Exclusive: She has a learner’s permit. Fort Mill teen will drive for NASCAR diversity team
Isabella Robusto is 15 and has been driving since she was 5. Even though the Fort Mill teen can’t legally drive down Main Street for another year, she’s happy on short tracks and super speedways.
Last week, Robusto got one step closer to her dream of driving in the top NASCAR racing series. Robusto was one of six ethnically diverse or female drivers selected for the 2020 NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development program. One other female was chosen.
The drivers were selected from a group of 10 invitees who competed in a two-day combine in October at Daytona International Speedway and New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.
Robusto was the youngest racer in the combine.
“It was amazing that I got to do the combine altogether but also being the youngest one there, it just made me stand out in general,” Isabella said. “I just treated it like it was any other race day.”
At the combine, drivers were evaluated on and off the track. The 10 participants, chosen from over one hundred applicants, endured fitness tests, and were assessed on marketing and media skills. On the track, they were judged on their skills behind the wheel and proficiencies in late model stock cars, according to a news release.
“We did lots of burpees,” Isabella said. “We did 50 burpees. That was the worst part. Those never seemed to end.”
Isabella said the media evaluations were challenging.
“I wasn’t expecting it when I got in there, but they gave you a scenario that you had just won the Daytona 500,” Isabella said. “And they want you to act it out like you just won it.”
But she felt good on track day, she said.
“When it was the track day, I just stayed focused on the track and learning the whole time and just getting better and better every run,” she said. “It is definitely one of the most wild things I’ve done in racing.”
Isabella and her twin brother, Will, were hooked on racing early. Their dad, a big racing fan, regularly took the twins to go-kart tracks, and as soon as they turned 5, they got a go-kart.
“He started taking them to races when they were itty bitty,” Kerri Robusto, Isabella’s mom, said. “We have pictures of them when they were so little — three and four years old — with earpieces, and they just always really liked it. They had a great time. They loved watching the cars.”
At 11, Isabella was approved to race Legends cars. And over the past three years, Robusto has raced for Rev Racing team and trained with the youth development program, and she raced at this year’s Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
She won the shootout in the Semi-Pro class this year and finished second in Semi-Pro points, according to the release.
“It’s so exciting when you’re out on the track,” she said. “You’re going really fast. You’re side by side with each other. You’re inches a part — just how exciting it is at the end of the day and how much work you have to put into the race and into winning.”
Isabella’s next step? Racing late model cars -- and learning the rules of the public roads.
Earlier this month, Isabella and Will took the driver’s test for their learner’s permit. They had a competition to see who could get the most questions right.
They got the same score.
“I ended up driving home,” Isabella said.
“Did you?” Kerri Robusto jumped in.
“Yeah, I did,” Isabella said. “It was good. It was during rush hour too.”
“Great,” Kerri Robusto said. “I’m glad dad was behind that wheel with you instead of me.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Exclusive: She has a learner’s permit. Fort Mill teen will drive for NASCAR diversity team."
