Alison Macleod, the “winningest female in USAC history,” is stepping into stock cars. Macleod has recently signed on with Venturini Motorsports for the 2010 and 2011 race seasons.
Macleod, 20-year-old driver from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, has plans to move to North Carolina in May in order to be closer to the team and pursue sponsorship to race in local late model races and ARCA Racing Series events.
“I am really excited to be aligned with such a strong team,” said Macleod, who started racing go-karts at the age of 7. “After just a week in North Carolina at the Venturini shop I realized that this was a team devoted to developing drivers and winning races.
Venturini Motorsports has competed in the ARCA Racing Series for over 25 years. The Venturinis are a racing family with roots in the Chicago area. Bill Sr. won 2 International Racing Association titles before moving up into the highly competitive series of ARCA Racing where he won two National Championships. After Bill Sr. retired in 1995, his son Billy began his racing career, following in his father’s footsteps.
Today, Bill and Billy have grown their business into the premier driver development program in the ARCA Series for up and coming talent. Drivers such as Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Scott Lagasse Jr, and Brian Scott have all came through the ranks at Venturini Motorsports. Mikey Kile, Steve Arpin, and Alli Owens are currently signed on and racing with Venturini Motorsports for the 2010 season.
“I can’t wait to get in a car for them," said Macleod. "In the meantime I will be at the shop as much as possible and at as many races that I can make. To make this successful I must utilize all the training tools available to me and I look forward to doing so.”
Macleod has racked up three championships at various levels in her 13 years of racing, and was selected as a Ford Racing sponsored driver in the development program. Since 2007, she has driven in the United States Auto Club (USAC) midget ranks, scoring multiple feature wins and finishing second in the points championship in 2009.
“We are very pleased to have Alison at Venturini Motorsports. She has proven herself to become a successful driver in racing’s top ranks and we look forward to having her race with our team,” said competition director, Billy Venturini. Look for upcoming announcements on the partnership between Alison Macleod and Venturini Motorsports at www.alisonmacleodracing.com and www.venturinimotorsports.com.
Does anybody else get the feeling that there's an uprising goin' on around the racing world? Women to the left, women to the right...
Posted by: Mike R | March 31, 2010 at 05:13 PM
When asked about rising USAC star Alison Macleod's transition to stock cars, representatives for Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti are reported to have replied, “WHO?”.
Posted by: Chris Lukens | April 01, 2010 at 04:05 PM