual return to racing

Early in 2021, Mallozzi talked to his father about frustrations that he had never raced in NASCAR. His father, who at this point had lived five years with cancer, stated, "If I treated my cancer the way you treated racing, I would have been dead five fucking years ago." Self-described as a "verbal smackdown" for Mallozzi, the quote motivated him to pursue a racing career again.

In July 2021, Mallozzi and Reaume Brothers Racing (RBR) crew member Jonathan Cuevas were announced to become the first members of a new driver development program for the team. During this time, he gained a close friendship with team owner Josh Reaume, gained an internship working for RBR, and started racing late models across the Carolinas.

NASCAR Truck Series

By 2022, Reaume let Mallozzi drive an entry at the 2022 O'Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio, with Mallozzi driving the team's No. 43 entry. According to Mallozzi, the effort made to get to the track itself was strenuous; he crowdfunded within a Facebook group, asked former sponsors to sponsor him for the race, and asked numerous personal friends to be spotters for the race. During the race weekend itself, Mallozzi was involved in a practice accident with G2G Racing's Mason Filippi. While the damage wasn't extensive, Mallozzi expressed frustration at G2G Racing, stating, " 2G Racingis the biggest joke of a racing organization in NASCAR... I will stand by that statement publicly to anyone." Mallozzi's car was eventually repaired and allowed to qualify, with Mallozzi finishing in 22nd in the race itself.

Mallozzi was able to compete in more races in the 2023 season. The season, according to Mallozzi, was precarious. His debut for the season came at Martinsville for AM Racing, in a deal where he was moved from an initial ride from RBR due to a lack of owner's points for RBR's entry. He finished last after the car's battery suffered issues. His next race came at Gateway for RBR; he described the race as "my version of hell", due to the circumstances of both heading into the race and the race itself. He sold his personal Dodge Charger that he had gotten from a sponsorship deal to get to the race itself and during the race, his battery failed, resulting in a poor finish. Around this same time, he was working as a part-time server at a Outback Steakhouse franchise; after the Martinsville race, he made calls on social media platforms for Outback Steakhouse to sponsor an entry for him. After racing one more event for AM Racing at Pocono, a one-race sponsorship deal was announced with Outback Steakhouse in September, with the sponsor to run at the 2023 UNOH 200.

Personal life

Mallozzi is the child of Stephen Anthony Mallozzi and Melissa Marie Miller. Mallozzi cites Stephen as the main motivator for both his initial start in racing and his return.

He attended Salesianum High School, a Catholic private school based in Wilmington, Delaware. He later attended the University of Virginia, majoring in economics and graduating in 2022. He currently attends the Temple University Beasley School of Law, with Mallozzi scheduled to graduate in 2026. Mallozzi currently resides in Philadelphia after previously living in Mooresville, North Carolina to study at Temple. Before Mooresville, he had lived in his hometown of Swedesboro, New Jersey franchise. He previously had worked at a Domino's franchise as a delivery driver; he was fired for having too many speeding tickets off the job. He also is an occasional writer for NASCAR news site ''TobyChristie.com'', serving as the site's eSports journalist. Mallozzi has also used his writing position at ''TobyChristie.com'' to detail his racing career; he has stated on occasions that he believes to be "one of the poorest drivers in the entire Truck Series", stating the amount he has sacrificed in order to pursue a racing career compared to well-funded drivers in the series.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress

Ineligible for series points

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallozzi, Stephen
2001 births
Living people
NASCAR drivers
People from Swedesboro, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Gloucester County, New Jersey
Racing drivers from New Jersey
Salesianum School alumni