CONCORD, N.C. – Longtime ARCA Menards Series veteran driver, Tom Hessert, will make his anticipated return to the seat with Venturini Motorsports for three short track events this year.
Earning the reputation as a tenacious short track competitor, Hessert returns with a tailor-made schedule at Berlin Raceway, Elko Speedway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
A mainstay and respected personality on tour with the ARCA Menards Series from 2007 to ’18, Hessert has compiled 186 career series starts. Finishing a career best runner-up in ARCA’s 2016 National Championship points standings, the second-generation driver from Cherry Hill, N.J. has turned nearly 25,000 laps and accomplished six series wins, 55 top-five finishes and 111 top-10 finishes.
With a lifetime of racing in his rearview mirror, Hessert left the track in 2018 to resume his day-to-day life raising his four young children with his wife while running day-to-day operations for his family’s northern Philadelphia auto dealership.
“So, yeah, it’s been a minute since I was in the seat,” said Hessert laughingly when asked about coming back to the track after four years. “Our last full season was 2016 and after that we ran a couple of partial seasons. Since then, my focus has been on being a dad and growing my family with my amazing wife Meghan.
“This whole idea kinda just came together back in September when I was talking with Billy (Venturini) about Lucas Oil being back on the ARCA schedule and how I’d love to go back one more time. Indianapolis is one of my favorite places. And after we made the decision to run, we started looking further up the schedule and found a few more races we thought would help knock off the rust.
“I definitely miss the racing and being competitive, but getting back to the track and seeing everyone in the garage is going to be special. As far as the racing, there are some unknowns after being away for so long, I just know were gonna make the most of it and have some fun.”
Hessert has made 18 starts combined throughout his career at Berlin, Elko and Lucas Oil tallying nine top-fives and 17 top-10 finishes. By the numbers, Hessert padded his career stats racing short tracks which account for 64 percent of both his career top-five (35) and top-10 (71) totals. All but one of his victories came via the bullring, with his only non short-track event win at Talladega Superspeedway in 2014.
Tom Hessert will make his return to the track in the ARCA Menards Series at Berlin Raceway on June 18.