Elizabeth “Lizzy” Patricia Musi
01 January 1991 – 28 June 2024
Although I did not know Lizzy personally, I spent many years watching her race on TV. When my husband and I started dating he quickly got me watching Street Outlaws with him. I always had a love for cars even before I met my husband but never knew anything about the racing scene. One of the first places he took me to was Milan Dragway to see some racing. We also went out on several occasions for some street races. Watching Street Outlaws on TV for the last 8 years led to Lizzy Musi coming to the scene on TV. One of the most bad-ass female racers out there. Lizzy grew up in the lifestyle, but to watch a female do something normally dominated by men was fascinating. Watching her keep up with and even surpass these racers was something I enjoyed watching time and time again. Seeing her be the first Three-peat No Prep King Champion, even before Ryan Martin was something I will never forget.
Last year Lizzy was diagnosed with Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer. This announcement came shortly after another fellow racer, Mike Murillo was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. As I watched Lizzy’s YouTube video about her diagnosis I cried as my heart broke for her. Being an Oncology Nurse for 7 years prior to this, I knew that Triple Negative was the worst kind of breast cancer to have, and although strides are always being made in the Oncology world, the stride for Triple Negative has not come far enough. The 5-year overall survival rate at this time for patients with Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer is 12.2%.
To hear that you have a 12% chance of seeing the next 5 years of your life is absolutely devastating. You would expect someone to fall and not get back up, but not Lizzy. She got out there and jumped back behind the wheel. She started treatments and clinical trials and never gave up racing. Till the end she got inside Bonnie and never let up.
Last year my husband and I went to Street Outlaws No Prep Kings at US 131 Dragway in Martin Michigan. This is probably our favorite track in Michigan. I was so excited for this event since I bought some early admission tickets in hopes of getting to meet as many of the racers as I could. We encountered terrible weather, and a lot of the racers were not out so we did not get to meet as many people as we wanted to. I passed by Lizzy’s tent several times but unfortunately never got to see her. I know going through chemotherapy makes you very susceptible to infection, so it was smart for her to keep her distance to keep her as healthy as possible. As we plan to go again this year, I just know that it won’t be the same. There will be a space missing that will never be able to be replaced.
These are a few of the photos that I took of Lizzy racing at 131. I got to see her race live in person and for that I will forever be grateful.
June 28th just after midnight my husband shared the facebook post to me about Lizzy’s passing. I was in shock. She had not posted on facebook in quite some time but I never thought that it may be because she was getting worse. The racers posted that at the last race she was telling everyone that she would miss them. I feel like sometimes people just know when their time is coming to an end. She wanted to make sure that everyone knew how much they meant to her.
The drag racing world has lost an amazing person and trailblazer. Lizzy Musi may be gone but she will never be forgotten. She will ride forever in the hearts of all the racers as they make their way up and down the track each and every time.
Fly High Elizabeth.
Run that track up in the sky and give it hell!
