As Bill and Cathy Venturini—owners and founders of ARCA Menards Series legend Venturini Motorsports—prepare for retirement, many of their former drivers are wishing them congratulations as well as thanking them for giving those same drivers a break early in their racing careers. Among those is Joey Logano. Before he became a three-time NASCAR Cup champion, part of Logano’s early career was spent racing in the ARCA Series for Venturini Motorsports.
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“This was obviously very early in my career, and I was learning pretty much everything I could about stock cars,” Logano said. “I remember the first test we had in Daytona, and we weren’t very fast and were changing everything we could. When we went down for the race, we were pretty strong. I think we finished second or third or something like that.
“It was cool to think about the test and how off we were and how we were able to overcome that and be strong there. Then you built that relationship because we had gone through some adversity, even though it was only one week.
“And then [in the next race] at Rockingham, we destroyed them. We were just a couple laps away from lapping the whole field, which was really cool. And then Pocono was a strong run as well.”
Venturini Motorsports fielded several future NASCAR stars
Venturini Motorsports was a training ground for several of today’s well-known racers, including Logano, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Corey Heim, and Jesse Love.
Having started as a two-person operation—Bill and Cathy—in their native Chicago in 1982, the Venturini’s were happy giving countless young drivers a break, primarily in ARCA. The couple not only served as surrogate parents, but also as great teachers and cheerleaders, imparting their years of knowledge to their young charges to make them better racers and better people on and off the racetrack.
“It was fun just getting to know the family, obviously they’re really close,” Logano said. “Talking to Billy [their son] and Big Bill, there was always a lot of passion, the thing I noticed most about them, very passionate people, very emotional, which I can relate to because I’m fairly similar in those ways.”
Logano will never forget “The Kiss” from Bill
Logano broke into a big smile—and a blush on his still baby face—recalling one of the most humorous memories he had about his time with the team.
“The funniest thing I remember most was the kiss from Big Bill in victory lane. I’m not a real kissy kind of guy, so I was like ‘Ahhhh!!’” Logano laughed. “It was always fun going to the shop because they were always trying to look for the next thing, working on their cars, working on what was next.
“That was kind of an entrepreneurial attitude, starting with their own cars and then growing other cars to where it almost looked like half the field were Venturini cars. And they also ran well; they did it right the whole time, all their cars were fast. Their mindset was they always looked for more. There’s not a whole lot of people like that in the world. That’s why they were successful.”
Sadly, Friday’s Star Nursey 150 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marked the final chapter of Venturini Motorsports’ 43-year legacy. The team has been sold and will be rebranded to become Nitro Motorsports, which begins operation on October 16, with new owner Nick Tucker.
Logano took to the ARCA X (formerly Twitter) page to extend his best wishes to the retiring couple and give them a meaningful sendoff. “Hey, Bill and Cathy, congratulations, what an incredible career, what an incredible business you built, and what an incredible legacy you built in the motorsports industry,” he said. “I hope you guys enjoy your retirement and have fun for a change, just have fun.”
