They’re going to party like it’s 2007 at Venturini Motorsports, as the bossman Billy Venturini will get back behind the wheel of a race car in the ARCA ranks for the first time in roughly 17 years.
On Wednesday, Venturini Motorsports announced that the 47-year-old Venturini will pilot the No. 20 JBL Toyota Camry for the team in the May 20th ARCA Menards Series East event at Flat Rock Speedway.
While it’ll be a fun event to see Venturini back behind the wheel, the owner of Venturini Motorsports wants everyone to be clear that he is not readying for a full-time return as a race car driver.
“I am not coming out of retirement,” Venturini stated in a team release. “In no way does this mark my return to the seat on a regular basis. No matter the outcome, this is a one and done for me. I never got to race at Flat Rock when I was racing full time. I don’t have a desire to be a racecar driver again; I’ve been there and done that. But I do have a desire to do this.”
For Venturini, the reason for him strapping back into the car for this one race is that he wants to compete in a race at the track, where his father Bill Venturini scored his first-career ARCA win. While he’d love deep-down to win the race, this start is all about having fun.
“I know I am going to be a little rusty,” Venturini said. “We’ll go test beforehand just to knock the rust off. It’s been 17 years. After that we’ll have a more realistic view of what our expectations will be. But I am going there to enjoy myself. It’s truly the first time I’ve raced for fun.”
Venturini was a fixture in the ARCA Menards Series beginning with a part-time schedule in 1994 all the way up until an eight-race season in 2007. Over the course of 14 seasons, Venturini contested a total of 161 ARCA Menards Series races, and he scored one win, which came at Salem in 2006.
Venturini had three top-five finishes in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings, his best ranking of third came in 2006. Venturini also finished fourth in the standings in 2004, and fifth in 2003.
