Isabella Robusto, Taylor Reimer silence doubters by making ARCA history at the Springfield Mile

The noise on social media began immediately after Venturini Motorsports announced four women – Isabella Robusto, Taylor Reimer, Toni Breidinger and Amber Balcaen – would race for the team in the Springfield ARCA 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

The words included positive encouragement, but also the opposite. The hateful comments, though, did nothing to distract any of the four women who competed on the one-mile dirt oval Sunday.

All rose to the occasion, and two made history.

Robusto finished second in her third ARCA Menards Series start and her first on dirt. Reimer finished third in just her second series start. Breidinger was not far behind in sixth, and Balcaen finished eighth.

Robusto and Reimer’s results marked the first time on record that two women finished inside the top three in the same ARCA Menards Series race.

“I wanted to win; I was one spot away from that,” said Robusto, who piloted the No. 20 Toyota out of the Venturini stable. “It’s really cool to have multiple females in the series, but also doing well and competing up front. It was really cool to have four of us out there and have all of us with Venturini.

“Usually when I’m racing, I’m the only female, or there might be one other. It was pretty cool to have a bunch of us out there.”

 

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Multiple factors worked against Robusto on the Springfield Mile, not the least of which was the fact that Sunday’s race was just her second dirt-racing experience. Her first came only a few weeks prior at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway, where she raced a Winged Micro for the first time.

“My first ever lap on dirt was qualifying (at Millbridge),” she said. “I had 29 laps around Millbridge. It was supposed to be 30, but I got lapped, so that tells you my level of dirt experience. Going into the race, I knew it was going to be a pretty big learning curve for me.”

Robusto also had to start at the rear of the field Sunday after missing qualifying due to a mechanical issue.

“I used practice to figure out where the limits were,” she said. “I definitely missed a couple corners. I kind of just figured out where the limit was. Unfortunately, we had some mechanical issues that kept us from qualifying, so I did have to start in the back. I feel like that helped, I had to learn how to get through the back of the field.”

Neither her lack of dirt experience nor her starting position hindered Robusto’s performance. She made her way into the top five by Lap 25 and was second before Lap 50. She faded a bit during the late stages of the race, but an overtime restart allowed her to regain second place on the final lap.

Robusto’s runner-up result made her the fourth woman on record to finish second in an ARCA Menards Series race, joining Hailie Deegan, Erin Crocker and Shawna Robinson.

“I’d say that’s pretty good,” Robusto said.

👏 Hear from these two @VenturiniMotor teammates who finished on the podium at Springfield!

P2 for @IsabellaRobusto and P3 for @taylorreimerr! pic.twitter.com/4T7cjyHSuh

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) August 18, 2024

Unlike Robusto, Reimer entered the Springfield ARCA 100 with ample dirt-racing experience. She began her racing career on dirt, and in 2022. she became the first woman to win a national dirt midget car event.

Reimer made her ARCA debut one year ago at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, finishing eighth. In the year since, she has put in the work to get more comfortable in stock cars by racing and winning in Late Models at tracks like Tri-County Motor Speedway and Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

The extra work paid off in a big way Sunday. She qualified third in the No. 55 Venturini Motorsports Toyota and flexed her muscle by consistently turning some of the fastest laps of the race.

“This weekend was night and day compared to last year,” Reimer said. “Last year was kind of pointless for not having any experience. It really wasn’t beneficial. I think overall, having raced last year and how we did this year shows how far I’ve come.

“It shows the progress I’ve made on the stock car side and on the pavement side, too. Last year was my very first stock-car race. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It was the first time I’d ever had a spotter. It just shows the progress we’ve made.”

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Reimer’s afternoon was how she responded to an early setback. During a Lap 8 restart, she was shuffled to the outside in Turns 3-4 and bumped from third all the way to 11th.

“For something like that to happen early on in the was a little bit frustrating,” Reimer said. “Our goal coming into the race was just to do the best we could. I knew I had a really good car and a really good team behind me and that we were going to make our way back to the front.”

Utilizing an immense amount of patience, Reimer worked her way back through the field. She reached third on the final lap when passed Lavar Scott through Turns 3 and 4 to score her first top-five finish in ARCA Menards Series competition.

“It’s something that’s super special,” Reimer said of finishing inside the top three alongside Robusto. “Obviously we want more females in this sport. I hope I am a role model for younger girls coming up in racing and (can) show it’s possible to race up there and be in contention for a win.”

In the end, the social media noise didn’t matter. The women of Venturini Motorsports let their driving do the talking.

Two top-five and four top-10 finishes later, all the noise simply faded away.

“I think it’s really good that we can all back up what we’re trying to say, that we’re able to drive, but we’re also able to be competitive,” Robusto said. “When we run up front, I feel like it makes those people go quiet.”