Scottish Rite Supreme Council issues "offical statment" about their NASCAR "affiliation arrangement" with BC Motorsports

A new thread started last night at the official Scottish Rite site's forum linking to Burning Taper's article from yesterday titled "NASCAR-Scottish Rite deal a wreck; Frank Cicci accuses Brian Conz and Scottish Rite of breach of contract." One of the writers there referred to the article as "pretty slanted to say the least," but then agreed with it that the Scottish Rite should be talking about this, telling us what's going on.

About an hour ago, an "offical statment" was posted on the forum by Dean Alban 33°, Director of Membership Services of The Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction.

Interestingly, the statement doesn't use the word "sponsorship," opting instead to use the terms "affiliation arrangement" and "participation in...."

Here's the full post:

Hello Bro. John,

Here is the offical statment [sic] from the Supreme Council, 33° Washington D.C.

The Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction's affiliation arrangement with BC Motorsports for the 2007 Busch Grand National season expired without a final agreement having been reached. The Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction did not provide any funding for participation in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Grand National season program and does not have any contracts with BC Motorsports or any race organization at this time.

In light of the positive feedback from many members about the potential involvement with a racing team, however, the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction will continue to explore other opportunities for possible participation within the 2007 racing season and will announce its plans as soon as a decision has been reached. Through the program, the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction anticipates having an opportunity for Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite to be viewed in a positive light, to educate the public about our many philanthropic activities, and to provide a medium for increasing public awareness of our fraternity.

S&F,

Bro. Dean

Dean Alban, 33°
Director of Membership Services
The Supreme Council, 33°, S.J. USA

It doesn't really say a lot, but I commend the Scottish Rite for finally saying something. Personally, I'd like to know who came up with the idea, how it was developed, who was consulted, and why it crashed into the wall so fast. Why did they choose a driver who hasn't been active on the NASCAR circuit the past few years? Didn't they know he wasn't yet qualified to drive? If they're still gung-ho to "participate," why didn't they stay with Frank Cicci? In a fraternity that wants to shed its image of "secrecy," you'd think they'd be more forthcoming on the details.

At present, the official statement [above] does not seem to have been published on the Scottish Rite's website, at least not on the homepage where they routinely announce news. I checked the archives, too, and see that the original article from January announcing the Scottish Rite-NASCAR sponsorship, which had been in the archives since it was published, and was there this morning, is no longer there. Gone. Deleted. Chucked into the memory hole.

UPDATE Friday, March 2: The websites BrianConz.com and ScottishRiteRacing.com, as of around 1 p.m. ET, are kaput. Not there. 404. Gone. Another Scottish Rite venture down the memory hole.

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