Female NASCAR reporter gets wish—to cover race at Chicagoland
Some call her the Barbara Walters of NASCAR, to which Wendy Venturini replies: "That's a stretch, isn't it?" Venturini is a trailblazer, the first woman to call an entire NASCAR race on a national platform. But comparisons to legendary broadcasters make the Chicago native queasy. "I'm not a TV person," she said. "I'm a racing kid talking on TV." Venturini, 28, has spent 27-plus years at the racetrack. Her first exposure came at the Texas World Speedway when she was 3 weeks old. It's easier to find baby photos of her sitting on a tire than galloping on a merry-go-round. When Joliet's Chicagoland Speedway opened in 2001, Venturini had just finished earning a degree in communication studies at the University of North Carolina. She said she remembers thinking: "Oh, man, how cool would that be one day to cover a race in my hometown?" She will do just that this weekend, when the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series hits town. Venturini will work as the garage reporter—sounds glamorous, huh?—for the Speed Channel's pre-race show, which airs at noon Sunday. -- Chicago Tribune
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...1,6227455,print.column?coll=cs-home-headlines
Some call her the Barbara Walters of NASCAR, to which Wendy Venturini replies: "That's a stretch, isn't it?" Venturini is a trailblazer, the first woman to call an entire NASCAR race on a national platform. But comparisons to legendary broadcasters make the Chicago native queasy. "I'm not a TV person," she said. "I'm a racing kid talking on TV." Venturini, 28, has spent 27-plus years at the racetrack. Her first exposure came at the Texas World Speedway when she was 3 weeks old. It's easier to find baby photos of her sitting on a tire than galloping on a merry-go-round. When Joliet's Chicagoland Speedway opened in 2001, Venturini had just finished earning a degree in communication studies at the University of North Carolina. She said she remembers thinking: "Oh, man, how cool would that be one day to cover a race in my hometown?" She will do just that this weekend, when the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series hits town. Venturini will work as the garage reporter—sounds glamorous, huh?—for the Speed Channel's pre-race show, which airs at noon Sunday. -- Chicago Tribune
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...1,6227455,print.column?coll=cs-home-headlines
