Billy Venturini

William Venturini (born April 7, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently co-owns Venturini Motorsports, a racing team that competes in the ARCA Menards Series, along with his father, Bill. As a driver, he last competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, driving the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. He previously competed in the ARCA Re/Max Series either full-time or part-time from 1994 through 2007, mainly driving for the same team.

Racing career

ARCA

Venturini made his ARCA Series debut at Louisville Motor Speedway in 1994, when he was only 18-years old. His race would end early after oil pressure issues on lap 41. He ran four more races that year, earning his first top five at Toledo Speedway in September. He drove a race for Bill Egbert in the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, finishing 32nd due to a driveshaft issue. In 1997, he joined Ed Rensi Racing to run a nine-race schedule, earning his best finish of 5th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He returned next season, earning a top ten at Daytona. He returned to his family team, and continued running part-time in the series from 1999 through 2001. In 2002, he ran for the full season, earning one top five and nine top tens, finishing 6th in the final standings. He would respectively finish inside the top five in point standings for the next two years, along with earning a pole at Lake Erie Speedway in 2003. He went back to a part-time schedule in 2005, before returning full-time in 2006. He would capture his only win that year at Salem Speedway, after dominating the race by leading 95 laps. He would finish a career best 3rd in points. 2007 would end up being his final year as a driver. He ran eight races that year, earning a top five at Talladega Superspeedway, which would also be his final race. After the 2007 season, Venturini decided to retire as a driver, and focus on operating his racing team with his father. On May 6, 2023, during an interview with motorsport news website ''Frontstretch'', Venturini revealed that he would return to the driver's seat for the first time in 16 years, running the ARCA Menards Series East race at Flat Rock Speedway. He would team with fellow driver and former driver for Venturini Brennan Poole as a spotter, and the pairing wound up earning a 4th place finish. It was his first start in the East Series.

NASCAR Truck Series

Venturini attempted to make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in 1999, racing at Martinsville Speedway for his family team, but would fail to qualify for the event. He would attempt to run the next race, but would once again fail to qualify. He attempted a race at Martinsville a year later, but also failed to qualify. He has not made a start in the series since then.

Post-racing career

After retiring from driving in 2007, Venturini decided to turn his family team into a driver development program. Venturini would later be known for helping his team become one of the most premier driver development programs in the ARCA circuit, collecting over 50 wins in the series, including a championship in 2019. That same year, Venturini won the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year award. In 2012, Venturini, along with his family, were inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (NIASHF). In 2022, Venturini received media attention during the ARCA race at Kansas in May. Venturini was serving as the crew chief for Corey Heim in the race, since the original crew chief, Shannon Rursch, was attending his daughter's college graduation that weekend. On lap 57 of the race, Drew Dollar made contact with Heim exiting turn 4, causing both of them to hit the outside wall, and spin through the infield grass. During an interview with FS1 reporter Kate Osborne, Venturini showed his displeasure with Dollar, stating that ''"Drew wrecks all your shit when he's driving for you, and then he wrecks it all when he's racing against you."'' He would also state that Dollar was a "pure lack of talent." Dollar reacted to the interview a day later, by tweeting out Venturini's racing stats o
Racing-Reference
with the caption saying ''"Guess it took this guy about 14 years to figure out he didn't need to be a race car driver."''

Personal life

Venturini is married to Emily, and they have twin sons, Luke and Max. His younger sister, Wendy Venturini, is currently a pit reporter for Performance Racing Network (PRN).

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

ARCA Re/Max Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series East

Season still in progress

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturini, Billy
1976 births
Living people
ARCA Menards Series drivers
NASCAR drivers
NASCAR team owners
Racing drivers from Chicago