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Toni Breidinger got candid about being a woman in the world of NASCAR.
“It’s honestly really special,” Breidinger exclusively told Us Weekly on the red carpet of the 2026 ESPYS in New York City on Wednesday, July 15. “I mean, I feel like when I’m out there, I don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, there’s guys all over and it’s very male- dominated.’ But it’s really cool to see that we’re finally getting the opportunities that we deserve, and to finally get a seat at the table and be on the race track.”
When asked if she ever felt like she was treated differently by being a woman in the sport, Breidinger replied, “Yes, and I think it still happens.”
“I feel like I experience that honestly every race weekend,” she admitted. “But I think it’s just about having that inner confidence in yourself, and also having that close inner circle and team that you feel like you belong with, and they don’t make you feel any different or any lesser. So I think it’s just really about who you surround yourself with.”
While she has “never actually spoken” to pioneer female driver Danica Patrick, Breidinger explained that she still sees the racer as a mentor from afar.
“I mean, [Patrick is] definitely a trailblazer in the sport,” Breidinger said. “Especially when I was younger, I looked up to her.”
Breidinger, who made history as the first Arab-American female driver in NASCAR, realized she wanted to be a race card driver when her dad signed her up for go-kart classes at a young age.
“I didn’t even know how to start it. I had never driven anything before, so they had to teach me how to use the gas, how to brake, the very basics,” she recently told Glamour. “But I remember it was my first really big adrenaline rush. I was so nervous and excited at the same time, and it was a very intense moment for me. I had so much fun out there on the track that they gave me the nickname ‘the hot shoe’ because I was so fast. I thought I was such a speed racer. I fell in love with it that first day. My sister did too, and we begged our dad for a go-kart after that.”
She continued, “It was my first taste of speed and also independence. It was my first time doing something where I didn’t have a coach in my ear and my parents weren’t telling me what to do. It was just me and the go-kart, and I was steering it myself and doing everything out there on my own. I thought that was super cool. I felt so independent and invincible.”
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