By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
Women in motorsports is oftentimes associated with Venturini Motorsports, one of the most successful programs in the eight decade-long history of the ARCA Menards Series.
The organization is known as trailblazers in the world of stock car racing, most notably, having an all-female pit crew in the 1980s that helped owner/driver Bill Venturini win the 1987 championship.
In recent years, Venturini Motorsports have had several female racers driving one of the series flagship cars, ranging from ARCA West winner Gracie Trotter to current Indy NXT rookie Hailie Deegan.
Safe to say, the team has been a cornerstone of giving opportunities to women who are looking to make the next step in racing.
Despite the milestones, few females have come close but haven’t been able to win a national ARCA race.
Entering the 2025 national touring season, Venturini Motorsports will have a full-time racer and it’s none other than 20-year-old Isabella Robusto of South Carolina, who drove for them in select races a year ago.
Robusto is a part of the Toyota GAZOO Racing’s development program, and many have touted her as the female driver that could end the winless narrative.
Days before competing at Daytona International Speedway for the first time, Robusto told Motorsports Tribune last Wednesday that it’s a super neat opportunity to be driving the No. 55 Toyota this season.
One of the key elements that’s stood out to her already is how close and family bonding they are as is the case with her bond with Toyota.
“I’m super thankful to be a part of the amazing Toyota family and now part of the Venturini family. The team is just super close with each other,” said Robusto. “It’s really family and I’m excited for this year. We ran really good in the handful of races that I ran last year and competing for a championship.
“I’m feeling really confident going into this year and I feel like it’s gonna be a really good fit with the guys that I have in my crew right now.”
Among the races she ran well last year was both at the Nashville Fairgrounds and Irwindale Speedway. In those venues, Robusto was one spot shy of joining Trotter as the only female drivers to win an ARCA sanctioned race. Only bested by eventual regional champions William Sawalich (East at Nashville) and Sean Hingorani (West at Irwindale).
Those results served quite the confidence booster for Robusto as consistency will be key for her this season. In her eyes, it’ll bode well because sooner than later, she’s confident enough of becoming the first woman to win a national ARCA race.
“Knowing the team and the legacy that comes with running for Venturini means a lot. It helps with my confidence knowing that I’m in a car that’s won in the past and can win and is fast,” Robusto explained. “I feel like I just have to keep being consistent doing what I did last year, and the wins will just come to me. I feel like if I just keep pushing and making sure that I’m consistent and hitting my marks and just learning every single race that it’ll come.”
In ARCA, learning is the name of the game due to the range of a competitor’s experience and competence being extreme. Last Saturday’s season opener at Daytona was no exception like Robusto saw the highs and lows of superspeedway racing.
Battling against Jason Kitzmiller for fourth, Robusto was clipped by Jeff Scofield, who sent her into the backstretch wall before going around, resulting in a multi-car crash on Lap 45. The incident took out her Venturini teammate Lawless Alan and Hendrick Motorsports signed racer Corey Day, eliminating all of them from fighting for the win at Daytona.
Before her exit, Robusto was able to bring her car into the pits where the No. 55 team made repairs on pit road before going to the garage. She would come back to run a few more laps before retiring from the 80-lap race for good, finishing 21st.
The Complexity of a Concussion Recovery
This fierce competitor is no stranger of facing the danger racing provides. Two years ago, Robusto’s career hit a low point while battling for the win in a CARS Pro Late Model Tour race at Hickory Motor Speedway.
Coming to the white flag, Robusto was battling leader Mike Hopkins with neither driver giving an inch of each other for several laps. Suddenly, the tie rod on Robusto’s right front snapped and it sharply sent her car into the inside barriers with the violent impact injuring a photographer.
Robusto got out of her car under her own power and raced in the Late Model Stock race later that night, but she would be later diagnosed with a concussion that sidelined her for seven months.
Among the main diagnosis she endured were focus and equilibrium issues despite being able to do normal daily activities.
When Robusto was out of action, she expressed the difficulty of being at a racetrack and not being among the competitors. Additionally, she faced a lot of uncertainty if she’ll even be able to race again after thinking it was going to be a short-term absence.
“Not knowing how long I was gonna be out of the car was really challenging,” said Robusto. “I think that was the most mentally challenging year I’ve had, and I think it made me stronger.
“I was able to work through so much on the mental side of getting back into the car, making sure that I was physically ready and just getting over that kind of hurdle to get back in and run and I feel like I’ve come out stronger after.”
Fortunately, Robusto went back to work at the Toyota Performance Center where she recognized that concussions from females aren’t highly discussed nor researched enough in the world of sports compared to the men.
Concussions have altered or ended driver’s careers such as NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., former Daytona 500 champions LeeRoy Yarbrough and Ernie Irvan, and former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch.
Robusto, who had her concussion at the age of 19, felt there must be more awareness of the subject matter that’ll help females understand concussion symptoms.
“Concussions in general I feel like are the biggest thing that take players out of their sports from football to racing,” Robusto commented. “Just all kind of contact sports racing is in full contact like human to human, but you still hit the wall really hard to where you can get a concussion, and I feel like concussions are studied a lot just not in females and female anatomy is very different to males.
“So how you go and treat concussions, how concussions symptoms pop up and how you kind of have to go after them is very different and I learned a lot through that year and Toyota did as well and I think that’s definitely something that should have more focus and people researching it.”
When asked if an opportunity arises where she’d be an advocate of discussing about concussions from female athletes, she’d take it in a heartbeat.
“I would definitely be an advocate,” said Robusto. “I had people that I had to go to during my whole recovery that helped me get through it, who have also had concussions and it’s something that you just don’t know how long it will take.”
After what happened at Hickory, she explained there’s no definitive period of how long an athlete, regardless of gender, can recover from a concussion.
“It can take three weeks, or it can take a year,” Robusto commented. “So, there’s no sign of when it will get better, how long it will take, what you actually have to do to help get better and I would definitely help support someone through knowing kind of what I went through for that whole year.”
What’s In Store for Robusto in ARCA and Beyond?
Months of recovery and Toyota’s support, Robusto returned behind the wheel at the Nashville Fairgrounds in late 2023 where she finished 16th in a preliminary event for the All American 400, the circuit’s most prestigious short track race.
From there, there’s been no signs of Robusto slowing down anytime soon. While Daytona didn’t go as planned, she has 19 races to bounce back and achieve her goals.
In ARCA’s national level, they run at various tracks such as the high banks of Daytona, bull rings like Salem, clay dirt at DuQuoin, and Robusto’s favorite type of racing – road courses.
Of all the venues in the ARCA calendar, Lime Rock in June sticks out as the venue she’s most excited to compete in this season.
Robusto has shown she’s no slouch on the road courses as she finished third at Portland International Raceway and sixth at Sonoma Raceway last year in ARCA West.
“I love road course racing. I grew up karting and I had a ton of fun, so I’m looking forward to the road courses,” said Robusto. “(Lime Rock’s) a track that everyone really hasn’t been to in a stock car, so I think it’s gonna be a level playing field for everyone where the driver can make the difference.”
Ever since her karting days when she competed against her twin brother Will, who’ll compete in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America Series, it’s always been about creating memories but also showcases her competitive nature on the track.
“Being with family was a big thing, especially in carding when I got to race my twin brother for the first seven years that I grew up racing,” said Robusto. “That was a big aspect of having something that we could do as a family, and it was always a racing side of a race with my brother. It was winning bragging rights for that week but also winning the overall race.”
As mentioned, Robusto has had success running out West, a region that’s seen a lot of heartache in terms of venue stability.
With Fontana’s fate facing doubt and Irwindale Speedway being closed for good and subsequently demolished, stock car racing on the West Coast slowly withered and Robusto expressed the impact of the region losing venues.
“Irwindale was probably one of my top three tracks that I’ve raced at,” Robusto commented. “It was really fun just being able to run up top and if you wanted to pass you could kind of throw a slider type move. I ran very well there.”
“I feel like the legacy of Irwindale is still there. The last race that they had in December before it obviously closed. I wanted to be a part of it but wasn’t able to,” Robusto continued.
“But I think for the West, there’s still a lot of tracks that they have that mean a lot. Sonoma, you’ve got Phoenix of course and I ran at Kern County as well. And I think that could be a really fun racetrack too if you got a big group of really talented drivers to go out there and race.”
As far as the region’s future, Robusto loved running at Irwindale and hopes that Kevin Harvick’s involvement with the CARS Tour, the region, can slowly become a popular destination for racers that want to pursue a career in motorsports.
“Kevin built up the CARS Tour on the East Coast and I ran that last year and it’s probably, if not the biggest late model series on the East Coast right now,” said Robusto. “I think if he takes the same approach with the West Coast that it will become the same thing.
“Maybe one day you’re able to run kind of like a national late model series where you go and race on the West Coast and the East Coast and I think it has potential, especially with Harvick backing it with all the kind of input and advice that he can give.”
While the national ARCA championship will be Robusto’s priority, she can attest that competing in the CARS Tour over the years have molded her of becoming a stronger racer.
From the track characteristics down to the equipment, Robusto knows that competing in the tour indicates that she’s competing with some of the top-notch short track racers in the country. A proven ground to learn that could translate into a superb ARCA campaign.
“When you go to CARS Tour, you know that you have the best of the best drivers, equipment crew. Every time that I ran for qualifying, everyone was within two, maybe three tenths of a second. So, it’s really close racing,” Robusto on the CARS Tour.
“It’s really tough racing and for me I learned so much because the driver had to make the difference, not the car. All of the tracks that you go to are so different. It’s really good for learning race craft as well as just kind of how to better yourself as a race car driver.”
Robusto’s next national ARCA race will indeed be out West as the second round of the ARCA Menards Series heads to Phoenix Raceway Friday, March 7 (8 p.m. ET on FS1). The venue where she finished sixth in her national series debut for Venturini Motorsports a year ago.
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