Toni Breidinger: an interview to the NASCAR driver

Have you ever heard of someone who can be a racing driver but also a model? With her amazing multitasking skills, Toni Breidinger handles both jobs perfectly. In this interview we'll be talking about her career, her dreams as a kid, her collabs and much more. But first, let's get Toni to introduce herself, shall we?

---

A (me): first of all, give us a quick presentation about yourself, Toni.

T (Toni): I'm Toni, I'm from San Francisco (California) and I moved to North Carolina way back when I graduated high school in 2017 to pursue being a NASCAR driver, and that is currently what I'm trying to do! I'm trying to move up to the NASCAR ladder system. This year I raced in NASCAR's ARCA series.

As always, I wanted to ask Toni about her experience in the motorsport world as a woman. You guys know that, if you read my other interviews, I like to ask every woman this question because there's a lot that can be told. So let's see what Toni has to share with us!

A: how does it feel like to be a woman in the motorsport world? Some say that they never faced discrimination. But, did you? What do you think about it? T: When I was younger I never really noticed that I was in such a male dominated sport. And I do think it was because I was naive when I was young, but also because I always raced with my twin sister Annie so I always had her alongside me. I feel like I didn't really notice that we were the only girls there. Just because I always had her with me. And then when I got older I became a lot more aware of the fact that there is a lot of double standards in this sport and it's frustrating. It's a topic that I could go on about forever and it gets me pretty fired up. It's frustrating and I don't really have an answer to how we can help that but I think the more females in this sport can empower eachother and lift eachother up, it makes it a lot less isolating.

Talking about both her jobs, Toni decided to share with us her working experiences and she opened up about how she manages to handle both the motorsport and the modelling world so perfectly.

A: besides being a driver, you're also a model. Tell us more about your experience as a model and how you manage to work in both worlds without overlapping them.

T: I've been lucky enough to drive race cars and model, which is pretty crazy because they have both been my dream careers and they're so different. They're entirely different worlds and they have such a contrast from eachother but I feel like they can also really go hand in hand and I've been able to do that and really bounce them out. Racing will always be my priority and I will never miss a race for a photoshoot but I do love doing both and I have been lucky enough to do both of them.

A: what do you like the most? Modelling or racing? Why? T: Kind of going on with the third question, racing is always my priority. I love modelling and I think it's really fun because there's such a contrast in worlds so you feel like they're almost so different where they kind of bounce out my life a little bit. But racing will always be my number one priority.

But let's focus on her partnerships. I wanted to ask Toni more about her collaborations with brands and how she felt while doing those.

A: what's the most important brand you've worked with, and what did you feel in that moment?

T: I've been so lucky to work with so many dream brands of mine! This year, just to name a few, I've worked with Raising Cane's, Celsius, Sunoco... it's been really special to work with them. I think it's really empowering that they not only believe in me, but that they believe in female athletes.

Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dating back to 1886, the company has transitioned from a vertically integrated energy company to a distributor of fuels and operator of midstream services. It was previously engaged in oil, natural gas exploration and production, refining, chemical manufacturing, and retail fuel sales, but divested these businesses.

Celsius Holdings, Inc. is an American company that produces a range of fitness and energy beverages under the brand name Celsius. The company's products are marketed as healthy, a strategy that the CEO credits the brand's success to.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers is an American fast casual chain specializing in chicken fingers founded in 1996 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey. The company is named after Graves's dog, a yellow Labrador.

A: what's the first ever memory that you have of the motorsport world? T: My first ever memory that I have in the motorsport world is when I got my first go kart. It was so long ago, and it's so fun that I can't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I have this memory so vivid in my mind. It's such a core memory. The moment I stepped in my first go kart, I remember it so well, like it was yesterday.

A: which one is your favourite category of motorsport (talking about the ones you raced in)? Why do you like it the most? T: my favourite series that I raced in is definitely NASCAR truck series. I think partially because it's like the highest level of racing I've done. But I also think they were so fun to drive, I really enjoyed the few races that I did in that.

A: as a kid, what was your dream career? T: Once I got my first go kart at 9, as a kid my dream careers were always to be a race car driver and model.

Coming to the last question, I wanted to ask Toni why she chose both her jobs. And a bit more, like which of these passions started first.

A: why did you choose racing, out of all sports? Also, why did you choose modelling? Which of these passions started first and which one do you feel more attached to? T: honestly, I tried different sports growing up. I've tried soccer, gymnastics, karate... I did a few things! I tried a bunch of different sports and none of them really cloth?? for me. I didn't feel super passionate about any. And then once I got my first go kart I just fell in love with it. I think it just kind of clicked! I don't think there's an explanation to why I chose motorsports out of all the sports. But it's just something that I fell in love with. And for modelling I've always just loved being in front of the camera, I've always been super interested in fashion and makeup and the whole creative process that goes into a photoshoot or a campaign. So it's something I've always been interested into. I would say I love both of them! I don't know, they're so different. I love them both for different reasons, so yeah!

The last thing I always need to ask every driver is some advice for their fans. Toni decided to say something really important.

"My biggest piece of advice to fans would be: don't be afraid to be you. I feel like a lot of us compare ourselves to others around us. And just because nobody's done it before doesn't mean that you can't do it. And just because their path might look different to yours, that's totally fine. That doesn't take away from your journey." - Toni Breidinger

---

Well, this interview has come to an end! I'm so proud of myself, actually, because I got to interview one of my favourite drivers ever. Toni was so nice and I want to thank her for this incredible opportunity. Thank you guys for reading this article. I had so much fun while writing it and I hope you all like it. Don't forget to follow me on instagram! (@aleinsidef1)