Full Throttle

When you’re a scam artist, you scam. When you’re a NASCAR owner who gets scammed, first you kick yourself in the ass for being so Stuuuupid. Then you go to the authorities.

A federal grand jury indicted a Plymouth [Mi.] businessman on charges that he defrauded the owner of a NASCAR racing team, several air charter companies and a credit union.

Franklin Ray, who opened Marlin Transport Inc. and MNR Productions, was named in a six-count felony indictment handed up Friday.

He is charged with defrauding at least $285,000 from several charter companies and from Anthony Morgenthau, a Florida businessman who co-owns BAM Racing, which sponsors a Nextel Cup team.

Ray allegedly posed as an agent for NASCAR and several country music performers. He is charged with bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Between July 2002 and December 2002, Ray allegedly agreed to co-sponsor NASCAR races and “to coordinate country and rock concerts to coincide with the weekend of races.”

Ray “entered into agreements with numerous companies to charter flights, helicopter and limousine services for clients purportedly sponsored by (Ray.)” He also received money and free travel from the companies based upon misrepresentations, the indictment said.

I’m in full agreement with the line of thought that says “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice” etc, BUT come on! Just how dumb do you have to be to fall for this guys line of horse hockey? Posing as an agent for NASCAR? The real ones must have “NASCAR” tatooed on their ass for verification purposes, how the hell do you “pose as one?” And how the hell do you fall for a scam perpetrated by someone “posing as one?”

Obviously something is fishy in Plymouth Michigan that is apparently “scam central” for Franklin Ray, but maybe it’s time to have a closer look at BAM Racing. This isn’t the first occurence of strangeness around the BAM garage.

During the same general time frame of Ray’s alleged scam BAM Racing was embroiled in a controversy with then driver Shawna Robinson. Beth Ann Morgenthau, wife of the aformentioned Anthony Morgenthau, signed Robinson to a 24 race deal in Jan. 2002. In fact Beth Ann said that the relationship would be “one of growing and one of future success.” That deal, and any “growing” as a result of it, turned out to be a sham. Through her first 13 scheduled starts she was behind the wheel in only 8 events making the starting field in 7 of those. Then Ron Hornaday and Derrike Cope were handed some of the testing and qualifying duties.

The current Franklin Ray indictment seems to indicate BAM Racing is an innocent victim. But taken with BAM’s cavalier attitude towards the Robinson contract it makes you wonder. Maybe it’s all smoke and no fire. Maybe the environment that existed at BAM in 2002 no longer is present. I’m in no position to speculate beyond that, but if I were BAM’s current driver, Ken Schrader, I’d be thinking about moving on to something else.

Maybe the Schrader moving to the #21 Woods Bros. Team rumor should become reality.

UPDATE: Well lookie here, a short 48 hours after I speculated Schrader should leave BAM Racing and jump inot the #21, Jim Utter is quoting “multiple sources” confirming Schrader is taking over the Woods Brothers ride. I should become a drivers agent.

NASCAR, Auto Racing, Sports