Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"Failed Teams: Black Cat Racing"

Posted by nascarman on April 19, 2018

Viewed 2039 times Tweet For every successful NASCAR team, there are more that fail. And some really fail.



This is the story of one that didn't even make it to a race, and were caught with an illegal car in winter testing. With a sponsor lineup of action figures and checkered flag bikinis, Black Cat Racing's failure as a team was more interesting than most.



In October 2003, a new team announced plans to compete full-time in the Busch Series and part-time in Cup the following year. Based in Jackson, TN, Black Cat Racing seemingly was based on challenging superstitions. BCR would field Chevrolets with the number 13 on them. Rhea Fain and Gary Benton were listed as co-owners, two individuals who were relatively new to ownership, although Fain tried to start a team with Morgan Shepherd in 1999.



Black Cat planned to run three Cup races in 2004, beginning with Las Vegas. The driver they chose was interesting; between 1985 and 1993, he served as head coach of the Houston Oilers and then the Atlanta Falcons. After competing in auto racing for 10 years, Jerry Glanville was drafted by Black Cat to go race in Cup.



At 62 years old, Glanville was a veteran of Busch, Truck, and ARCA competition but had never run in NASCAR's premier series. In 1998, he planned to make his Cup debut at Richmond in June, but an April crash in Winston West qualifying at Phoneix broke four ribs and his left ankle, ending his Cup plans. In 2004, Glanville would drive the #13 Chevy in three Cup races with sponsorship from the NRA.



In November, Black Cat announced that Conrad Burr would race full-time in their Busch car. Sponsors for the effort came one at a time. At Daytona, the car would be sponsored by McFarlane Toys to promote Spawn action figures. At Nashville they would be sponsored by the country band, Madison County. The fan-based organization, FanZCar came on-board as a partner, and finally BCR got sponsorship from Total Race Babe, a company that made checkered flag bikinis.





Burr's Spawn car



Black Cat also ran interesting contests to promote themselves. If you joined the NRA with the BCR promo code, you were entered in a contest to win a 14 day European river cruise from Holland to Hungary with Jerry Glanville beginning in August. They also offered a chance to win a custom motorcycle from Tipley, Tennessee's Big Daddy Choppers for joining the NRA.



But flaws in Black Cat Racing appeared rather quickly. Spawn canceled their Daytona sponsorship in late December and rescheduled it for later in the season. FanZCar left Black Cat at the end of January. Conrad Burr left the team and was replaced with Kim Crosby, a junior high school principal who only had 3 ARCA starts at that point.







Together, Crosby and BCR posted the fastest time in Busch Series winter testing at Daytona; surprisingly faster than RCR, JGR, and DEI. However, the speed was quickly disallowed when it was discovered their restrictor plate was bigger than than everyone else's.



With a legal restrictor plate, the car was slower than they hoped. And unfortunately, BCR couldn't get their team ready in time for Speedweeks. They ended up providing some support for Crosby to switch teams and drive for Drew White at Daytona. She failed to qualify when her Boudreaux's Butt Paste Pontiac was 8 mph slower than the pole. After the disappointing effort, Crosby left BCR.



"I lived up 100% to my obligations with Black Cat Racing," Crosby said in a press release. "I came down this week with every hopes of making my first Busch Series event, however things did not go as originally planned, and I felt it was in the best interest of my racing career to sever all ties with BCR.



"Despite the disappointment with Rhea Fain and Black Cat Racing, I would like to give a huge thanks to Drew White and his crew for the incredible job they did this week at Daytona. They worked very hard all week, we just didn't have enough to get the job done, but they should be commended on their efforts, I won't ever forget it."



The last mention of Black Cat Racing came on the morning of the 2004 Daytona 500. Total Race Babe was also cancelling their sponsorship. With no money, no drivers, and no hope, Black Cat Racing faded into obscurity.



It appears superstitions are real. Conrad Burr and Jerry Glanville never raced in NASCAR again; Rhea Fain and Gary Benton never owned another car. Terrible luck came to anyone who crossed paths with this Black Cat.



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