Frank Cicci Jr. is trying to jump-start the NASCAR Busch Series team he formed with former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly a little more than a year ago. Their debut last April was cut short when team sponsor LesCare Kitchens didn’t live up to its contract, Cicci said. With Mike McLaughlin driving, the team ran just six of 11 scheduled races. Cicci said he’s now in litigation with LesCare Kitchens. Cicci is hoping to return to the series full time if one of two potential sponsorships come through. One of those deals could reunite Cicci with Chemung native Todd Bodine, who is currently without a ride in the Nextel Cup series. Cicci is hoping he’ll be able to close a deal within the next two weeks so the team can compete in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14. “These are good, season-long programs, and I’m just waiting to hear from them,” Cicci said Wednesday. Bodine and Cicci, who have a long relationship together in the Busch Series, tried to hook up last summer after the Herzog Jackson Motorsports team Bodine was driving for closed down because of a lack of sponsorship. That deal never materialized, but Cicci is far along in sponsor negotiations, and a deal involving Bodine could happen this time around. “One of the sponsors is tied to a particular driver, and the other we are trying to sell with Todd as the driver,” Cicci said. Cicci said he has also been talking with McLaughlin but wouldn’t reveal whether he was the other driver involved in the sponsor negotiations. Cicci said Kelly has been instrumental in courting one of the potential sponsors, which is from the electronics industry. “Jim has been working hard,” Cicci said. “He’s had a couple of meetings in Las Vegas with one of the sponsors. He wants to go racing.” The Cicci-Kelly team, which has seven Chevys in its North Carolina shop, hasn’t competed since July. With only a month to go before the start of the Busch Series season, it may be a scramble to get up and running. But Cicci said it can be done. “I’ve got a skeleton crew getting the car ready for Daytona,” he said.(Elmira Star Gazette)(1-15-2004)
