Irene Venditti

Track Owner/Operator
CLASS OF 2012

Known throughout southern New England as “Mrs. V” or “The Grand Dame of Auto Racing”, Irene Venditti was continuously involved at Seekonk Speedway since its inception in 1946 into the 1990’s when younger generations of Vendittis took over the day-to-day operations of the track.

For over forty years Irene was the behind-the-scenes backbone of Seekonk Speedway. For several seasons, she did the same for Westboro Speedway when the ARC (her husband Anthony‘s club) held sway at that oval track.

Back before the high tech, electronic computer driven age virtually everything needed to administer at the track was handled by Irene. Pre-race publicity with local papers, trade papers and at times radio & TV ads was also all taken car of by Mrs. V.

Then there were the driver registrations, mailing lists, point standings and weekly payoffs. By the early 1960’s Anthony had pioneered weekly payoffs via check, in hand of the competitors early the following week. This innovation was facilitated by Irene behind the scenes. Virtually every one of the hundreds who raced at Seekonk over the years, at one point or another, found a note tucked in with the check with words of encouragement and often, when needed, a few extra dollars after a bad night.

Born in 1919, the second youngest of 8 children in a Portuguese family, she soon came to learn an old school work-ethic while in the family’s ice farming business. Her and Anthony met when she was 15 and they married soon after graduating high school. They had four children together.

Irene was presented the Frank Maratta Award for outstanding contribution to auto racing in 1998. Seekonk Speedway remains under Venditti family ownership to this day. Irene passed away on March 28, 2014 at the age of 94.