Two weeks ago, our next guest became
NASCAR's first Arab-American female driver
when she raced at Daytona International Speedway.
From Hillsborough, California, please
welcome 21-year-old, Toni Breidinger.
Hi.
Thanks for having me on.
Toni, it's so nice to meet you.
First of all, congratulations for competing at Daytona.
That's a big deal.
What was that like for you?
Thank you.
It was so crazy.
I've been dreaming to race at Daytona ever since I was a kid,
so it was literally a dream come true for me.
And you know, I've watched that race so many times
but once you're in the driver's seat,
it's like this whole other experience.
So it was really crazy.
So at what age--
first of all, you came in 18th place,
and were you happy with that outcome?
Yeah.
So my biggest goal for the race was to finish the race.
Daytona is notorious for wrecks, so I just
wanted to get the race finished.
I wanted to get it under my belt,
just get that big track experience.
So I was happy that I finished and my next goal
was to get a top 20.
So I was happy about that.
I got 18th.
I did get up to 10th place and I made like this little mistake
that I keep just thinking about.
So I'm a little bit frustrated about that
but I did hit both of my goals.
So it was definitely a solid weekend.
Fantastic.
You've already broken records in sport.
You are a 19 time US Auto Club Race champion, which
is the most ever for a woman.
So you've already broken that record.
So you're 21 and you're the first Arab-American female
driver.
That must be--
That's a big deal.
You're an inspiration to a lot of women.
Yeah.
It's definitely exciting.
I mean, it's really cool to be the first.
Everybody loves to be the first, but I also
don't want to be the last.
I really want to pave the way for others.
And I received so much amazing support and so many messages.
I was really surprised by like a lot of people just saying
that I inspired them which is really amazing.
Because it inspires me to read those messages and it's
really amazing how supportive everybody has been.
How did you start racing?
What made you interested in that?
So pretty much when I was nine years old,
it was over winter break.
My dad called me and my twin sister
into his office and he said, hey,
do you guys want to go-karting this weekend?
And I honestly had no idea what it was.
I was just picturing Mario Karts.
And I was like, yeah, sure.
Sounds fun.
So he took us up to Sonoma Raceway
and we took a class there, and both me and my twin sister
just absolutely fell in love with it.
So he ended up getting us our own go-kart
and we took it seriously fast.
We started traveling all over the country for go-kart races.
We even went to Jamaica and I just
knew that I wanted to be a race car driver.
My dad, he didn't really think that I
was going to actually follow through with,
that he thought it was just going to be a phase.
But I just like knew in my mind that I
was going to stick to it.
And what does your twin sister do?
Did she stick with it or no?
So basically when it came down to choosing racing or college,
she chose college.
And I was, like, I'm going to go try to be a race car driver.
So she studies mechanical engineering at Purdue.
She's really smart.
Wow.
So historically-- NASCAR historically it's
a male dominated sport, but is that at all
intimidating to you?
Honestly, it's something that I never think about.
There's never been a point in time
where I'm just standing there like, wow,
I'm the only girl here.
Because you know the car does not know gender.
The track doesn't know gender.
Gender is still irrelevant.
As soon as the helmet comes on, everybody
is just a driver out there.
So you're-- do you drive fast when you, and be honest.
Don't worry about policemen watching this.
Do you drive fast when you're like driving?
Honestly, I feel like I'm a pretty safe driver.
I feel like I just take all that rage
and any need to want to speed out on the racetrack.
The only thing that I'm not good at is direction.
So everybody always makes fun of me.
Nobody ever lets me drive.
Whenever we're going places, I'm not
allowed to drive because I always get lost
and that's why I always say like that's
why I like racing because I usually just turn left.
So I can't get lost.
Right.
I was just going to say, that's just a circle.
So you can't get lost.
All right.
What's the fastest you've gone in the car?
So Daytona was the fastest that I have ever gone.
I think we got up to like 180, 180 miles per hour.
But it's just crazy because that track is so big.
You just lose that sensation of how fast you're going.
You really don't think you're going that fast until you
crash, or anything.
That's kind of when you realize how fast you're going.
Yes.
I would think that's the reminder.
All right.
Well, I feel like we are going to hear a lot about you
for in the future.
So we got you something to put on the back of your car.
Oh, my gosh.
I love that.
Yes.
Oh, my gosh.
But please don't follow me, I'm horrible with directions.
I love that.
Exactly.
And we also got you a GPS system.
So that'll go in your car.
Amazing.
It's perfect.
All right.
It was great meeting you, great talking to you,
and good luck for your next one.
Thank you.
All right, Toni.
We'll be back.