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[/media-credit]30 years. 10,957 days. 262,968 hours. 15,778,080 minutes. It’s a lot of time that spans over three decades, though that’s how Venturini Motorsports has been involved in the ARCA Racing Series.
The family-owned team grew its roots in Chicago, Illinois when Bill Venturini formed Venturini Motorsports in 1981, alongside his wife and co-founder Cathy. Bill caught the racing bug from his father Tony Venturini, who raced jalopies at Chicago’s Solider Field.
Bill still runs the team today and is very hands-on, playing the role of crew chief at times. Cathy, the matriarch of the team, is still very much involved, by coordinating travel plans and preparing meals for all the teams.
While their roots began in Chicago, they would move to Charlotte in 1993 to continue surviving in auto racing. The move has paid off as they currently field up to five cars per race and have drivers that have gone through their development program to run in the NASCAR ranks.
Venturini Motorsports started their Driver Develop Program in 2007 as a result of connection with Nationwide team CJM Racing. CJM Racing was looking for a program they could put young drivers into, test them out and get them ready for the highest levels.
After creating that connection, Joe Gibbs Racing joined in the program to develop their up-and-comers, most notably Joey Logano.
Since then, the program has grown to include other teams and is one of the most known programs in all ranks of racing. They also have grown to create connections with not only the above two mentioned teams, but also Xpress Motorsports and TD Racing Development (ASA Late Model team).
Drivers that have been able to move up as a result of the program include Joey Logano, Steve Arpin and Justin Allgaier, just to name a few.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano drove for Venturini Motorsports in four races, winning two of them (Rockingham 2008 and Pocono 2009). The win at Pocono marked Logano’s first career win on a superspeedway.
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Steve Arpin ran the full ARCA Racing Series schedule for Venturini in 2010, picking up back-to-back wins at Salem and Texas. He also gave Venturini their first win on dirt when he won at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in September of 2010. Arpin’s win at Salem is what started his climb into the NASCAR ranks as it kicked off one of the coolest 24 hours of Arpin’s career.
“When we won Salem on Sunday night and Monday morning, we signed Mike’s Hard Lemonade to sponsor the ARCA program and then Monday afternoon, Dale Jr. called me to drive his racecars,” Arpin said in February of 2011. “I say that has to be the biggest memory of my life.”
Arpin went on to drive seven Nationwide Series races with JR Motorsports, before joining Turner Motorsports in 2011.
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[/media-credit]This year, Venturini Motorsports has had success with Brennan Poole as Poole currently sits second in points after winning back-to-back victories at Pocono and Elko. Poole’s success with Venturini started right away as he won in his ARCA Racing Series debut at Salem last year.
“It’s just been a blessing,” Poole said earlier this year. “God’s always opens up the doors for me at the right time, at the right place, always put me in the right position. Just keeping my trust in him every day and he seems to be in control.”
Poole has enjoyed his time so far with Venturini Motorsports as he says they’re a great family and he gets to spend a lot of time with them.
“I don’t know a lot of people so I’m always here at the shop – I’m at the shop right now,” he said. “It’s just a great family. It’s a family organization – Billy’s uncles, aunts and cousins are all involved in the team. I think that’s what makes them such a strong organization. It’s just been fun working with them. I’m just happy to be a part of it.
Racing alongside 21-year-old Poole is young 15-year-old Erik Jones, Nelson Canache and 18-year-old Ryan Reed and Poole says it’s been kind of cool to have his younger teammates come and ask him questions.
“I’ve never really been in this position before; I’ve always been the guy looking for advice,” he commented. “But here, there are so many young guys.”
All the teammates get along at Venturini Motorsports and Poole says it’s great when you have a group like that around you.
“It just helps when you’ve got someone close in your age group cause you help support each other,” Poole said earlier this year. “At the end of the day at Venturini Motorsports, we’re all pulling for our teammates. We want to win because we’re all competitors, but we’re happy if another person wins the race ‘cause we all know how hard it is to win one of these races. It’s extremely tough. You win a race at the ARCA level, that’s pretty impressive.”
Ryan Reed had had a solid season so far as a rookie, as he had two top 10s so far this year – a pair of ninths coming at Pocono and Iowa.
“Bill and Billy were drivers themselves behind the wheel and it’s really cool to be with a group rich in history behind the wheel,” Reed said. “It feels like family to me. They’re so welcoming. Anytime I have a problem on and off the track, their open arms and ready to listen. They’ve just been great to work with and I really feel like this year is going to be a really positive experience with them.”
Reed has also inspired people off the track as a Type 1 diabetic as he was diagnosed in February of 2011. Originally, he was told that he could never race again, however through research and meeting the doctor that helped IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball, Reed worked hard and was able to make his first ARCA Racing Series start at Daytona in February of this year.
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[/media-credit]With his story, he’s been able to raise awarness about JDRF and formed his own non-profit organization, Ryan’s Mission. Ryan’s Mission is meant to build awareness, become a role model and positively touch the lives of others.
Meanwhile, Erik Jones became the youngest driver to start an ARCA Racing Series race at the age of 15 at Mobile International Speedway earlier this year.
“To be able to go and take advantage of the lower age limit, definitely was a cool experience to be able to be the first one to do that,” Jones said, adding that it’s great to be able to start young and do well.
Jones has impressed already as he has two top fives in six starts, including a third at Winchester.
“It’s cool to drive for a team that has as much as success and been around as long as Venturini Motorsports,” Jones said. “It’s definitely an honor to say the least.”
Jones added that working with Venturini Motorsports is a good learning experience as he gets to learn about working within a big organization and having teammates.
“To come into a program like that and be able to learn so much, so quick, it’s very beneficial to my racing career,” he added.
Whether it’s growing drivers, racing hard or even helping others, Venturini Motorsports has been very successful, winning 26 times in the ARCA Series with nine different drivers. It was Bill Venturini that started it with the first win on June 18, 1983 at Flat Rock Speedway.
Though beyond the wins and driver development, Venturini Motorsports has set the bar high in other departments, including the first all-female pit crew in professional motorsports – the Ultra Blue Crew. It was that team that was able to help Venturini bring home the first championship in 1987.
As they head into the future, there’s one thing that’s known for sure – Venturini Motorsports will be one team to contend with on track for wins.
