Isabella Robusto: Driven Different: Building A Brand In A Male-Dominated Sport

In this episode of the Women’s Motorsports Network Podcast, Melinda Russell sits down with 21-year-old ARCA driver Isabella Robusto to talk about her journey from go-karts at age four to racing full-time in the ARCA Menards Series.

Isabella shares how the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program launched her career, how Toyota’s Driver Development program shaped her path, and why the work off the track matters just as much as what happens on it.

From overcoming injury to building her personal brand “Driven Different,” Isabella opens up about racing, resilience, preparation, and her five-year goal to reach the NASCAR Cup Series.

This is a conversation about discipline, authenticity, and what it really takes to compete at the highest levels.

Transcript

Meet Isabella Robusto

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports. From drivers to crew members, engineers to fans, and everyone in between, we're here to celebrate the trailblazers, dreamers, and doers shaping the sport we love. Each episode, we share inspiring stories of females of all ages from every corner of the motorsports universe, past, present, and future. It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter, and a whole lot of horsepower. So whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself, or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax, and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us. This is the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports one story at a time. Let's hit the track. Hello everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network podcast. And I have one of my favorite people today on the podcast here with me. She doesn't realize that I've been maybe following her career for a while, and we've met a few times, but Isabella, I know you meet so many people. How would you even remember? But Isabella Robusto is with me today. And if you don't know who she is, then you've been living under a rock if you're involved in motorsports, because it's a name that you should know for sure. And so, Isabella, I want you to tell me a little bit about yourself first, you know, pets, family, anything that you want to share, and then we'll talk about motorsports.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, so I my name is Isabella Robosto. I'm 21 years old. Started driving when I was four, but kind of on like the outside of racing, kind of finished school early, graduated early, and now I'm in college. I go online at Arizona State University. So my major is aerospace engineering and lots of math and physics and when I do my schoolwork in the evenings. But I have a twin brother, the older of the two, so I always make sure to remind him because he's way taller than me now, so I can't pick on him as much. But uh always remind him I'm the older twin, and then my mom and dad, huge supporters of mine for racing and always have been. And I just got a puppy last year, so he's a ball of energy, but I'm a brave doodle, so he's he's good to be around. He loves when I come home from races and he's always there, so uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, our dogs are just the best, aren't they? We just all love our dogs to pieces. That's just you know, no matter how long we've been gone, they're always happy to see us, and and that's that's so fun for sure. So, what's your brother's name? Uh Will. Will and so is Will involved in racing at all? He is.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

So we ended up racing almost every single race against each other until we were 14, and he stuck to the sports car path. I kind of stuck towards the NASCAR path with the Johnson Adversity team. And so last year was actually really fun. I got to go race a handful of races against him, and it was the first time in I think five or six years that we had raced against each other. So it was fun to be at the track with him, race against him, kind of bring back that little kind of bragging rights, I would say, is what it is now when we were younger. It was kind of a race inside of a race for whoever won got first hits on chores and different things, but it was fun just to kind of go back and race with him. And so he races full time in the GR Cup series.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Okay, all right. So people could follow him there if you want to. Yeah, that's that's very cool. So I know you live in Mooresville now. Where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Uh I grew up in Fort Mill, South Carolina, so not too too far away, and so definitely still a race in the racing cup. Yeah, yeah.

Family, Sports, And Early Passions

SPEAKER_00 4:06

So, not like some of the gals I've interviewed who grew up in California and at the age of 18 moved all the way across the country with no family. And it's just like it still amazes me how that you could do that. I don't know if I could let my 18-year-old daughter do that, but but at least you weren't too awfully far from no, no, not too far. Yeah, yeah, that's good. So, Isabella, if somebody googled you today, what would they what would they find out about you that maybe we didn't know?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Oh, that one's hard. Well, yesterday I made a post that a lot of people didn't know about that I played football growing up. So that was a lot of people texted me yesterday when I I just made like a Super Bowl post and had some throwback pictures, and that was something a lot of people didn't know, but yeah, I grew up playing a lot of sports outside of racing. Did drag and field was kind of like my main thing, did football, basketball, kind of played hockey in lacrosse growing up, so lots of sport, but racing obviously is my love and kind of what I wanted to stick to.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yeah, what you know, at as you get older, you kind of start eliminating yeah, I'm not that interested in basketball anymore, I'm not that interested in this anymore. And then there's one that usually rises to the top, and for you it's been racing.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah, yeah. I uh football was fun until the guys got big enough to wear hurt when I got tackled, but yeah, love all sports, love just being kind of active throughout the day.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

So and are you a big fan of watching sports on television? Not really, no.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

I like watching racing, but kind of other sports. I feel like I'm when I like watch TV, it's normally the food network, so it's not not sports related.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Okay, so do you like to cook?

SPEAKER_01 5:57

I do, I love to cook. I make all of my meals normally from scratch, at least meal prep every week for most of my meals, and then I love watching the food network, just always trying to make something new.

The Path From Karts To NASCAR

SPEAKER_00 6:09

So okay, that's cool. That's a lifelong, that's a lifelong skill. So that that's good, that's great. Um, so you started when you were really little racing. So give me your path. How did you get to where you are today?

Drive For Diversity And Toyota

SPEAKER_01 6:26

So I grew up racing kind of every anything and everything. I've got pictures of my brother and I sitting in front of the TV when we were two or three months old watching the Daytona 500. But from what I can remember, it was always a race. I my brother and I in the driveway on scooters, bikes, whatever it was, we always had racetracks built and always raced. And at four years old, my dad put the two of us into go-karts, and yeah, I really kind of just fell in love with it there. And it kind of progressed to where we started with one type of car on one track, and then we got into a different go-kart and then a different class or whatever it might be, and did that. And we both were succeeding, winning, and running up front, and so my dad kind of let us progress through the levels. And my mom was not a huge fan of the start, she didn't like her little kids driving around in go-karts real quick, and so it took a little bit for her to warm up to it. But I think seeing how much we both loved it and enjoyed it kind of helped with that, and then continued to race go-karts all the way up until I was 12 years old. But when I was seven, I ended up testing and getting into bandoleros, which are tiny little mini stock cars, and yes, I started in those at seven, started racing at eight. So did kind of like a full year of testing just to learn everything and then race those until I was 11. Same thing, kind of progressed, won a lot of things, fought for championships, ran up front, and then moved into legend cars at 11. I ended up getting a waiver to be able to move up early. Now the age is 11 to move up and race, but when I was racing, it was 12. So got to go up and race a year early in those, and I had a lot of fun. That was definitely one of my struggling years because I didn't have that year of practice like I had in kind of everything else before we went and raced it. And so learned a lot that year, did another year kind of just of legend cars and signed up for the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program when I was 11 and ended up joining the team at the end of the year. So I was 11, almost about to turn 12, and joined the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program. Ended up doing a year and a half of legend cars with them, but ended up getting to be kind of in that whole team and group and go to the late model races, go to the arca races, see more of what went into racing, minus just showing up and going to the track. And they put me through media training. I started actually working out and going to a gym and doing prep work before races, all the things that you don't really think about until you're older and you realize what goes into to racing. And so that was kind of, I feel like when I realized, okay, like if I want racing to be what I want to do for my career, then this is this is what's gonna have to take priority. And so that was around the age of 13. And so I started to step aside of the other sports and continue to play throughout middle school and then went online for high school, and it kind of worked timing-wise with COVID to where I was able to finish high school real quick and graduate early, and that helped free up some time. But yeah, started legend cars with the Drive for Everc program when I was 14. I only got a couple of races that year with them, and then same thing when I was 15. COVID hit, so I think I only ended up doing six races or so that year, but I'm still super good to be part of the team. I learned so much with the Drive for Everc team and being able to work close with NASCAR and just running good in their cars and running better than most in their cars helped Toyota see me. And that really kind of was like the turning point in my career to where I could step to the next level. And Toyota, I ended up joining Toyota when I was 16 and getting into their driver development program, and I'm now entering my fifth year with them, so it's been super amazing for all the help and support that they've done. I really kind of wouldn't be able to do it without them, and so same thing, just continue to evolve on and off the racetrack and learn the things that I need to do off the track, the media stuff, that how much nutrition and hydration actually went into it, and then same thing like the mental health side, and just Toyota helps a lot with that, which I feel like it just helps when you get out onto the track and you can focus more on what matters, you're racing, hitting your marks, and you don't have to worry about being dehydrated or not being fuel-dried or whatever it might be. And so joined Toyota when I was 16, ran late model stocks with them for a full year with Leafawk Racing. I learned a ton, won a couple races, and then the following year I ran pro late models, super late models, late model stocks, GR cup cards, GT4 Supras, and then I was supposed to make my arca debut. So that year was kind of run everything that you can, learn all that you can, run on all different types of tracks, all different types of cars, and I ended up actually getting hurt and had was out of the car for just under 10 months from a really bad crash and had a concussion. And so that year and the plan kind of got flipped upside down of what it was supposed to be. And so I it was the week before I was supposed to make my ARCA debut, is when I crashed, and so that got put off for a whole year. Toyota was a huge help in getting me back onto the track, and it the process was a lot longer than we thought it was gonna be. And so the next year did part-time ARCA and then ran full-time cars tour with Lee Polium performance, and then last year, my first year full-time and kind of like the NASCAR world running full-time ARCA with Venerini. So crazy journey, but I've loved every second of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Yeah, and and you know, it as far as experience, you've raced about every kind of car that you can, right? And yeah, and so you know, that has to help experience-wise, and and when you get on the track, confidence, all those things. Did you have a favorite of all those kinds? Like, if you could just run one kind of car and be, you know, make it your life's career. Is there a is there a car or series that you really like the best?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I feel like it's more every car has a kind of a part that I love about it. And same thing with the series, like every series is completely different. The stock car world versus the sports car world is very different. And my love is road course racing. I grew up road course racing with go-karts, obviously, for almost 10 years, and so I love road course racing kind of in all cars, they're very different of how you have to obviously drive a sports car versus a stock car. And I feel like road course racing is in any car is my favorite just because you can race in the rain, you can have like all these crazy situations, but you you're still racing, and so yeah, I I think any car on a road course is probably gonna be my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Okay. Would you ever be interested in going to indie car?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

So I've only actually done open wheel stuff once. I did some F3 stuff, but I really enjoyed it. It just kind of wasn't the path that I was on. And with being with the Drive for Diversity program and now at Toyota, like my path is kind of laid out of what cars I'm racing, what series, and all of that. And so if I had the option and had the opportunity to go and do a race, like to run the N500 would be super cool, like Kyle Larson does. I definitely would not say no to it, but I don't think that's gonna be kind of like my career path.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Yeah, at least not in the next couple years, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah, no, I'm I'm definitely open for it. I love racing and would race kind of anything. You know, you grow up wanting to be an F1 driver, and it kind of changes the path of of where you end up, but it all racing I love. So I I would be open to kind of anything.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Well, and the chance that you had by being in Drive for Diversity, that program, that's an amazing program. And to start at such a young age and be able to stick it, stick with it for a while, is you know, that's an opportunity that most young people don't have. And so, you know, that that's definitely given you a path that is going to be successful and has been successful. So we can't can't look away from that for sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

No, for sure. I I learned so much being with the Drive for Diversity program, and without it, I wouldn't have been seen by Toyota and I wouldn't be in the Toyota driver development now. So yeah, looking back, it's it's a crazy journey, but yeah, I've learned so much.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

So yeah. And you know, like you said, there's so many things that when you're when you're, of course, at the age of 10, who how are you gonna know about media and all that? Come on, let's go. But but you know, there is so much more to motorsports and being successful in motorsport, other than being able to get behind the wheel and and drive to the front. And and nowadays there's so much competition that you have to be the full package, you have to be able to do it all. And so, you know, there's been I know a lot of things you had to learn. What what's been the hardest thing for you to really grasp and and hold on to and learn?

Injury, Recovery, And Resilience

SPEAKER_01 16:26

There's a lot of things that I've I've learned, but I think now I understand that the stuff you do off track is almost more important than what you do on track. Obviously, you need to win, you need to run up front, but I think what you do off the track is so much greater because you need to be the whole package, like you said, you have to have the media side at the end of the day, you have to have sponsors too, and you have to be able to go get sponsors. And that's something that I've been working on the last year or two is really kind of learning the business side of racing, and it there's so much that you can learn, and I still have so much to learn kind of on that side of okay, how does the business side work? You have to be able to bring money to kind of move up the ladder, and the higher you go, the more expensive things are. And so learning that side has been kind of a big challenge for me, and I feel like I've gotten a lot better versus where kind of on the media side, I did start when I was 11 with the NASCAR team, and so I'm super grateful for that because now I look back and I'm like, wow, it doesn't feel like I've done interviews for a decade, but I guess that is true, and it it kind of makes me feel old in that sense, which is funny because I'm not really that old. But saying, like, yeah, I have a decade of media training is not normally something you would see on a 21-year-old's resume. And so I feel like there's parts of the off-track that I've gotten pretty good at over the years, and there's also things that I need to work on, but the biggest thing I've learned is how important the off-track stuff is and what you do from Monday to Friday, and how important that is versus kind of the Saturday-Sunday stuff.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah, yeah, for sure, because it's it would be easy for us to go to social media and just scroll back this year, last year, whenever, and find some some people that may that that have been in racing a long time that have made some big mistakes in that regard. And it's so easy to do the wrong thing. You know, and and at the time it doesn't seem like a big deal, and then it gets blown out of proportion and and it isn't big. So so the media side of it and the being comfortable, like you said, uh, you know, talking to sponsors, interacting with sponsors, I think uh starting at a young age uh has is an advantage because you you know uh young kids don't think about all the things they can't do. Okay. When you're 10, you don't even think that I can't talk to sponsors, you just think you can't, right? You just think you can, you can do anything. And and so when you get that confidence at a young age and you start doing it, and now you look back and you think, you know, that was maybe harder than I thought, but it was a good experience. And and I'm a hundred percent with you that off the track is as important, if not more important, than how you drive.

Road Courses And Series Choices

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I I 100% agree, and the not having fear as a child definitely helps me because I from 11 years old, I was on the Today show, and when I was 13 I got the NASCAR youth driver award, and I had to go do give a speech in front of 300 people in NASCAR. And so back then it was like, okay, like let me just go do this. And then now if I had to like when I have to go speak in front of two, three, four hundred people, whatever it might be, I'm like, man, I gotta really like prep for this, think it through. Like you you get those nerves, but I think doing it at such a young age, like you said, with with no fear, definitely has helped speed up the process for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Oh yeah, oh yeah, for sure, for absolutely sure. And and you know, there there's things that I think you've probably learned along the way that you didn't even realize was a big deal, and and now that you're in a bigger series and you've got you're getting a lot more attention, and you can kind of look back and say, whoo, I'm glad I learned how to do this or that for sure. So, you know, you're a racer, you're a woman in racing, but you're also a brand. And that's something that you know, when you were 10, we probably didn't even think about that, you know, that a race car driver is a brand. So how what do you talk to me about that? What what does that mean to you to be a brand?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

So it's funny that she bring this up just because I've that's kind of been my project over this off season is really kind of diving in and thinking about okay, what is the Isabella Robusto brand? What do I want my brand to be and represent? And so I've come up with kind of like the slogan driven different because I think it really describes me in a good way with everything that I do from school to racing to kind of my everyday life of just even though I might be the minority in the group, whether it be with racing and being one of the only females out on track, or in the gym being kind of one of the only females, or in school, there's not a lot of female engineers and same thing. So I think driven different is what I want my brand to be and kind of show the Pillars of me, of I want to be authentic. I don't want to kind of fake my way into kind of my brand. I want my brand to be me. I want it to be when I have a bad day, I'm gonna show I have a bad day. I want to show that I can be funny, but also serious at times. And when I'm at the track, like, hey, this is what I do. Like this, this is what I do to prep. This is what I do in the car. Like, this is what I think about. If there's something crazy I think about in the car or whatever it might be, and just showing the determination that I've had, I feel like since a really young age, that driven different just helps describe. And I think there's a lot of females, especially in male-dominated sports, not just racing, but and even professions that kind of feel the same way of you have to be on a different level just to be able to compete. And so if you want to be elite, you have to take a whole nother step because you are in a male-dominated sport, you are in a male-dominated kind of career path, whatever it might be. And so I feel like it helps represent me and what I hope my brand to be as well.

Off-Track Skills And Business Side

SPEAKER_00 23:07

I I love that it's short, it's it says exactly who you are. And then the other thing that you that you said that I really like is you know, when you're at the track or wherever you are, you're at home, you're your authentic self. You're not putting on, you're not, you're not sitting there thinking, oh, I need to do this because of my brand. It's it's like who is Isabella and and then what how does she think? How does she how does she live? How does she do everything in life? And and Isabella, that is such a I think for for other young girls to see that, to see that they can be themselves because I don't care if you're a model or a race car driver or the CEO of some company, there's an expectation that people have that maybe isn't always fair. And to be able to just say, No, I I don't do this, I don't work out eight hours a day, I don't do this is how I live and this is how I am. And to me, that is such a big deal, and it's so I would think rewarding to you and and to your parents to be able to see you be that person, be the person that you are.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah, I think it definitely is. And I'm not a huge fan of social media. That's something that I've had to kind of force myself to do over the the years, and I feel like I've gotten a lot better of just being like, okay, well, this is me. Like what you see is what is what you're gonna get. And so I think at times there's people that are definitely like, okay, we need to we need to work on this or kind of not show as much of like whatever it might be. It's if I have a bad race and and I'm not thrilled, it's hard for me to switch on to the well, you know, we'll bring them back next week. And and there's times where I do need to get better at that, but at the same time, I I want to be my authentic self and I want to voice my opinions on on whatever it might be. But yeah, I think the biggest thing for me and and my brand is is to show who I am and to show like you you can be yourself online, even if it's a little goofy or whatever it might be. And so I think it's important. And when I was growing up, I didn't have social media to look at, so this is kind of a new thing for like the younger generation that are starting carding, they're they're looking up to the other females, and I'm one of them, and there's many more, right? And so I think it's really important for us to show, like, hey, you can you can do it, like this be positive, where when I was growing up, you only really saw it on TV, or if you had the chance to meet them in person, like you got four or five seconds of conversation with them. So I feel like it's important, especially for the younger generation, to show, like, hey, you can be yourself, like it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah, yeah, I I agree. And and I think, you know, in our in our culture, in our way of you know, living in the United States and a lot of other places probably too, is you know, oh, if you're if you're a race car driver, you need to do this or this. And and and like you said, when you're done with the race and maybe the race hasn't gone like you wanted it to, and you get out of the car and and you don't have a smile on your face, and you don't say, Oh, well, we'll get them next week. That's the thing I hate about you know a lot of the NASCAR drivers, you know, they come out of the infield care center and the reporters, you know, sticks a microphone in their face and they're like, Well, you know, blah blah, we'll do it next week. That is not what they're thinking. That's not what they're thinking. I want to know what they are really thinking, you know, like, oh, this bolt broke or this broke or whatever. It's like, you know, I I want to know what are they thinking, not what they're supposed to say. And so I I want some more, you know, real, real words when they come out of there. But I don't think their PR person would like that.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

No, no, I know there's times where you have to kind of follow what you've been taught, and there are time there's a time and place for that, and I I kind of know when that is, but when I don't have to kind of turn on the time and place of what I need to say, I I want people to see my my true self and to to just show them my personality because you can kind of watch people's lives through social media now, and so I think it's important to to show people me and not kind of like a cookie cutter or a different version of me.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Yeah. So when you so we're gonna talk about ARCA because that's what you're doing now. So when you're ready, you know, it's this weekend, right? Have you it is yeah, we head down in two days. Yeah. So this weekend you're gonna race ARCA and you're gonna get in the car. Are there what are you thinking about? Are do you have doubts in your head? Do you are you thinking about what the track looks like? Are you thinking about Joe Schmoe, who always seems to be wrecking you? What are you thinking about when you get in that car?

Authentic Branding: Driven Different

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Normally, not a lot if I've done my prep work that I need to do. I feel like those are kind of questions that you think about one or two weeks before, where I've kind of done my prep work. I know, okay, this person is not someone that I want to be pushing me or what whatever the situation might be to where, okay, before I get in the car, what is the weather? What's the track? What do we think the track's gonna do? The biggest thing on the super speedways is looking at the wind. And so when I'm out there, okay, where are the flags? Make sure I can see the flags. And then Daytona is one where you work a lot with your teammates. And so we actually had our talk today with our teammates of okay, this is if this situation happens, this is what we're doing. And so I feel like if I've done my prep work like I need to do, that in the car, I'm not really thinking about a lot. I'm I'm just kind of trying to visualize if it is qualifying, okay, where are my shift marks? Where do I need to plant the car at this part of the corner? Okay, when's my sign to look up at the flags and see what they're doing? And just trying to visualize kind of everything that I've already prepped the week before. Like Daytona's one that's super easy because you do get a whole off season to prep for versus if we're in season, you get three or four days to prep. So I feel like Daytona is one where you're normally pretty prepared for it to where you don't have to think about all the small things when you get in the car.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So when you say you prep for it, tell me what that looks like. So, like day, let's not talk about Daytona, because like you said, you get months to think about Daytona.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

So, okay, so for example, we have Phoenix in two weeks. So as soon as Daytona's over, we'll have our Monday meeting at the shop. I'll talk to my crew chief, we'll go over what was good, what was bad, what we need to do better, whatever that might be. I'll do the same thing with my spotter, I'll do the same thing kind of with each person on the team to be like, okay, we need to improve on this, I need to improve on this. This is something we need to cover more before the next race. And then do the same thing with the engineer with the sim. Okay, how close was the sim for that track? We might need to go and redo a sim run just so that it can be closer for next year if if it's needed. And then planning that week on Monday to where when Tuesday hits, okay, prep begins for that week. Do we need new sim? What are we gonna do on sim? What videos am I gonna watch with my spotter? What ST data do we need to look at from Cup, Xfinity Truck, because we don't have data. What do what was the biggest difference is or what trends happened at that track in the past couple of years? And then working with Toyota has driver coaches, so working with them and on the sim, okay, we need to work on this better. I needed to work, I messed up this last year, so I need to work on this. And you normally get two to three days of pretty solid prep for each race just because of kind of how our schedule's laid out. But it's definitely I got a lot better at it last year of making sure I'm ready to go Monday afternoon with a full plan of kind of that next week and even kind of going into the week after, just so you can hit the ground running, make sure you get all your prep work done and you have plenty of time to kind of if there is extra spork that you need to do, that you can do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

You know, that's another thing that I mean a lot of people don't understand is that you know, you don't just come to the racetrack on the weekend, jump in the car and go. You're busy every day, all day long, either at the race shop, prepping, sim, all the things you just mentioned. And a lot of people don't understand how that works. And it's it's more than a full-time job.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

It's definitely more than 40 hours a week. Uh, I would probably say it's about double that.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, because even when you get home from the, let's just say you, you know, you got home from the race shop, your mind doesn't turn off.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Like you know, I have a whole list of things that we talked about in the shop that I need to do before we even go to Aytona, and we've had three months to prep for it. So yeah, it's definitely way more than a normal full-time job, especially since your weekends are not your off weekends, your weekends are your main job days. So exactly.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Yeah, yeah. So a couple more questions, then I'll let you go. All right. So if everything goes right in Isabella's plan, where do you see yourself in the next few years?

SPEAKER_01 33:07

The goal is to be in cup within the next five to six years. I don't want to force it to get there too quick because I want to be able to learn at each step. I want to run trucks for a full year, I want to run Xfinity for a full year. I obviously am this year full-time again in ARC and making sure that I learn everything that I need to so that when I do get to Cup, that I'm ready, I'm prepped. I I've made all the mistakes in the lower series to when I get there, it's kind of full steam ahead. And so my goal is in five years to be in cup, but I the bigger goal is that I need to learn and make sure I'm running up front, fighting for wins, fighting for championships in each series before I move up to the next.

Race Prep, Sim, And Teamwork

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah, I I can see you getting there because you're smart, you're dedicated, you work hard, and and like you said, you're not pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, really. I mean, that's maybe not the right word, comfort zone. You're you know your limitations, and so you're like, okay, I need to be better at this before I can go run trucks. I need to be better. And so those are the things that I think are probably on your to-do list of things to get better at. And then you know that once you do those things and you feel comfortable that you can do those consistently, then you're ready to move to the next level. And and I and I see for sure that you're you're gonna make it. I I've been watching you for a little while. I know I said that, not stalking, I don't stalk people, but I do follow a lot of the gals that race behind the you know, behind the scenes and follow what they're doing. And so I I'm so happy that we were able to get you on here today. So is there a message that you want to leave for maybe the women that are listening to this about being involved in other sports? And it doesn't have to be the driver, you know, there's so many opportunities for women, and I'm just waiting for the first woman crew chief in the cup series. You know, who is she? Where is she? She's gonna be coming. And so what advice or or what would you have to say to those women?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Yeah, I mean, in any career, if you want to be at the top, you want to be elite, to be the crew chief in cup is obviously the highest that you can get in in the NASCAR world for crew chiefs. And there's so many positions in racing, not just NASCAR, that women can get into. And I feel like the only thing stopping it is ourselves. And so dream big and just never give up. You're at least on my path, you're gonna have years that don't go your way. I was out of a car for almost an entire year with an injury, and so just never giving up, always pushing, and I feel like the biggest thing is always learn something like every day. If you go for me, if I go to the shop, okay, I need to learn something new that day. If it's you're trying to be an engineer, okay, learn something new every day. If you want to be the media side, same thing, right? So I feel like just never giving up, always learning something new, and you do sometimes have to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yeah, yeah, that's true. So, how can other people follow you? What's the best place to follow you so we know where you're racing, how you're doing. And I know you said you're you know, social media is not your biggest, your your big strong point, but that is I'm working on getting a lot better.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

So I am posting almost daily now on Instagram. So you can follow me on Instagram, it's just Isabella Robusto55. And then on my Instagram, it links to all of my other socials and my website. My website has all my updated news, my schedule, kind of all of that. So pretty easy to find.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

All right. So I'm going to encourage people to get out there and follow you and and be able to send you messages of encouragement in that because we've got that's what that's what we've got to do, you know, especially women, which you know, I know that we love the guys, I always say we love the men, but I'm all about the women. And and you know, women have to encourage and lift other pe other women up so that we can do the best we can and know that we have a community of people that are behind us, whether we know it or not. And and so we want to make sure that that people can get on there and and follow what you're doing. And and when you're in the truck series and the Xfinity, no, it's not Xfinity anymore, it's O'Reilly, O'Reilly series and the in the cup series that we can say, hey, we we followed Isabella when she was in the Arca series or when she was in the cars tour, all those things. So yeah, I'm gonna encourage people to do that. Are there are there any is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to make sure we do talk about?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Not that I can think of. I think we kind of covered all of the big things, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Yeah, so this weekend coming up, we're gonna see you on, I'm gonna see you on TV. I'll be in Michigan. I'm recovering from back surgery, so I cannot drive, I cannot fly. I there's a lot of things I can't do, but I can sit in my chair and record a podcast. A lot of things I can't do, but big weekend this weekend for the Daytona, and then two weeks you'll be in Phoenix.

unknown 38:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah, I'd love to be there. That's where my youngest two daughters live, and I very often am at that race, but not this year. No flying, no driving.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yeah, Phoenix. Phoenix is really fun. Um I love the city, so it's always a good time to go out there.

Career Goals And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Yeah, and the weather's the weather's been beautiful there, and I, you know, I I would have an excuse. I'd have two daughters, six grandkids, and a race. So I had lots of reasons to go there, but this year I'm gonna have to watch it on TV. So yeah, I love I love the Phoenix area. So, Isabella, thank you for being on. I know that you're busy and there's a hundred things you could have been doing during this time, but I appreciate you being on and and sharing about your racing career, and we're gonna keep tabs a little closer and maybe have you on throughout the season a little bit so that you can keep us up to date on what's happening. Sounds good. Thank you for having me. All right, thank you. Just hold on one second. All right. That's it for this episode of the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast. We hope you've been inspired by the stories I shared today and feel more connected to the amazing community of women in motorsport. Remember, whether you're behind the wheel, in the pits, or cheering from the stands, your story matters. And together we're driving change and celebrating every milestone. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who loves motorsports as much as you do. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, behind the scenes content, and more incredible stories. So until next time, stay inspired, stay connected, and keep racing through life. This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, where every woman's story is worth celebrating.