Frank Cicci Racing going out of business

I'm going to withhold posting any personal comments or opinions here. I don't know all the details, and posting my opinions on how and/or why this has happened would probably get me accused once again of trying to "make Masons look stupid." Or worse.

Frank Cicci began this season's NASCAR Busch Series with high hopes and a much ballyhooed sponsor: The Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction.

Three races into the season, the deal fell apart. We were never really told why. The heavily publicized Masonic driver, Brian Conz, didn't drive even once in a Busch Series Scottish Rite car.

Not even to the mid-season mark, Frank Cicci has shuttered his garage doors. After 20 seasons of NASCAR racing, he can't afford to field a car. Unless a sponsor shows up soon, he's out of business.

"We don't have the funding to go on," Cicci said. "We've got a good team, it's my 20th year, really good people, really good driver in Jay Sauter. We were just getting better and better. We just can't go on any more. It's a bad situation."

His racing cars are up for sale.

Masons | Frank Cicci | NASCAR | Freemasonry | Scottish Rite | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

NASCAR-Scottish Rite deal a wreck; Frank Cicci accuses Brian Conz and Scottish Rite of breach of contract

Well, that didn't take long....

Frank Cicci, of Frank Cicci Racing, alleges that driver Brian Conz and the Scottish Rite have defaulted on their contract with him to run the full Busch Series schedule.

Scottish Rite, an appendant body of American Freemasonry, was to sponsor Conz as driver of Cicci's cars this season. Conz has yet to run a race because he was not approved by NASCAR to run Daytona or California.

Frank Cicci Racing hopes to run Jay Sauter in its No. 34 Chevrolets for the rest of the 2007 Busch Series season. Sauter drove in last Saturday's Stater Bros. 300 race, sponsored by Amsoil, in a car not showing the Masonic symbols.

SceneDaily.com reported today that on an unnamed website, a posting attributed to Conz said he and the Scottish Rite are negotiating with "new team affiliations," and will make an announcement soon.

"It's a bit disturbing to read the press release that BC Motorsports [and the Scottish Rite] is seeking affiliation with another team when they still have a binding contract with FCR," Cicci said in a statement.

Brian Simo will drive Cicci's car this weekend in the Telcel Motorola Mexico 200 in Mexico City. Sauter will be in the No. 34 the rest of the year, if Cicci finds new sponsorship.

Update Thursday, March 1: Ron Levanduski, sports writer in Elmira, N.Y., Frank Cicci's hometown, rehashed yesterday's article from SceneDaily.com, but added an interesting note:

The Frank Cicci Racing statement said Cicci has retained legal council against BC Motorsports and Brian Conz for default and non-payment according to the terms of a binding contract that commits them to a 35 NASCAR Busch Series race schedule with Frank Cicci Racing [emphasis mine].

"Non-payment" would mean that Scottish Rite was supposed to pay Frank Cicci for their sponsorship, which makes sense. We speculated in January that a typical NASCAR sponsorship could cost a company $10,000,000.00 or more. After we and others began questioning Scottish Rite about how much they paid for the sponsorship rights, they said they had paid nothing, and were just offering "support." If Levanduski is correct, that there has indeed been a breach of contract regarding payments due, then was the Scottish Rite merely mincing words when they said they hadn't paid for the sponsorship rights, meaning, they hadn't paid yet? It would seem from Cicci's threat of lawsuit that Scottish Rite may indeed owe Cicci some cold, hard cash. Stay tuned....

Previous Burning Taper stories on this fiasco:

• Jan. 8 — Scottish Rite sponsors NASCAR driver
• Jan. 18 — Correction: Scottish Rite's NASCAR does indeed bear the Masonic Square and Compasses symbol
• Jan. 23 — NASCAR fans more loyal to sponsors than in any other sport
• Jan. 30 — Slate, Fox News weigh in on 'bizarre' Masonic-NASCAR partnership
• Feb. 10 — Scottish Rite Racing's Brian Conz not approved for NASCAR season opener
• Feb. 11 — What will future historians think of the Scottish Rite-NASCAR partnership?
• Feb. 15 — NASCAR cheating common: Michael Waltrip penalized for fuel-tampering; his crew chief fined and suspended
• Feb. 16 — Steve Grissom to drive Scottish Rite car in NASCAR opener Saturday
• Feb. 21 — NASCAR, Michael Richards, and reality
• Feb. 25 — Where was the Scottish Rite's car yesterday in the Stater Bros. 300?

Masons | Masonic Integrity | NASCAR | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Brian Conz | Scottish Rite | Burning Taper | Frank Cicci | Jay Sauter

Scottish Rite Racing's Brian Conz not approved for NASCAR season opener

Writing for the Elmira, New York Star-Gazette, sports columnist Ron Levanduski repeats the now common Masonic myth, that "the Scottish Rite [is] the oldest and largest fraternal organization in America."

Of course that statement isn't accurate, but I'm sure we'll hear it more and more as the dividing line between Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite continues to blur.

Levanduski provides us with more information about this marriage between NASCAR and the Scottish Rite that Slate.com called a "bizarre" partnership. Some things I didn't know before:

• Frank Cicci, the owner of the race team now known as Scottish Rite Racing, is the owner of one or more Quick Stop Beverage liquor stores in the Elmira, New York area. Cicci now lives in North Carolina.
• Cicci's racing team has been struggling financially and on the track. Last year the team had to pull out of several races after poor showings early in the season.
• Joe Hill, spokesman for the new Scottish Rite Racing team, admits that the current no-cash sponsorship deal is intended to attract prominent and wealthy Masons to get interested in NASCAR racing and eventually pony up cash to support the team.
• Driver Brian Conz, who is a Scottish Rite Mason, has been inactive in recent years, and was not approved by NASCAR to compete in the season-opening Orbitz 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 17. Cicci team spokeswoman Christina Cicci said Wedesday they have yet to sign a substitute driver for Conz at Daytona.

It will be interesting to see how these strange bedfellows — Freemasonry and NASCAR — play out their relationship during the racing season.

UPDATE Sat. Feb. 10: Frank Cicci Racing announced Feb. 5 that Mike Bliss will pilot the #34 Scottish Rite Chevy during the Orbitz 300 on February 17th. Owner Frank Cicci said, "I'm confident that Mike will do a great job. He did an excellent job for us last season and we're excited to have him back. It's unfortunate that Brian [Conz] is unable to start off the season with us; however, we look forward to the necessary testing to enable him to get behind the wheel as soon as possible."

Despite Cicci's stated excitement at having Bliss as the team's driver again, it should be noted that Bliss was the team's driver last season as well, before Cicci decided to put Conz in the driver's seat. According to the Star-Gazette article, Bliss scored only one top-15 finish, placing 12th in the O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in April. The team cut back on their activities for the rest of last season.

It's interesting that the early stories about Conz becoming the Scottish Rite team's driver played heavily on the fact that he was a Scottish Rite Mason, but now the team will have a driver that isn't (or if he is, is not being billed as such) a Scottish Rite brother. Is it coincidence, fate, karma, or just another Illuminati conspiracy?

Masons | Masonic Sponsorship | NASCAR | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Scottish Rite | Frank Cicci | Brian Conz | Mike Bliss | Burning Taper