LAS VEGAS – When the checkered flag waved in last Friday’s Star Nursery 150 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring, signifying the end of the race, it also signified the final race for Venturini Motorsports, the most prolific team in ARCA Menards Series history.
After 43 years, the time was now for the organization, founded by Bill Venturini Sr. and taken to greater lengths by his son Billy Venturini, to hand the keys to the Nick Tucker co-led Nitro Motorsports.
This Wednesday, Nitro will officially be a team on its own with Billy now in an advisory role. The first race in the post-VMS era will be the ARCA Menards Series West finale at Phoenix Raceway (Friday, October 31) with Thomas Annuniziata behind the wheel.
In Friday’s swan song for Venturini, Annuniziata crossed the line in fourth, which was the best out of the driver stable that also consisted of Taylor Reimer and Jade Avedisian, who finished ninth and 12th, respectively.
While the tradition of “Flying the V” flag, an homage to the Chicago Cubs’ “Fly the W,” that was influenced by Billy’s wife, Emily Venturini, didn’t happen in the penultimate round of the West division, their impact in the sport looms large in both the ARCA and NASCAR garages.
Since 1982, Bill has laid the foundation of the family-owned operation, which included his wife, Cathy Venturini, who played an integral part in Venturini becoming a household name in stock car racing.
Whether it’s having the first-ever all-female pit crew or having dozens among dozens of racers, who are now competing in the NASCAR Cup Series, behind the wheel of their cars, there’s no question that the overall impact VMS has had in racing is evergreen.
Therefore, when speaking with TobyChristie.com at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bill Sr. wasn’t emotional when describing a bittersweet Friday. He’s happy to leave on his own accord rather than being forced out and is looking forward to not having a schedule for the first time.
“My whole life has revolved around racing and racing schedules. Now I don’t have that. I don’t know how
I’m going to take that because I’ve never been able to do it in my own time. But I’m looking forward to that,” Bill Sr. explained.
“Emotionally, I don’t know. I’m okay with it, I guess. Maybe when I sit back and really think about it, I’ll start crying, but I’m ready for it.”
Bill Sr. continued by saying that he’s proud of his son for building VMS into a strong pipeline for Toyota drivers to develop their careers. The best way he described the matter was Billy building a skyscraper with a casino inside.
Furthermore, Bill Sr. is content with his son selling the team to a good racing company in Nitro Motorsports with Nick Tucker, cousin of 1990 DAYTONA 500 champion Derrike Cope, instead of being sold to a businessman who may dissolve the organization.
That said, Bill Sr. assured that his son would continue to be involved at Nitro, which made the decision okay for the family to move on to their new chapter in their lives.
“They’re going to continue the team, and I hope they grow it. My son is staying on for a year, at least,” said Bill Sr.
“The only thing that’s changing is [that] me and my wife (Cathy) are leaving and the name on the building, so to speak. All the employees are staying, and I’m only moving next door to my building.
“I’m still going to be around. It’s not like I’m a drug addict or a smoking addict, and I have to go cold turkey. I’m not going cold turkey. We’re going to wean ourselves out of this system, but I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.
“My son made us a legend in the series, I feel. I built the foundation, and he built the skyrise along with a casino in it. The foundation was there, but I didn’t know if it was going to develop into a great program.
“I’m very proud, not really sad. My wife may be, but I’m okay with it and I’m ready for it.”
Billy explained that Tucker is the perfect person to take over, which his father described their team chemistry as a marriage. Rather than have it end in a “pitiful, going-out-of-business auction” outing.
“Nitro is going to do a wonderful job,” said Billy. “He’s full of energy, he’s full of new ideas. I think that’s going to be great.
“For a year, I’m sure I’ll be really hands-on, but I’m there more in an advisory role. I do help a huge amount on the business side with that advice. As for the day-to-day operations, I’ll have my hands in it, but it’s going to be Nick’s molding that’ll probably control all that.”
Tucker’s goal is to respect the Venturini legacy and won’t take it lightly when it comes to establishing Nitro, which has been involved in disciplines such as karting and sports cars over the years.
There’s also the commonality between Tucker and Billy as far as their ownership approach, which led to the present outcome. They come from the same cloth as former drivers and their growth as human beings that allowed each other to excel in what they do.
“When you look at the two organizations from a 50-foot perspective. We’re both driver development organizations at the core. With what we did with Toyota on the Trans-Am, GR Cup, and go-karting side, it just really was a natural progression where we can become fully vertically integrated as Toyota’s driver development program from karts through ARCA,” Tucker explained.
“Just a lot of synergy. Billy and I come from the same cloth as really failed race car drivers trying to make our way and understanding the mistakes along the way and what we did right to be able to pass those lessons on to these kids and drivers make their way up the ladder.
“There’s a ton of synergy between how we do things and how we look at things, and our relationship with Toyota. It just happened very organically.”
For Annunziata, Nitro Motorsports’ main driver in ARCA, it’s been a learning experience this season. It’s highlighted with a win in ARCA’s national division at Lime Rock, but also trying to adapt to oval racing.
The 20-year-old New Jersey native said the Venturini family taking a chance on him was not only a surprise but a blessing that saved his driving career. Going forward, he’s aware of the pressure that lies ahead as he continues to hone his craft under the Nitro banner.
“They took a chance on me, and they didn’t have to do that. It was surprising when I was first told because they saved my career. All of the Venturinis took a chance on me and hope they think it paid off. They’ve been a huge factor in my progression in my career,” Annunziata explained.
“There’s a lot of pressure, but I signed up for it. You have to take the pressure; that’s one of the side effects of doing it, but it’s been fun and amazing. It’s exactly what I asked for. I like to think I’ve taken the pressure well, but there’s going to be more pressure in the years to come. It’s been a blessing, but it’ll continue to get better.”
Annunziata, who is a racer who respects the history of the sport. It’s noticeable when he sports throwback paint schemes, including last Friday’s race when he drove the No. 15 VMS Toyota Camry, which was a throwback to Mark Martin’s Valvoline colors.
Billy didn’t know he was going to do that at the Bullring, but was very flattered and honored that Annunziata did in the latest of a slew of appraisals.
“The amount and respect and appreciation people have shown to me and my family during the last few months, especially the last couple of weeks, have been very humbling and appreciative,” said Billy.
One thing Billy hasn’t caught himself doing is the impact he’s made when he stepped away from the driver’s seat at the end of the 2007 ARCA season. That is, unless it involves how many Cup drivers have had ties at Venturini.
“While doing it, you don’t ever think of it as anything impressive because you’re so head down and focused on getting the job done,” Billy commented.
“Now that I’m at the very end of my days at Venturini Motorsports and the company that I’m going to be honest, as a development team, this was the team I’ve built. This was my dream and my wish. I’m very thankful to my parents for giving me the runaway to do whatever I wanted.
“When I took over the team, it was not a split management. It was, ‘You’re going to manage the team. You’re in charge.’ They took a backseat.”
Among the drivers who won for Venturini was LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver Erik Jones, who drove for them in 14 races from 2012-13.
Jones won at Berlin in 2013 when he was 17 years old, and in that time period, it was the biggest win of his career.
“That was really cool,” said Jones in Saturday’s media availability at LVMS. “Like growing up as a kid racing there and watching guys and racing there myself, that was always like the big talk if you got to run the ARCA race, and if you could, you know, win the ARCA race, the local guys there who were really successful always tried to run it and usually ran really well in it.
“That was a place that, especially then, if you were someone local, you usually did pretty well in that race. So that was my fondest memory. We went there and won that one hometown win for me. It was a lot of fun. One of my bigger wins at that point, the first kind of national series win.
“I think Billy is going to get bored. He’s a pretty energetic guy. I’m excited, you know, for their future and what they got, but definitely that was my best memory.”
Jones’ teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, only drove for Venturini at Mid-Ohio in 2022, where he finished fourth. A race Nemechek felt he should’ve won, but he was stuck on rain tires when the circuit’s surface was drying up.
Nonetheless, Nemechek enjoyed the experience, which he described as great. But Jones reminded him that he never got the traditional kiss from Bill Sr. after his drivers won races, to a few laughs.
“(The whole Venturini family) had definitely given a lot to the whole sport,” said Nemechek. “They’ve been around forever, and won a lot of races, and won a lot of championships, and I’m not sure what their future holds, but thank you to them is pretty much all I have to say for what they’ve been able to give back to racing in general. True racers at heart.”
A chapter closes, but another one begins. If there’s a word that the key members of both Venturini and Nitro use, it’s a mixed bag of positive superlatives.
Annunziata’s word was success, but emphasized it as self-made success with one strong thought to describe the organization.
“They’ve been around a really long time. They’ve been drivers themselves and created a race team,” Annuniziata commented. “They have half the NASCAR Cup field as drivers in their team and won championships with them and won races with them.
“They’re breeding the new generation and have bred the old generation of NASCAR champions for the future. They are NASCAR, honestly.”
Tucker’s word was iconic, with his reasoning being similar to Annunziata’s, taking an organization and making it into one of the sport’s strongest driver development programs.
“If you look at the drivers in the Cup Series today, the amount of people they’ve touched along the way and have honed their skills to get to Cup is unmatched. They’ve been iconic in the job they’ve done,” Tucker commented.
Billy’s been asked by multiple people about a single word that describes the family’s impact from top to bottom.
However, he kept the single word simple, which highlighted his trajectory from driver to owner in a sport. During the lull years for ARCA, namely the car counts, Billy had to carry the torch, which he’s content not having to worry about much longer, as ARCA is showing an upward trend.
“I can’t sum it up in one word,” said Billy. “If you just ask for one word for the team, it would be perseverance.”
When it’s all set and done, Bill Sr. simply said that he’s proud.
“Very proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Bill Sr., “I’m just proud, that’s it.”
