Although Robusto is a “veteran” of sorts in the Drive for Diversity Youth Program, stepping up this weekend to the higher levels is a significant development for the young teen, who is approaching things with a measured approach.
“This is more of a learning weekend I’d say, to get used to the cars more,’’ Robusto said. “I’ve been working on shifting and getting back to the gas. It’s so much different than the Legends cars.
“It’s crazy how much competition there is between the 10 of us. Most of us have raced with each other before – Gracie [Trotter], Nick [Sanchez], Chase [Cabre], Rajah [Caruth] – we all race against each other but we’re friends at the same time.’’
That’s the definitive vibe. All these young drivers feel a mutual support system. But there is still a competitive element driving each of the racers. They are friendly at the track, but the big prize in a high-profile NASCAR series awaits, and so performance and focus is key.
Many of his fellow drivers – and evaluators – already knew Caruth’s name even before he arrived in Daytona Beach. An eNASCAR Ignite Series standout, Caruth is now putting those virtual skills to use behind a real car. And earning praise.
“iRacing definitely has helped me a lot in terms of it being the first thing I started on and being able to race any race car in the world and learn different techniques, different driving styles, different crafts you wouldn’t get anywhere else,’’ Caruth said.
“It’s been pivotal and very helpful to me just to teach me the basics and especially some habits and tendencies you can carry over to real life and some you can’t – so that’s one of the things I was dealing with this summer, figuring out what translates and what doesn’t. But definitely wouldn’t be here without it.’’
For the 16-year old Scott, laps at New Smyrna’s famous half-mile in a late model couldn’t be more different than what he’s used to driving as a competitor in the 600 Micro Sprint Series around the Delaware and Pennsylvania dirt-tracks.
As with all these candidates, he has an intriguing backstory. His family actually comes from a drag racing background, and Scott considers his mom to be the star of his racing family.
His path to dirt track racing – and now cars – was more of an unintended series of events.
Scott’s older brother was too young to start drag racing and so the family let him race on dirt at the age of five. Scott followed suit a couple years later. They loved the dirt racing so much, neither brother wanted to stick to the original plan of converting to drag racing.
Now Scott has the opportunity of a lifetime with NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program.
In fact, Scott is optimistic that his diverse background will actually help him. As with so many of his fellow Diversity candidates this week, he raised the name of a fellow Diversity graduate as proof – Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson, who has advanced to the Round of 8 in the Cup Series playoffs.
“It’s been very humbling meeting everyone here,’’ Scott said. “Ryan Vargas has already been in an Xfinity race, so it gives me hope there’s a chance I could be there too.
“When I was younger, I always looked at Kyle Larson because he came from dirt, sprint cars. He came from exactly where I’m at – now he’s in the Cup Series and if he can do it, I can do it and if I can do it, maybe some kid feels he can do it.
“It can open a lot of doors.’’
In many ways, it already has opened those doors.