While the numbers of women in the motorsport field have been slowly growing for decades, racing remains a predominately male-dominated sphere — but believe it or not, one all-woman pit crew actually helped lead their driver to an ARCA stock car championship back in 1987. Bill Venturini and the All-Blue Crew made history back in the day, helping pave the path for future women to take on the motorsport world.
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Venturini made a name for himself in the ARCA stock car circuit with a career that kicked off with his debut in 1982 and ended after he retired in 1996 — though he did compete in a handful of NASCAR-sanctioned races in all three series.
Part of the inspiration for the Ultra Blue Crew came from Venturini’s wife Cathy, who was there for Bill throughout his entire racing career. When the crew needed a helping hand, Cathy Venturini wasn’t afraid to help out however she could. Then, as the couple were traveling for a race, the idea of an all-female crew became fascinating from a marketing perspective, according to the ARCA website:
In 1982, Bill and Cathy Venturini traveled to Daytona International Speedway for the first time to compete with the ARCA Menards Series. It was during their long drive home from Daytona when the idea for what would eventually become the Ultra Blue Crew came into focus.
“It was an 18-hour drive; we had a lot to talk about,” Bill Venturini said. “I said to her, ‘You know, we’ve got to figure out how to get a sponsor.’ But there’s a thousand guys racing in Florida in the month of February. Why would somebody want to spend the money with us when there’s so many other people?
“There are a boatload of a talented drivers racing. So how do you get money for you if you’re just as good as them? You’ve got to do something that’ll make somebody want to spend some money with you.”
The conversation soon shifted to Cathy Venturini’s hands-on involvement with the team.
“We started talking, and because she was so involved, we made the comment, ‘Well, maybe we can have an all-female pit crew,’” Bill Venturini said. “That’s how it started.”
You can check out a great summary video below, put together by NASCAR:
The initial search for an all-female crew didn’t go as planned, but by the end of 1982, a group of women were able to practice pit stops and make marketing appearances as they honed their skills. The Venturinis put the idea on the backburner for a while, unable to pay that many women — until Sports Illustrated showed interest in writing a feature on the all-woman crew. Venturini found a sponsor — Permatex — to help fund the venture’s second go. It was in that second effort that Venturini and the Ultra Blue Crew secured the 1987 ARCA Championship.
You can check out the video above or read this incredible story on ARCA’s website for more information on his historic crew. Simply put, though, Venturini and his Ultra Blue Crew helped turn the tides for women in the stock car world — and for women in motorsport in general.