Proud Isabella Robusto Details Dominant ARCA Debut After Rain Spoiled 8-Month Long Wait

“It’s unreal. I wish we had one less caution there,” said the debutant Isabella Robusto, wanting more high-speed action in Phoenix where she finished a spectacular P6, battling against a wave of tough competition and very hostile weather. Slated to have a breakout ARCA debut, the racer’s plan was put on hold after she ran into bad luck at the Late-Model race. 

Reflecting on the 150-mile race at Phoenix Raceway, General Tire 150, the 19-year-old lady driver spoke her mind, thanking her partners and Toyota for bringing her on board.

Isabella Robusto divulges her thumping ARCA debut in Phoenix

Young Robusto must be feeling a sense of catharsis after crossing the finish line in sixth with a spectacular finish, as her debut in the series was put on hold for almost a year. The Fort Mill native suffered a head trauma in a Pro Late Model crash at Hickory Motor Speedway in April. That incident solely kept her off the track for most of the year. Meanwhile, Robusto’s planned ARCA appearances with Venturini Motorsports were scrapped and postponed to 2024.

The driver’s plan was simple: make her ARCA debut in the East Series race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, followed by a mix of short tracks and road course races. However, the lingering effects of her concussion persisted every time Robusto tried climbing into a race car. In fact, she experienced dizziness, poor hand-eye coordination, and equilibrium issues, all of which prolonged her recovery, holding off her ARCA venture.

After nearly one year (eight months, to be precise), the youngster is back in the racecar, for VMS, piloting their #55 Toyota.

Delighted to see herself bounce back and race in the league against tried and tested drivers, she thanked her manufacturer and sponsor, Mobil 1. The proud driver, after the race, where she maintained a top 5 position throughout, said, “The race went about 15 laps longer. Cars definitely way better on the long runs and we saw that in the first half was able to run up to the end of third place and was running down second there for a while. So had a really good car.”

She further added, “My Toyota Camry was really fast and I think that I have a lot that I need to kind of go back and watch and learn from from this. I think restarts and kind of learning how the air works is going to be the main things I need to go and research before we go back for the next race.” 

The driver details her journey into the ARCA series

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Shortly after VMS confirmed in January 2023 that it would bring the young Toyota Development Driver (TD2) onto their 2023 squad, the South Carolina native got a concussion sidelining her for the rest of the year. Despite the initial setback, she had the best debut possible, securing a top-notch top-10 finish at the one-mile track in Phoenix.

In light of this, she took to ‘X’ detailing what inspired her. She wrote, “Back in 2018. David Wilson responded to a tweet that was talking about the future of female drivers in NASCAR. He said, ‘Perhaps the most literal interpretation of kids driving NASCAR. Thanks, Jack Irvingjr and Tyler TRD for the vision and leadership’.”

https://twitter.com/IsabellaRobusto/status/1765822984097247281?s=20

“And I responded with… ‘I want this, I’ll work hard. Learn all I can, and always raise to win. And hopefully, I can be considered for this awesome program one day’. And then that’s when Jack Irvingjr responded, ‘you’re next kid’.”

“Since I was five years old, I always loved racing. Starting in Go Karts, to bandos, to legend cars, late models, and going to races, watching races on TV,” added Robusto, thanking all her inspiration while crediting her peers for all the success.

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