Catchfence

Concord, NC (June 1, 2011) - While Concord, North Carolina may be the home to Venturini Motorsports; Chicago is still considered their true hometown. With a racing legacy that dates back to the 1950s, the Venturini’s cut their teeth in racing in-and-around the Chicagoland area for nearly 40 years prior to relocating their race operations to the Charlotte area during the early 1990’s.

Three generations of Venturini’s, consisting of Grandfather Tony Venturini, and current team owners Bill Sr. and Billy Venturini, all took their turn behind the wheel of the family’s famed No.25 racecar. Over the years the trio of drivers achieved numerous racing accolades cementing their place in racing history. However, with all their success they’ve never forgotten their racing roots – Chicago, making a win at this weekend’s ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards – Messina Wildlife Stopper 150 at Chicagoland Speedway that much more meaningful.

“I’m really excited about our chances at Chicago this year,” said Billy Venturini, Venturini Motorsports GM. “We showed up with an ultra-competitive fleet of cars at the test. Our goal is to end up in victory lane! It is always fun coming home and being a fan favorite.”

Chicagoland Speedway has yielded success for the Venturini’s over the years as they went to victory lane in 2008 with Scott Lagasse Jr. and captured a 2nd place finish in last year’s ARCA event with Steve Arpin behind the wheel. Arpin recently signed with Turner Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and will be making his debut in the
No. 32 Mike’s Hard Lemonade Chevrolet Silverado starting at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10th.

After finishing second last week with driver George Miedecke at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the Chicago natives bring momentum and a fleet of competitive cars back to the windy city in search of another hometown victory.

Venturini Motorsports has entered four teams in this year’s Chicago event.

Piloting the No. 15 Lauren Briant / Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet this week is 18 year-old Kyle Fowler. The Rookie of the Year candidate has two previous starts this season with Venturini Motorsports; Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Despite qualifying on the outside pole at both events, his best finish is 16th.

Venturini Motorsports returns to Chicago with high expectations after a competitive test session last month on the 1.5 mile-oval. During that test session Venturini driver, Hal Martin topped the morning session, giving the Louisiana native added confidence as he gets ready to make his third start of the ARCA season for Venturini Motorsports.

Driving the No. 55 NOLA Motorsports Park Toyota entry for Venturini, Martin is no stranger to the ARCA Racing Series or Chicagoland Speedway. Affectionately known as the ‘Ragin Cajun’, Martin finished with an impressive career best 3rd place effort at Chicagoland Speedway in 2009.

Driving Venturini Motorsport’s third entry is the 2009 & 2010 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champion, Josh Richards. Richards will be behind the wheel of the No. 25 Kentucky Fuel / Texas Coral Toyota. Chicagoland Speedway marks the first ARCA race of the season for Richards, who has three previous starts with Venturini Motorsports. While Richards didn’t take part in last month’s Chicagoland test session, he recently turned laps at Michigan International Speedway in preparation for The Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 150.

Josh Richards recently signed with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) and will compete in select NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events in 2011. The 23-year old Richards will make his NASCAR Truck Series debut at Kentucky Speedway in a KBM Toyota Tundra on July 7th.

Race coverage for The Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 150 will begin on Saturday, June 4 at 6:00 PM ET live on SPEED. Follow the team on Twitter @venturinimotor for live updates. Additional race coverage, including live timing, scoring and radio broadcast, can be viewed through the ARCA Racing Network at arcaracing.com.