The personable Stephen J. Mallozzi is the “kind of guy you just want to root for,” said Josh Reaume, the owner of Reaume Brothers Racing. (Contributed photo)

“I never got my shot in racing,” S.J. told his father. “And it’s bothering me.”

“Well,” the elder Mallozzi responded, “I don’t understand why you’re moping about this. You never tried for that shot. You gave up after I got sick.”

Stephen J. Mallozzi, now a rising fourth-year student at UVA, will make his NASCAR debut on Saturday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 in Lexington, Ohio. The race, which begins at 1:30 p.m. and will air on Fox Sports 1, is part of NASCAR’s truck series.

When the green flag is raised and Mallozzi’s No. 43 Toyota Tundra takes off, a childhood goal becomes a reality. The kid who got his start on go-kart tracks will be in a NASCAR-sanctioned race – and his dad, six years after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, will be there to see it happen.

“I’m going to be glowing ear to ear,” Stephen J. Mallozzi said. “It’s another step in our bond. We’re willing to go all the way for each other. We’ve always been willing to do everything to make sure the other one has every opportunity to do what they want to do in life.

“That’s the best kind of father-son relationship there is.”

‘Nine Months’

The conversation between Stephen A. Mallozzi and his son 18 months ago reignited the latter’s passion for a sport he’s loved since he was a 2-year-old naming car brands in the parking lot.

The younger Mallozzi was a gifted go-kart driver who competed at the regional, national and international levels from age 9 to his mid-teens. With his father helping in a variety of ways, Stephen J. was seemingly speeding toward a NASCAR future – until unexpected news forced him to pump the brakes.

In 2016, not long before Stephen J.’s next scheduled race in Las Vegas, the Mallozzi family doctor arrived at their home with scans, revealing that Stephen A. had lung cancer.

“The original diagnosis,” Stephen A. Mallozzi said, “they pretty much told me ‘nine months.’”

Naturally, this caused a shift in priorities. Instead of trips to the track, the son would be accompanying his father to chemotherapy treatments. Mallozzi’s racing career, for all intents and purposes, was over.

“I’m 16, I don’t have the money to keep doing this,” Stephen J. said. “So not only was I losing my dad, I was losing the thing that had fundamentally created the relationship between he and I.”

Stephen A. Mallozzi had long been his son’s mechanic, sponsor, coach and “No. 1 fan.” He went from hardly knowing anything about auto sports to being a dedicated driver dad.

“It was a cool experience for the both of us because as he was learning to drive,” Stephen A. Mallozzi said, “I was getting coached and mentored by people who are tuning the karts in ways I had never done before.”

Stephen J. Mallozzi raced just three more times in the year following his father’s diagnosis.

Returning to Form

Then dad started to get better.

“After the chemo stopped working after five months,” he said, “I got lucky with one of those molecular therapies and, all of a sudden, things got extended. The doctors said, ‘I think you could get a year or two out of this.’”

While elated in the improvements to his dad’s health, Stephen J. still feared venturing too far from home. It’s why his original preference for college was nearby Rutgers University and not UVA, where University policy prohibits undergraduate first-year students from having vehicles on Grounds.

“The car thing was my biggest concern at the time,” he said. “Not being able to get home if something happens, not being able to have that flexibility to see my family. Weekend trips are important. Every weekend was important to me.”

Stephen A. Mallozzi, a proud UVA Law alumnus, was conflicted and sought a solution.

“It was hard for me to see him feeling constrained about geography in making such an important life choice,” he said. “So we went to Charlottesville and we reached out to one of the deans and explained the situation. And UVA was awesome. They pretty much immediately said, ‘Look, under those circumstances, we will figure something out to make sure he has transportation on Grounds to get himself back and forth.’”

Stephen J. Mallozzi, car in tow, began classes at UVA in fall 2019. With racing pushed to the side, he soon found a niche in broadcasting, calling Wahoo field hockey, lacrosse and soccer games for ACC Network Extra and working for WUVA, the University’s student-operated media outlet.

And while he wasn’t behind the wheel anymore, he still found his way to the track through announcing kart races and writing for racing blogs.

It’s just that there was a certain itch that wouldn’t go away. It was obvious to Stephen A. Mallozzi when he stepped in his son’s bedroom in January 2021.

“He was at a point where he just seemed like he was throwing up his hands and didn’t know what to do,” Stephen A. said. “He was really struggling not being in racing.”

What happened next was what Stephen A. Mallozzi described as a “call to action” for his son.

“It wasn’t a pep talk,” he said. “I just told him, ‘Listen, you can continue to be upset and not do anything about it. Or you can lean in and do what you need to do. Give it a shot, because you’re at an age where you can do that. The worst thing you can do is in 10 years, look back and say, I should have tried.’”

Stephen J. got the point. He quickly tapped into a wealth of contacts he had developed through the years. By the end of the spring semester, he was taking online classes at UVA while working in the shop at Reaume Brothers Racing in Mooresville, North Carolina. It was here where he learned the ins and outs of a professional stock car racing team. While it was an unpaid gig – to cover his apartment rent, he worked the 6 p.m.-to-2 a.m. delivery shift at the local Domino’s – it offered opportunity.

Stephen J. eventually was announced as one of the inaugural drivers in the team’s driver development program, the key step he needed to someday be credentialed for a NASCAR race.

“It’s been pretty amazing to watch a 20-, 21-year-old figure how to do all this on his own,” Stephen A. Mallozzi said.

On June 23 of this year, after a year of Late Model races and meeting certain NASCAR safety standards, Stephen J. Mallozzi was officially entered in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Reaume Brothers Racing is proud to announce that RBR Development Driver and former employee Stephen Mallozzi will make his NASCAR Camping World Series debut at Mid-Ohio! Click the link in our bio to learn more! #RBR #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/4ZmPfHUzwZ

— Reaume Brothers Racing (@RBR_Teams) June 23, 2022

“Mallozzi is something else,” said Josh Reaume, the owner of Reaume Brothers Racing. “His story, the reason why he’s racing, put together with his big personality, make him the kind of guy you just want to root for.

“I think racing is like a family, and being able to help one of our own get his shot is an awesome thing to be a part of.”

Cherishing the Moment

Like a racetrack, the Mallozzis’ story had been filled with straightaways and sharp turns. But after an extended pit stop, they can finally see the finish line for a longtime goal.

“It’s NASCAR,” said the elder Mallozzi, “and not everybody gets a chance to do that. So that part of it will be super exciting for us.”

Saturday’s race is the only one scheduled for Stephen J. Mallozzi this summer. This is an expensive sport, and he’ll look to generate more funds before entering his next race on the NASCAR circuit.

He plans to return to Grounds this fall and complete his economics degree.

Stephen A. Mallozzi still receives radiation treatment through a clinical trial that, in his words, “keeps the cancer at bay.” His son realizes they must cherish every moment they have left together.

Especially at the track.

“We’re already 10 times over the life expectancy my dad was supposed to survive,” Stephen J. Mallozzi said. “The odds we go on another 10 years, we’re pushing our luck.

“My dad committed all of this time, all of this money, all of this effort to make the dream happen. Let’s pay him back. Let’s show him we can do it. I’m going to take what he gave me and I’m going to make the frigging most of it.”