BAM Racing was a NASCAR racing team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, owned by Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau. The team began racing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series in 2000 before moving to NASCAR in 2001. They sat out 2009 due to the recession, and have not raced since.
For the 2003 season it was announced that Ken Schrader would drive the No. 49. The team was forced to run with multiple sponsors throughout the year but most of the year the car was sponsored by AT&T through its 1-800-CALL-ATT collect call service. The team qualified for 32 races and had a best finish of 8th at Michigan. In 2004, it was announced BAM Racing had secured a deal with Schwan Food Company for multiple years. They were able to achieve a best finish of 6th during the season, had three less DNF's, and improved their average finish by two places.
Schwan's and Schrader again returned for the 2005 season and BAM had its best season to date with three top tens and an average finish of 25th place. After the conclusion of the 2005 season, Ken Schrader left to join Wood Brothers/JTG Racing. For 2006, Schrader was replaced by Brent Sherman who brought along sponsorship from Serta Mattresses. Sherman was to run for the Rookie of the Year award. However, after struggling through the start of the season he was released in favor of veteran Jimmy Spencer. Spencer was also an advisor for BAM and was a mentor for Sherman during his time there. However, Sherman's departure from the team left it unsponsored, as Serta had followed Sherman from ARCA racing to Busch Series and Cup series racing. Spencer raced from the spring Martinsville race until the spring Richmond race, when Mike Wallace took over. In May 2006, Kevin Lepage left Front Row Motorsports to take over the No. 49, before he was replaced by Mike Bliss in October. Chris Cook was hired to drive for the team to run the road course events, but failed to qualify for both events.
In 2007, BAM Racing was to race with Mike Bliss as the driver, using Evernham engines, but Bliss failed to qualify for 11 out of 15 attempts, and resigned midway through the season. Chad Chaffin was the team's interim driver at Loudon and Chicagoland, and Larry Foyt racing at Daytona. In the team's first attempt to qualify after Bliss' resignation at Loudon, Chaffin made the race after Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Team Red BullToyota were disqualified after failing post-qualifying inspection. Journeyman road racer Klaus Graf attempted several races in the No. 49, but didn't qualify for any of them due to engine blowups and a rain shower cancelling qualifying. Bliss briefly returned for a few races, before journeyman John Andretti was hired to complete the rest of the season for BAM. John Andretti was signed to drive the full 2008 season, but the contract was nullified just days before 2008 Daytona testing to put Ken Schrader in the seat in hopes of attracting more sponsorship.[2] Schrader drove in the Budweiser Shootout, but failed to qualify for the first two races of the season.[3]
2008 Daytona 500.
The team switched from Dodge to Toyota before the Goody's Cool Orange 500, along with announcing Microsoft's Small Business division as their sponsor. BAM promptly announced that they would be withdrawing from the next two races at Texas and Phoenix to refocus the team's efforts.[4]
Both the expenses of switching manufacturers and the pullout of Microsoft to Michael Waltrip Racing have forced BAM Racing to push their scheduled return further back, with NASCAR.com reporting on April 15, 2008, that the team may not return to racing until the fall. However, BAM made a minor attempt at a comeback in the Sprint All-Star Race. BAM fielded a ride for Petty Enterprises developmental driver Chad McCumbee, the car was a Dodge with sponsorship from Marathon Oil. McCumbee finished 13th.
On July 11, 2008, Sports Illustrated reported that BAM Racing was in talks with Barack Obama regarding a one-race sponsorship at Pocono, through BAM spokesman Rhett Vandiver. However, Obama spokesman Bill Burton told Yahoo! Sports that the sponsorship would not happen.[5] The team took the 2009 season off due to the economy and its unwillingness to be a start and park operation.
Warner Music Nashville announced a strategic marketing alliance that gave WMN exclusive promotional opportunities with the NASCAR Sprint Cup racing team. Under the agreement, WMN artists had the opportunity to participate in branding and promotional programs at NASCAR events. The team planned to attempt a full schedule in 2010 with the new partnership and to run Toyotas. Larry the Cable Guy was to be featured on the car for the Daytona 500, with WMN artists Blake Shelton, Whitney Duncan, Gloriana, Jessica Harp, Jason Jones and James Otto joining the team for later races.[6]
On January 8, the team announced it would align with Robby Gordon and his self-owned team for the 2010 season. The join contract stated that RGM/BAM would have at least one car present at each race and would jointly field Gordon's No. 7 Toyota at certain races with sponsorship from WMN. Although it was announced that BAM would field the #49 car alongside the #7 after the Daytona 500, the #49 car did not show up and Gordon ran the #7 under BAM/Warner sponsorship until the 2010 Coca-Cola 600. BAM was not seen afterwards; it was later announced that the RGM/BAM partnership had dissolved and that RGM is exploring taking legal action against BAM Racing and Warner Music Nashville. The team made no further attempts for the remainder of 2010.
In September 2019, former American Equipment Racing owner Buz McCall confirmed in an interview with a fan that BAM is now defunct.(9)
The team fielded a second car for Klaus Graf at Infineon in 2004, the No. 59 SEM Products/Color Horizons Dodge. He finished 17th. The team attempted a number of races later in the year, but failed to qualify for all of them. Larry Foyt also attempted a number of races late in the 2004 season, instead running the No. 70 due to the system of the 2004 provisional points. The team shut down at the conclusion of the 2004 season. Before shutting down, the team was looking to run a second or even a third car in 2005 but sponsorship never materialized.
The team was created in 2000 from the remnants of the ISM Racing that was not being used by Tyler Jet Motorsports. NASCAR Winston Cup Series team. Tony Morgenthau gave the team as a birthday present to his wife, Beth Ann, whose initials comprised the name of the team. BAM Racing attempted 6 races late in the 2000 ARCA Season with Matt Mullins. The team would have a best start of 10th at Charlotte in October and a best finish of 13th at Pocono in June.[7] The team ceased operations upon BAM's move to Winston Cup.
Car Nos. 69 and 99 history
BAM Racing returned to ARCA in 2004 as part of Klaus Graf's development program. The German driver made his debut in the No. 69 BAM Racing Dodge at Nashville Superspeedway in October, starting 5th and finishing 3rd. He ran a second race in the No. 99 BAM Racing Dodge at Talladega in October, where he started 7th and finished 29th after a crash.[8]
