Brit Lilly And The Art Of Reinvention – Speed on the Water

From his well-traveled T-shirts to his scruffy beard, nothing about 37-year-old Brit Lilly—the new driver for the Super Cat-class Dirty Money team that will debut its new Skater Powerboats catamaran next month in Key West, Fla.—is flashy. Beyond his performance on the racecourse, the multi-time offshore racing world champion who owns Lilly Sport Boats (and builds boats of his own there) in the sprawling metropolis of Arnold, Md., does nothing to call attention to himself. He’s polite and easygoing around his many fans, an approachable husband and father whose eyes light up when his wife, Amanda, and three-year-old daughter, Stella Rogue, are anywhere near him.

Brit Lilly could be the most versatile driver in offshore powerboat racing. Photo by Cole McGowan copyright Powerboat P1.

Lilly came to the Dirty Money gig with a particularly strong reference, that of Peter Hledin, the founder of Skater Powerboats in Douglas, Mich.

“Beau and Tiffiney Renfroe and Bill Pyburn of Dirty Money were at Skater and they told Peter they were looking for a new driver me for their new Super Cat,” Lilly explained. “Peter told them he highly recommended me and they reached out.

“I told them this is a lifestyle for me and I take this stuff seriously,” he continued. “No one turns down a Super Cat ride, but I told them when I wanted to meet to see what I could do for them and they could do for me.”

And, as an offshore racer, Lilly is arguably the sport’s most adaptable driver. This season alone, he alternated with driver Travis Pastrana in the cockpit of Huski Ice Spritz, a Class 1 raceboat throttled by legendary racer Steve Curtis. The team claimed a world championship in 2022 and finished second overall this season in the Class 1 series, and Lilly played a major role in both titles.

The final race of the Class 1 series, the St. Petersburg Grand Prix saw Pastrana in the Huski Ice Spritz cat with Curtis, so Lilly joined his longtime throttleman, Kevin Smith, in the cockpit of his LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness/Rev-X Oil raceboat he built himself for the Mod V contest. Lilly and Smith led early until a coil wire came loose and knocked them out of the contest. The team finished second behind Sun Print’s Steve Miklos and Steve Fehrmann, which would go on to claim the 2023 Mod V American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship.

Not long after the St. Pete event, Huski let the team know it was exiting Class 1, likely for good. And the Renfroes and Pyburn, who were well-aware of Lilly’s talents, were paying attention.

“We went through a bunch of names and Brit kept coming up to the top of list,” Beau Renfroe recalled. “Then we got word that Huski fell apart, so we all decided to meet.”

Sharing the driver’s seat of the Huski team Class 1 raceboat with his childhood friend Travis Pastrana was a dream come true for Lilly. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“It was a shock to first hear they weren’t going to Key West in November,” Lilly said. “But it was even more of a shock to hear that they won’t be around next season.”

Lilly paused for a moment.

“I didn’t know that that the Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan (Wis.) was going to be my last time in the Huski boat,” he continued softly. “I fell in love with that team—they are family to me. I hope they will still be at the races because they truly are some of the best people in the world.”

And yet Lilly, a master of reinvention, will be back in a catamaran of the Skater Powerboats 388 kind with second-year Super Cat throttleman Bill Pyburn, Jr. of the Dirty Money team next month at the Race World Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla. And alongside throttleman Jay Wohltman he’s also campaign his own Mod V-class LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness raceboat in Key West that week.

Lilly will be gunning for another Mod V-class world championship in Key West next month.

“I’m super-pumped,” he said. “I hope to win another Mod V world title and I expect to see Dirty Money on the podium in Key West. I really feel like we can learn from each other. I am so freaking blessed—it was an honor to be even thought of for this team.

“I told them, ‘I can drive a boat and you will not be disappointed,’” he added, then laughed. “If you like me, I’m yours.”