If you can name a single participant in the ARCA racing series, which is sort of like a minor league feeder for NASCAR, it’s probably Connor Zilisch. He managed to win his first-ever Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen this weekend at the ripe old age of 18. You might not be familiar with Toni Breidinger, but you might become a fan after seeing her promo video.
The California-based driver got her start driving karts and then worked her way up to USAC Midgets, where she was quite successful and picked up a bunch of wins and podiums. From there, Breidinger worked her way up to bigger opportunities, including racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, though her main racing gig is ARCA.
She’s currently racing for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series full-time in the #25 Toyota. Last weekend brought her to Watkins Glen, although it was a little touch-and-go as to whether or not she’d race.
Here, just watch the clip.
I have produced a number of racing videos and have seen a number of cool edits, but none go quite as hard as this transition from scooter-to-car. It’s magnificent. It’s like she’s about to get destroyed by the car and then, BOOM, she’s driving the car at Watkins Glen.
Much like minor league baseball, the notability of the athletes in the series usually only comes up when something strange happens. The fact that we’re talking about a promo video from an ARCA Menards driver at all is pretty notable because the drivers themselves are, charitably, pre-notable. Even Breidinger, who has influencer tendencies and more than 2.7 million Instagram followers, doesn’t typically get that much engagement for her short race promos (for example, this video did 10 times better than her pre-Watkins video).
The reason? That sublime and hilarious scooter transition.
So why is she in that medical scooter? She burned her foot in an earlier race and has been recovering. It’s been one of those seasons for her, with ten top-ten finishes out of the first 15 races of the year, but also accidents and incidents.
Breidinger ultimately managed to qualify in 16th at Watkins Glen even with the injury (which she discusses below) but had to quit the race due to being unable to continue to drive the car on her burned foot, leading to this happening:
She ran as hard as she could for as long as she could. Tough day at @WGI for @ToniBreidinger. pic.twitter.com/DjJIa8vZU8
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) September 13, 2024
NASCAR rules are interesting and allow a driver to switch, so her Crew Chief Cayden Lapcevich (a former Canadian Pinty Series driver) was able to hop off the box and swap in to finish the race. This wasn’t a surprise, Talladega Nights move as the crew chief and driver had talked about this possibility if she wasn’t able to finish.
Breidinger is still recovering and thinks she’ll be able to compete at the next race in Bristol.
“It’s been one of those seasons for her, with ten top-ten finishes out of the first 15 races of the year, but also accidents and incidents.”
So she’s like a proto-Colin McRae?
Craftsman Truck Series?
Matt what decade are you living in?
It’s called the Craftsman Truck Series again. I think since the beginning of this year.
Thud.
Tough break, but it’s good they were prepared for the possibility, and nobody tried to pressure her to keep going.
Embeds never work and I don’t want to give Twitter the traffic, so I’m going to assume this lady was stuck in the e-tron when it was up on the lift.
Hope she feels better soon; I feel like burns are the most painful injuries of all. I’d rather break a finger than get a 6-hour *sun*burn.
Ah, so it’s not only me that embeds don’t work for. I was starting to get paranoid.
I too would like the editors to know that I do not want to give Twitter any traffic. Twitter embeds have a negative effect on user experience.
This times 100 – I know you are monetizing and have to do so but it (along with the much dreaded autoplay videos UGH) are a drag.