Cicci Racing was an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

team that competed in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

. The team is owned by

Frank Cicci Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

and was last driven by

Jay Sauter Jason Garrett Sauter (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He previously drove the No. 34 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Frank Cicci Racing in the Busch Series. Sauter is the son of former NASCAR driver Jim S ...

Beginnings

FCR first began racing as a short track team in Upstate New York. They won the Late Model division championship in 1985 at

Shangri-La Speedway Shangri-La Speedway was a speedway in Owego, New York. It was a half-mile (0.8 km) oval race track facility. Over a span of fifty years, Shangri-La hosted automobile races of various kinds, AAA Championship Cars, stock cars, Modifieds, Supe ...

(later Tioga Motorsports Park before closing after 2005) That year, they made their NASCAR Busch Series debut at

North Carolina Speedway Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, ...

, as the No. 67. Jimmy Spencer qualified 30th and finished 19th. They hired Spencer to race in NASCAR's National Modified Tour after that, and subsequently won the championship in that series in 1986 and 1987. During the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

season, Cicci and Spencer ran two more races in the Busch Series with Quick Stop Beverage sponsoring. They decided to run Busch full-time in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, the team being named Team 34 Racing. Despite not winning a race, Spencer had 13 top-ten finishes, and finished seventh in points that season. They began

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

without major sponsorship, but Spencer was able to pick up his first career victory at

Hickory Motor Speedway Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as the "World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars". The tr ...

, then won two more races that season at Rougemount and

Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its y ...

. Suddenly, Cicci released Spencer to have

Randy LaJoie Randall Joesph LaJoie (born August 28, 1961) is a former NASCAR Busch Series race car driver (now the Xfinity Series), where he won the championship in 1996 and 1997. He is the father of racers Casey and Corey LaJoie. Early racing career LaJo ...

drive the 34 for the rest of the season, who posted two top-ten finishes. Spencer returned to run a limited schedule in a second Cicci car, the

Lowe's Foods Lowes Foods is an American supermarket chain based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The chain initially grew in the mountains of North Carolina and rural areas of Virginia, but, starting in the late 1990s, it expanded in metropolitan areas of ...

No. 87 car, and had two top-ten finishes as well. He left for the

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

Series at the end of the season.

Early 90s

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, FCR hired

Clifford Allison Clifford Allison (October 20, 1964 – August 13, 1992) was an American stock car racing driver. Son of NASCAR champion Bobby Allison, he was a member of the " Alabama Gang". He was killed in a crash during practice for a NASCAR Busch Series race ...

to drive the

Gwaltney Meats Gwaltney is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Francis Irby Gwaltney (1921–1981) American author *John Langston Gwaltney (1928–1998), African-American writer and anthropologist *Sheila Gwaltney (born 1954), American diplomat ...

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

. Allison struggled, however, and was released after the seventh race of the season.

Jack Sprague Jack Sprague (born August 8, 1964) is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001. Racin ...

took over for the balance of the season, and had a sixth-place finish at Orange County. Still searching for competitiveness, Cicci teamed up with Jeffrey and Scott Welliver for

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and hired

Todd Bodine Todd Martin Bodine (born February 27, 1964) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 62 Toyota Tundra for Halmar Friesen Racing, and current racing a ...

to drive. Bodine rewarded them with a win at the

Budweiser 200 There have been five NASCAR Busch Series races named Budweiser 200: * Budweiser 200 (Caraway), held at Caraway Speedway in 1982 * Budweiser 200 (Dover), held at Dover Downs International Speedway from 1984 to 1991 * Budweiser 200 (Bristol), held at ...

and a seventh-place finish in points. The next season, armed with sponsor

Hungry Jack Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-li ...

, Bodine won three times and finished third in points. After switching to

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

s for

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, Bodine won three more races but struggled with consistency, and finished 9th in points. He left for

Butch Mock Motorsports Rahmoc Enterprises is a former NASCAR Winston Cup team that operated from 1978 to 1993. The team was owned by long-time engine builder Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock. Butch Mock and Bob Rahilly split in 1992, with the race team becoming Butch Mock ...

at the end of the season. He was replaced by

Mike McLaughlin Michael McLaughlin (born October 6, 1956) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Nicknamed Magic Shoes, McLaughlin was a perennial fan favorite, winning the Most Popular Driver award in 1997. He also scored several wins and t ...

, who had eight top-ten finishes in the

Fiddle Faddle Fiddle Faddle is candy-coated popcorn produced by ConAgra Foods. Introduced in 1967, the snack is commonly found in US Discount store, discount and drug stores. Fiddle Faddle consists of popped popcorn covered with either caramel or butter tof ...

-sponsored car.

Prime years

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, French's Mustard became primary sponsor, and McLaughlin picked up his first career win at

Dover International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per yea ...

, and finished third in points. After a winless

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, McLaughlin chalked up two more wins in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, and was named the Series' most popular driver. During the 1997 season, the team expanded to a multi-car operation, fielding the No. 36

Stanley Tools Stanley Hand Tools is a brand of hand tools. It is a division of Stanley Black & Decker, following the merger of The Stanley Works with Black & Decker in March 2010. History The Stanley Works was founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, o ...

Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans. First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varied ...

for Bodine. He won one race and finished runner-up in the championship chase.

Goulds Pumps Xylem Inc. is a large American water technology provider, in public utility, residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries. Launched in 2011 as the spinoff of the water-relate ...

was the team's new sponsor in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and together they won two more races and finished 3rd in points. Bodine had left for Team Tabasco at the end of the season, and rookie driver

Matt Hutter Matthew Hutter (born May 19, 1971) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has raced in the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Hutter won the pole for the 1996 NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series Slim Jim 200 at Nashville ...

took his place. Despite posting one top-ten finish, Hutter was replaced mid-season by

David Green David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, who put together seven top-five finishes. A third car appeared for Cicci-Welliver in 1998 as well, the No. 30 Slim Jim Chevy driven by

Mike Cope Mike Cope (born May 8, 1962) is a retired American stock car racing driver. A two-time champion of the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series, he also competed in the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He is no relation to Dayton ...

. Cope struggled with consistency as well, and would be replaced by Bodine for the balance of the season. The team changed its name to Cicci-Welliver Racing before the 1999 season. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Tim Fedewa Timothy Fedewa (born May 9, 1967) is an American professional racing driver. He has formerly competed in the NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, American Speed Association and ARTGO. Fedewa is a spotter in the NASCAR Cup Series a ...

took over the No. 36, and had 9 top-ten finishes and a 14th-place finish in points. Bodine continued driving the newly renumbered 66 Phillips Chevy and had ten top-fives. McLaughlin meanwhile decided he needed a change of scenery, and announced he was leaving the team for

Innovative Motorsports Innovative Motorsports (IMI) is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998. Winston Cup Innovative ran four Cup races during its ...

, to the shock of the NASCAR community. David Green returned to take his place with AFG Glass as sponsor. He had eleven top-tens and a 9th in points. Fedewa picked up a win at

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, but failed to qualify twice and finished 18th in points. Bodine picked up one more victory and had a fourth-place finish in points.

Struggles and rebirth

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Bodine left for

Haas-Carter Motorsports Travis Carter Enterprises (later known as Haas-Carter Motorsports, K Mart Racing, BelCar Motorsports and Richardson-Haas Motorsports) was a NASCAR and USAR Pro Cup team. It was mostly owned by former crew chief Travis Carter and Carl Haas. The ...

, and Fedewa took his place in the 66. Consequently, Stanley was replaced by GNC, and

Hank Parker Jr. Hank Parker Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is a former American stock car racing driver. He is a retired competitor in NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series competition, posting two wins and a best points finish of 14th in the Busch Series. ...

took over the driving duties for the No. 36. Green stayed in the No. 34 and had six top-tens, but was not happy with the results and left. Parker picked up his first career win and finished 15th in points. Fedewa struggled with his new ride however, and would be released midway through the season.

Geoffrey Bodine Geoffrey Edwin Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is a retired American motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (with Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine), and sister Denise. Bodine lives in West Melbourne, Florida ...

took over for the rest of the season, his best finish being a fourth at Richmond. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, the Wellivers pulled out of the team after a long association. Cicci sold the 36 and 66 teams to Wayne Jesel. Jimmy Spencer returned to the team as a partner, with the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

came aboard to sponsor the No. 34, which was to be driven by rookie

Stuart Kirby Stuart Kirby (born May 9, 1981) is an American stock car racing driver. He has driven in ARCA, the Busch Series, and the NEXTEL Cup Series. A former apprentice funeral director for his family's funeral home, he drove the No. 51 Chevrolet owned by ...

on a part-time schedule. Kirby ran eight races, but did not finish higher than 17th, and he was replaced by

Steve Grissom Steven Paul Grissom (born June 26, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. Grissom was the 1993 Busch Series champion and has eleven Busch wins in 185 starts. He turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Alaba ...

, who didn't fare any better than a 22nd-place run at Richmond. The next season, former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

quarterback

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United State ...

came on board as a partner to try to attract sponsors.{{cite magazine, last=Pockrass , first=Bob , url=http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2013-01-31/super-bowl-2013-nfl-dan-marino-randy-moss-brett-favre-troy-aikman-joe-gibbs , title=NFL and NASCAR: Former NFL stars who dabbled in stock-car racing , magazine=

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

, date=January 31, 2014 , access-date=March 2, 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522121301/http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2013-01-31/super-bowl-2013-nfl-dan-marino-randy-moss-brett-favre-troy-aikman-joe-gibbs , archive-date=May 22, 2013 They could only get LesCare Kitchens to run that season, on a part-time basis. McLaughlin returned after a prior deal had fallen through, and had one top-ten finish, but LesCare did not live up to their sponsorship obligations, causing Spencer to dissolve the partnership. The team shut down after that, but returned in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

with

Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of variety stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of April 11, 2022, Dollar General operates 18,216 stores in the continental United States. The company began in 1939 as a family-own ...

sponsoring the car, driven by Randy LaJoie. LaJoie had three top-ten finishes, but was replaced by Todd Bodine on occasion, and finished 19th in points. For 2006,

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

driver

Paul Tracy Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian-American former professional auto racing driver who competed in CART, the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. He is known by the nicknames "PT" and "the Thrill from West Hill" ...

took the wheel for 5 races with SportClips and American Crew. Other drivers that drove the car included Bodine,

Scott Lynch Scott Lynch (born April 2, 1978) is an American fantasy author who wrote the '' Gentleman Bastard Sequence'' series of novels. His first novel, ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'', was purchased by Orion Books in August 2004 and published in June 2006 u ...

Carlos Pardo Carlos Alberto Pardo Estévez (September 15, 1975 – June 14, 2009) was a Mexican stock car racing driver from Mexico City. He was the first driver to win the NASCAR Mexico Corona Series championship. Career Pardo won 10 of his 74 NASCAR Mexi ...

Kertus Davis Kertus Davis (born February 26, 1981) is a NASCAR driver. He is currently the competition director for JD Motorsports. Prior to NASCAR/USAR Davis began racing in go-karts at the age of eight, competing in his hometown of Gaffney around various ...

Mike Bliss Michael Duane Bliss (born April 5, 1965) is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series. Racing career Bliss began ...

Jason Keller Jason Keller (born April 23, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing driver. Previously, he was a mainstay in NASCAR's second-tier series, competing in 519 Nationwide Series races between 1991 and 2010. On May 15, 2010, Keller made his ...

, Jeff Fuller and Kim Crosby. For Frank Cicci Racing's 20th year in the

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

the team was set to run the full 2007 season with new driver

Brian Conz Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

, coming over from the

ARCA RE/MAX Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

, with

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...

as the sponsor. After Steve Grissom drove at Daytona, it was reported that Cicci has placed Conz and his sponsor on notice for failing to pay its financial obligations.

was to drive the car for most of the 2007 season, but the team suspended operations in April. They attempted to run the

Zippo 200 The Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at The Glen is a Xfinity Series that takes place annually at the Watkins Glen International road course in Watkins Glen, New York. Kyle Larson is the defending race winner. The race was originally held from 1991 to 2001 ...

but could not come up with funds to do so.

References

External links

Frank Cicci Racing
Auto racing teams established in 1979 Sports clubs disestablished in 2007 Companies based in North Carolina Defunct NASCAR teams American auto racing teams Defunct companies based in North Carolina 2007 disestablishments in North Carolina