STARS Racing
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

Backstream Magazine - Lillie Corden Article

Go down

Backstream Magazine - Lillie Corden Article Empty Backstream Magazine - Lillie Corden Article

Post by BJA95 Wed May 15, 2019 11:47 pm

On the surface, Lillie Corden may appear as just a standard teenager, but the soon-to-be 18-year-old is quickly becoming one of the more well-known names in STARS stock car racing. From Shrewsbury in the county of Shropshire, England, Lillie is about to enter her second full-time season in the Lowe’s International Series, which is the top series on the STARS racing ladder. Her recent move to ATK Motorsports, arguably the most successful team in STARS, has proven popular with the fans, and Lillie is eager to impress in her first season with the team.

While Lillie may only be young, she is still relatively experienced in stock car racing, having made her STARS Kobalt Tools Truck Series debut just a day after her 16th birthday, and her Lowe’s International Series debut the next week at New Jersey. Before that, Lillie raced in her home country, first in go-kart racing, then in the Ginetta Junior and Formula 4 support groups for British Touring Cars.

Lillie’s talent was apparent from the start, as she won races left, right and center in both the support groups, winning both the Ginetta Junior and Formula 4 titles in her first attempt, while she won a multitude of go-kart championships. But how exactly did Lillie catch the racing bug?

“It was a complete coincidence, honestly. I used to visit my friends house a lot, and her family were completely racing mad. I went around one Sunday in… 2013, I think, and they had this small race called the Indianapolis 500 on. I ended up watching the entire thing and becoming hooked. I got home that night and excitedly said I wanted to race cars!”

So your parents just agreed to let you start racing?

“Haha, not quite. They wanted to see if I would get bored of racing after a month or something first, but when I started to throw tantrums when the Formula 1 wasn’t on the television, and when I stopped watching cartoons and started watching whatever racing I could find on the TV before school, they decided to let me try go-karting.”

Lillie went down to the go-kart track nearest to her home, in nearby Oswestry, with a couple of friends. While her friends went down to for a little bit of fun, Lillie ended up igniting a passion. One visit to the go-kart track turned into a regular occurrence every week, and inevitably, regulars at the track started to notice her become a regular too.

“One of the regular racers down there said that I should join a team. I was lucky in the fact that I come from a well-off family, so my parents bought me a go-kart and I ended up racing for the Shropshire team in the 2016 season.”

Lillie’s original stint with the Shrewsbury Karting Team appeared to be unspectacular at first, but an unexpected win for the youngster ended up boosting her confidence, and by the time the 2017 season rolled around, Lillie was scoring more consistent wins, and ended up catching the eye of Quinton Young, the owner of Team Kwik Fit, who compete in several racing series across the world.

Young put her on the national stage, as she competed in the 2018 season of the under 14’s British Karting Championship for Team Kwik Fit’s development team. With Lillie in more competitive surroundings, it was a matter of dealing with the pressure.

“I’ve always had really bad anxiety, and I remember being so incredibly nervous for my first proper championship race. I went out for first practice and spun within 2 laps of going out, so that didn’t help things. I remember taking it easy for the rest of practice before trying a bit harder as the session was ending. I made a couple of fast laps, then I spun again right at the end.”
“I climbed out of the car and was thinking ‘I don’t think I’m cut out for this.’ My dad then came up to me with a massive smile on his face. Turns out I went fastest in the session right with my last flying lap.”

Lillie went on to finish 4th in her first race, but she scored a multitude of wins throughout the season, as she went on to win the championship convincingly. Around this time, STARS racing also caught the eye of Lillie, as she started to dedicate herself to watching every race.

“I’d always watched the Empire State 450 but never many more races, but I decided to watch a full season of STARS in 2018. I was hooked to the series to the point where I would put on old races on YouTube and watch them while I did my homework. It got to the point I stayed up late watching the Martinsville race that Grant Macintosh won, and I had a school exam the next day. I was so incredibly tired, and I ended up failing. Thankfully, it didn’t count towards anything.”

So when you watched STARS, who was your favorite driver?

“I was a massive fan of Ruby Mayberry. She raced under the name McBrien then, but she’d won the championship in her rookie year just the season before. She won about 6 races but came short on the championship. I’d liked Ben Atkins back then as well, since he was one of the only British drivers, so I was still happy he won it.”
And… be honest… any drivers you didn’t really like?

“Oh God… There were but I’m not sure if I’d get in trouble. I really didn’t like Evie Vance winning races back then! I was actually mad when she won the title in 2019, but now I know her, I know she’s a really lovely person!!!”

She’s not going to hold that against you, is she?

“No, I don’t think so! Knowing Evie, she’ll probably laugh at me over it and call me a nerd.”

Lillie’s success in the go-karting level didn’t go unnoticed, as she earned a promotion to the Ginetta Juniors series. Lillie didn’t stop her winning ways, as she ended up dominating the season with Team Kwik Fit’s program. With her talent shining through, Lillie made yet another progression up to Formula 4 racing, but Lillie admits this was not the move she was anticipating.

“I remember wanting to go over to America and do stock car racing… like in a late model or Legends Car, but there was a long-term plan to make me a part of the GP3 team to go into Formula 1. I didn’t want to ask my parents about this, so at first, I ended up just taking to the Formula 4 grid.”

Lillie ended up continuing her success, as she took out the Formula 4 championship as well and looked poised to continue moving up the open-wheel racing ladder. However, Lillie wanted things to go differently, and she was determined to make her name known in stock car racing.

“I ended up going home after the championship banquet for Formula 4 and my dad noticed that I wasn’t really as happy as I should be. He pulled me aside and asked me what was up, and I ended up getting myself wound up and I told him that I really wanted to race in America. He ended up encouraging me to have a meeting with Quinton Young since they had a STARS program. I expected my parents to want me to follow the open-wheel career path, but they supported me so much.”

So… that’s how you ended up making your break into STARS?

“Yeah, more or less. I suppose my Dad has contacted Quinton and said to expect this from me, but I basically pulled together all of my bravery and asked if there was any chance of getting a chance in America. As it turned out, Quinton needed a driver for his new trucks program, and said he’d see what he could do. A couple of weeks later, I got told I was picked to drive in the STARS trucks series for the team!”

Lillie ended up racing in the truck series in 2021 despite only being 16 years old, but now she was racing with the best of the best, it was only going to get tougher. Her winning ways abruptly stopped, as she was limited to just 7 top 10 finishes, without any top 5 finishes or wins, barely finishing inside the top 20 in points.

“I wouldn’t say it was a particularly miserable year. I struggled a lot with my nerves at the beginning of the season, and while Quinton Young was pretty good to me in my early career, it seemed like he flipped a switch when it came to STARS. He was really tough on both me and Kailin Donohue.”

Were there any races that you remember having a good performance in?

“Yeah. There was a race at Atlanta where I ran towards the front for a while, and there was a Lowe’s International Series race at Kansas where I ran really well and finished in the top 15, which was a huge result for me at the time!”
“The best with Kwik Fit was in my first weekend in STARS. It was at New York, and I was a few days off being 16, but they let me race in the non-points races for the weekend. I ended up finishing 3rd in the Rookie Shootout, 4th in the Open Shootout and qualifying for the All-Star with all the big-name drivers. I only finished 11th in that race, but it was a bit of a surreal experience.”

The time came for Team Kwik Fit to make a choice on whether to keep Lillie in the team, but both her and her teammate, Kailin Donohue, were not retained by the team. For a little while, Lillie Corden thought that her American dream was over.

However, she would be offered a lifeline.

“I remember a few weeks after the season had ended, I got a call to meet up with a new Lowe’s International Series owner who was looking to start up a team. He said he really wanted to give me a chance in his car. At first, I wasn’t sure about if I wanted to take the chance, but my parents told me to take it as I might not get another chance like that.”

With that, Lillie got her first full-time call up in the Lowe’s International Series with Kingslayer Racing, who were also a new team. With her teammate, Elias Sutton, also being a rookie driver, having two inexperienced drivers and an inexperienced team generally seems to be a recipe for disaster.

“The atmosphere at the team was a lot more relaxed than what it was at Team Kwik Fit. We just got told to do our best and have fun during the year. The first weekend with the team, I ended up nearly winning the Rookie Shootout and finishing 5th in my Duel race, qualifying really well for the biggest race year!”

Lillie’s potential started to truly show during this season. Despite her only earning two top 10’s in a highly competitive field, Lillie’s speed was apparent throughout the season, and her speed was not reflected in her results. The races at Daytona and Saitama were examples of this.

“Daytona was a really tough race for me. We’d had an incredibly fast car, and for the first time in my career, I was leading laps and actually controlling the race. There were some fast cars, so it was mainly me, Ben Atkins, Rosemary Black and Madison Baszler at the front. It was about 12 laps to go, and Makina Irisu held up the pack, so I saw a hole on the inside and went for it to take the lead.”
“Right as I took the lead, Makina Irisu cut down and caused a crash. I got clipped and spun around and got hit by a few cars. I’ve always been an emotional person, but I hadn’t outright lost my temper in racing before that moment. I was screaming and swearing down my radio I was so mad. After the race, I’d calmed down, but I was so upset. I thought we were going to win, so I just burst into tears sat on the pit wall.”

How did this impact you in your racing career? Did it make you more confident or did it knock you back a bit?

“I think it would have put me off, but as I had my head in my hands, someone sat by me and wrapped their arm around me. When I looked up, it was Ruby Mayberry who was consoling me. She told me I should be proud of the race today even if it didn’t go the way I wanted. I hadn’t really spoken to her beforehand… but obviously she was my idol in STARS when I watched it when I was younger. Ever since then, she’s been a really close friend of mine!”
“The race at Saitama was another knockback for me, because I qualified third and ran really well all day, but I ended up crashing the car with less than two laps to go. Again, I was completely dejected, but Ben Atkins ended up meeting up with me. He’d done exactly the same thing as me the season before in the same race and said to me that I’ll probably make mistakes like that again. I’d beaten myself up over it a lot, and he told me not to, and to look at the positives.”

It sounds like a lot of the STARS grid are really supportive of each other. Do you see it this way?
“I mean, not everyone is like that obviously. There’s been a couple of people who have tried to constantly knock me down, but I just have to do my best to ignore it. At the same time, it’s the people who are supportive and kind that have stopped the negativity from getting to me. I’d say that largely, everyone gets along really well in STARS.”

Around this time, Lillie Corden became one of the biggest names in the Silly Season as she was constantly linked to championship caliber ATK Motorsports. Despite her name being in the news, though, Lillie herself knew little of the rumors.

“I was enjoy my time at Kingslayer, and I honestly thought the rumors were false. I spoke to Ben quite often, and he never mentioned it to me, so I figured he would just tell me if it was the case. I ended up asking him about it at the race at Milwaukee, and he said to me ‘Wait, you seriously haven’t caught onto that?’”
“Shortly after that, just before the race at New Jersey, I was called into a meeting at Kingslayer Racing and they told me all about the proposed deal that Ben and the ATK team had put together, and how the final step was to get my say in it all. I loved my time at Kingslayer, but I knew I had to pounce on this opportunity.”

Kingslayer Racing weren’t eager to let Lillie go, but they knew how much the deal meant to her development in her career, and the deal also meant they would receive a huge amount of support from ATK Motorsports as they became partner teams. With that, Lillie signed on for ATK Motorsports.

With the 2023 starting in a few months’ time, Lillie has attracted new sponsors, with Shell staying on with her as she switches teams, and Fresh Only Bakery becoming a new sponsor for her. Has the newfound spotlight for her changed much in the way of her life?

“It’s made my schedule a little bit busier, but ATK Motorsports is just as relaxed and friendly as Kingslayer was. I still get to enjoy doing other things outside of racing, though!”

What is it that you enjoy doing outside of racing?

“I LOVE going to amusement parks and places like Disney World. I live in Orlando now, so I’m in the perfect spot for it. I also love going to watch football games… like MLS… not NFL. I’m a huge fan of Orlando City SC, so sometimes I’ll go to games with Ben and his wife Riko because they both support the team too!”

How have you found life in America since you’ve moved over?

“Oh, I love it! I still live with my parents since I don’t really trust myself running an entire house on my own… or with any money… but my parents are super happy over here too, and I’ve made a bunch of friends along the way! I ended up finishing my high school education over here, so I’ll be graduating later on this year!”

I know you said you’ve met a lot of friends, but is there someone special in your life yet?

“That would be telling, wouldn’t it? Haha, but seriously, there’s not. I’ve been so focused on my racing and just enjoying myself while I’m out here that I’ve not really focused on anything to do with romance!”

Obviously, this move has taken a lot of bravery on your part over the years. Do you think you’ve changed much over the last few years?

“I think I’m a lot more outgoing, but I’m definitely still really shy, and I still get anxiety over the stupidest things. At the same time, I think I’m less… afraid to do what I want. I’m more focused on just enjoying myself and having fun with racing!”

What’s the aim for this season for you?

“I’d like to keep it clean and compete for a couple of wins. I know I’ll have the car, and hopefully I’ll be able to prove my worth!”

The young Brit will be back in action in early February, when the STARS Lowe’s International Series gets back to racing. We would like to wish Lillie and ATK Motorsports the best of luck in the new season!
BJA95
BJA95
Admin

Posts : 1041
Join date : 2017-03-06

https://starsracing.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Back to top


 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum