Sporting News’ 60 Most Beautiful People: No. 22, Wendy Venturini
In 60 years of NASCAR racing, the sport has been filled with colorful characters. This year, Sporting News decided to craft a list of the sport's 60 Most Beautiful People.
The selections were made as a result of nominations sent in by readers and NASCAR fans to the Sporting News' publications and Web sites.
The list was finalized and published in a special edition, which is now available on newsstands and at the online store at streetandsmiths.com. SceneDaily is running the list, with one person from the top 60 to be featured each day.
Today's installment features No. 22 - Wendy Venturini.
Wendy Venturini figures she’s been traveling to race tracks since she was 3 weeks old. So living out of a suitcase for 10 months of the year as a pit reporter and racing correspondent is no big deal.
The 29-year-old Chicago native has racing in her blood. Her father, Bill Venturini Sr., competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, won two championships in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and holds the series qualifying record at Talladega Superspeedway. Venturini’s older brother, Billy, is a driver on the ARCA RE/MAX circuit. Her husband is Jarrad Egert, an engine-tuner for Tony Stewart, and she was previously married to Chad Norris, who has worked on several pit crews.
Venturini is a reporter for Speed Channel’s pre-race show, “NASCAR Raceday,” and she is featured in a segment of the show called “The Real Deal,” during which she interviews a driver, crew chief or car owner. She also serves as pit reporter for DirecTV’s HotPass. In 2007, Venturini made history by becoming the first woman ever to call an entire NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the booth (on HotPass).
Though well-connected in the sport, Venturini worked her way up the television ranks, starting at the University of North Carolina’s campus station. Upon graduation, she toiled at small TV outlets throughout North Carolina before moving to Speed and becoming the youngest pit reporter to cover the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Away from the track, she is on the board of directors for the Women’s Auxiliary of Motorsports (WAM), a designated charity of NASCAR that helps racing families requiring medical or financial assistance through fundraising efforts and wellness programs.
