RAFA Racing Team’s driver coach and mentor Corey Lewis still remembers the first time he climbed into a go-kart. He was only seven years old, but the moment carried a gravity that would steer his life for decades to come.
The reason wasn’t just the thrill of speed. It was the company he kept. His older brother Chris was best friends with Marco Andretti, grandson of Mario and son of Michael.
The Lewis family and the Andrettis grew up in Nazareth, Pennsylvania—a town steeped in racing lore—and a casual neighborhood friendship became the unlikely doorway to a life in professional motorsport.
Marco Andretti was beginning his own karting journey, and Lewis was desperate to tag along.
His father, a lifelong coach in traditional sports, made a deal with Mario and Michael Andretti: he would coach Marco’s basketball team through the winter, and in exchange, the Andrettis would help guide young Corey’s first laps in karting.
At the time, he didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the names attached to his early coaches. “I knew they were big,” he says, “but not how big. Now I look back and think, wow, one of the greatest legends of all time was there at the start of my career.”
For a while, Lewis made himself useful in other ways. He became a development driver for smaller teams, logging laps during test days, experimenting with setups, and coaching young prospects.
It wasn’t glamorous, but it kept him close to the sport. Then came an unexpected pivot: a job at Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York. At first, he thought of instructing as a temporary lifeline, something to do until a full-time drive came along.
Instead, he discovered a talent for coaching and a new doorway into sports car racing.
Monticello gave him opportunities he never imagined. A member with a Pro Mazda car brought him back to competitive machinery, while another member invited him to run late-season races in Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
Lewis showed speed immediately, and Lamborghini took notice. The brand invited him to join its development program just as the Huracán GT3 was launching, placing him at the heart of the Italian marque’s racing future.
Even more improbably, Monticello handed him his biggest sponsorship break. On a cold, snowy day, he was assigned to coach a father and son.
They bonded over cars, swapped stories, and by the end of the day, the father casually suggested that Monster Energy would look great on the side of Lewis’s lime-green Lamborghini.
Lewis smiled politely, assuming it was just wishful thinking. Then the man handed over a business card with a Coca-Cola email address. Only afterward did Lewis realize he had spent the day with the company’s CEO.
A few months later, after Coca-Cola acquired a significant stake in Monster, the call came through: Monster Energy would sponsor him for the next three years. “That was the moment that really launched my sports car career,” Lewis says.
With backing and momentum, Lewis attacked his first full Super Trofeo season in 2015. He won nearly every race, missing victory only twice, and capped the campaign with a triumph at the World Finals at Sebring.
It was the only year the championship held its global finale on U.S. soil, and Lewis delivered a historic victory in front of a home crowd. To this day, only a handful of Americans have claimed that title.
It was the accomplishment that cemented his place in Lamborghini’s history and paved the way for a long partnership with the brand.
Through Lamborghini, Lewis connected with Paul Miller Racing in IMSA’s GTD class. His endurance résumé soon filled with the biggest prizes: the Rolex 24 at Daytona, two wins at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and podiums across the toughest races in North America.
He had gone from karting in Nazareth alongside the Andrettis to winning some of the most prestigious events in sports car racing.
Another familiar face reappeared in this chapter of his career. Kevin Conway, whom Lewis had battled in Super Trofeo years earlier, brought him back into the fold in 2023.
Together, they ran Toyota Supras in GT4 America, alongside rising star Tyler Gonzalez. Success came quickly, and the partnership sparked an idea: what if they started building something bigger themselves?
That something became RAFA Racing Team, founded by Conway and entrepreneur Rafael Martinez.
Lewis, already known for his coaching and leadership skills, slotted into a central role. “At first we thought it might be three or four cars,” he says. “Now we’re running 14 across five championships, and it’s still growing.”
His official title is competition manager for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo effort, though that hardly covers it.
“I’m still a driver, still a coach, sometimes an accountant, even a parts shipper,” he laughs. “It’s a job with many hats.”
Simulators, he admits, have changed the game. He encourages drivers to use them, but warns of the dangers. “You can reset in iRacing. You can’t in real life,” he says. For him, nothing replaces the lessons learned in a real car, where mistakes carry real consequences.
Coaching, in fact, has become as rewarding to him as driving. He compares it to his father’s role coaching him and his brother in youth sports.
“Seeing a driver nail the line, improve their lap time, or grab their first win—it’s just as fulfilling as doing it myself,” he says. Even coaching Martinez, the team owner himself, has been rewarding.
“It’s unique, telling the boss what to do,” Lewis jokes. “But Rafa’s a sponge. He admits when he’s struggling, and he just wants to learn. The gains he’s made already are huge.”
Looking back, Lewis sees the arc of his career not as a straight line but as a collection of surprising turns. From Nazareth farm kid chasing Marco Andretti around a karting track to world champion in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, from endurance classic winner to mentor shaping the next generation, his journey has been defined by resilience and reinvention.
Now, as RAFA Racing Team expands into one of North America’s most ambitious programs, Lewis finds himself at the center of it all—competitor, coach, manager, mentor.
“It’s amazing what we’ve built in such a short time,” he says. “It’s not easy, but results are the best marketing. Drivers and manufacturers are taking notice, and we’re just getting started.”
For Corey Lewis, the story that began in Nazareth with the Andrettis has become something much larger. He’s still chasing speed, but now he’s also passing it forward, ensuring that the next wave of racers finds the same kind of guidance he once received—from legends whose names still carry weight, and from the unlikely opportunities that have shaped his own remarkable career.
