Four women will compete in Sunday’s ARCA Menards Series Springfield ARCA 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, and they’ll all be driving for Venturini Motorsports.
Full-time competitors Toni Breidinger and Amber Balcaen will be joined on the Venturini team by Isabella Robusto and Tayler Reimer for the 100-lap dirt track event.
It marks the first time Venturini Motorsports has fielded entries for four women in the same event, but it’s hardly the first time the team has made history in such a manner.
During the 2018 Scott 150 at Chicagoland Speedway, the team fielded entries for Breidinger, Natalie Decker and Leilani Munter. It was the first time the team had fielded entries for three women in the same event. The team is also known for utilizing the first all-female pit crew in ARCA history. Known as the Ultra Blue Crew, the women were the primary crew for Bill Venturini in 1985, 1986 and the team’s first championship in 1987.
“Over the past couple of decades, we’ve seen more women drivers making a positive impact on our sport,” said Venturini Motorsports owner Billy Venturini. “Although female drivers competing at this level is nothing new, I’ve seen more and more talented women drivers coming up the ranks the last few years. These women on our team are great role models for younger girls looking at our sport. This weekend will be special, but honestly, I don’t really look at it as gender specific – for us it’s just another day at the track with our drivers.”
Breidinger is Venturini Motorsports’ longest tenured female competitor and has four top five and 23 top 10 finishes in 57 ARCA Menards Series starts. She’s in her second full season of ARCA Menards Series competition.
Piloting the No. 22 Toyota, Balcaen is also in the midst of her second full season of ARCA Menards Series competition and her first with Venturini. In 35 career starts, Balcaen has earned 11 top-10 finishes.
Robusto, who will take the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota for Sunday’s race, will make just her third ARCA Menards Series start. In her previous two starts this season, she finished fourth at Elko Speedway and sixth at Phoenix Raceway.
Reimer made her debut at the Illinois State Fairgrounds one year ago with an eighth-place finish. While best known for becoming the first woman to win a national midget event, she has been spending her time recently racing Late Models in the Southeast.
The quartet of women will be joined on the Venturini Motorsports team by full timer Kris Wright, who most recently finished third in a thrilling photo finish at Elko.
Performance Seed Dirt Double returns
For the third consecutive season, the Performance Seed Dirt Double returns as part of the ARCA Menards Series’ two annual dirt-track events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
The Performance Seed Dirt Double is a bonus program that will reward any driver who can sweep both 100-lap dirt races on the ARCA Menards Series schedule with an additional $20,000 bonus.
If no driver wins both dirt races, the bonus will be split among the top three drivers with the best average finish between the two events. The driver with the best average finish will receive $7,500, the runner-up will get $5,000, and third place will get $2,500.
So far, no driver has captured the bonus for sweeping both races. The driver who came the closest was Jesse Love, who won the race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds before finishing second to Ryan Unzicker at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
The last driver to sweep both dirt races in the same season was Parker Kligerman, who accomplished the feat in 2009.
Kelly Kovski back for more ARCA dirt action
One of the ARCA Menards Series’ longest tenured dirt competitors is back again in pursuit of his first victory.
Kelly Kovski, who has been competing in ARCA Menards Series races at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds since 2004, will again join the fray on Sunday in Springfield, Illinois.
The native of Sherman, Illinois has come agonizingly close to winning on dirt with the ARCA Menards Series in the past.
In 2011 at DuQuoin, he qualified on the front row and led five laps before finishing fourth. The following season at the Springfield Mile, he qualified third, led four laps and finished fourth.
During the 2015 event at the Springfield Mile, Kovski stormed from 30th at the start to finish third behind A.J. Fike and Kyle Weatherman. One year later, he put together arguably his best performance when he led 14 laps at DuQuoin before finishing a career-best second.
In all, Kovski seven top-five and 23 top-10 finishes, nearly all on dirt. This season, he’ll again pilot his own No. 16 Chevrolet as he looks to add his name to the historic list of ARCA Menards Series dirt winners.
NOTES
- With 21 cars entered for Sunday’s event, the number of entries is tied for the largest field at the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the ARCA Menards Series since 2017, when 26 cars took the green flag. Twenty-one cars competed in the Springfield ARCA 100 in 2019 and 2022.
- For the first time since the third race of the season at Talladega Superspeedway, Sean Corr will return to the ARCA Menards Series field Sunday at Springfield. He has two previous starts at the track, including last season when he qualified second before falling out of the race due to a mechanical failure.
- Also returning to ARCA competition on Sunday is veteran Dale Quarterley, who will make just the second ARCA dirt start of his long career.
- Sunday’s Springfield ARCA 100 will be the 42nd race for the ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds dating back to 1983. Twenty-five different drivers have won ARCA events at the track, with Frank Kimmel leading all drivers with eight wins.
![visit Sunoco3c [converted] website - opens in the same window](https://www.arcaracing.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/01/Sunoco3c-Converted-291x180.png "visit Sunoco3c [converted] website - opens in the same window")
