Isn't it in almost everyone's mind who Ray Ciccarelli is first rather than why he left NASCAR just because his farewell post went viral on social media? Yeah, when that happened, people noticed how he hasn't even won a single race and that his best season position ever is only at 33rd, with only one top 10 finish (ninth) in the 2019 Corrigan Oil 200. He did finish seventh in one race though, which was a qualifying race.
Born on January 20, 1970 (age 50), in Ellicott City, Maryland, the professional stock car racing driver currently drives (a question mark there) the No. 49 Chevrolet Silverado for CMI Motorsports part-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. Despite making it at more than the 33rd position in the actual race, his overall rank hasn't been better at all.
By the way, CMI Motorsports is his own entrepreneurial project, the company Ciccarelli Moving & Installation, also the former name of his own team Ciccarelli Racing. Such a capability does suggest he has an impressive net worth value.
Ray Ciccarelli Controls a Net Worth of $1.5 Million
As of June 2020, Ray Ciccarelli controls a net worth of $1.5 million as the founder of Ciccarelli Moving & Installation and with the part-time racing career. His background is not available as the earliest record of him professionally racing was in 2006 and then in 2014 at the ARCA Racing Series, whose name has changed over the years. Before ARCA though, he was recorded to have raced at NASCAR Busch East Series for Glidden Motorsports in 2006 and finished 35th in overall season point rankings. He used the No. 38 Ford.
Ciccarelli possesses a net worth of $1.5 million.
Photo Credit: Chris Graythen, Getty Images
Ciccarelli may have announced that he "may" leave the racing series altogether, adding that "may" part in a later interview. He's stated that he did not really announce retirement because of the ban of the flag, but rather the allowance for peaceful protests. And his return to NASCAR is "to be determined".
While Racing at the ARCA Series in 2017, He Switched Cars in the Real Race After His Best Qualifying Run
For the series (with the name ARCA Racing Series by Menards) in 2014, 2015, 2016, Ciccarelli he's raced for teams like Carter 2 Motorsports, Kimmel Racing, Hixson Motorsports and Hamilton-Hughes Racing before starting his own team in 2017, appropriately named Ciccarelli Racing. His team made the debut in the season-opener at Daytona with his No. 38 Ford. He finished seventh in the qualifying run, his best finish, with a 21st rank in the overall qualifiers.
This is the only family known of his.
Photo Credit: Chance Yeh, Patrick McMullan
When they returned to Talladega, however, the Ciccarelli used the No. 3 car of the full-time team, Hixson Motorsports, as they felt they had a better shot at qualifying than the No. 38 Ford. He finished 13th in his only race of 2017 at ARCA. In terms of points, Ciccarelli's team finished 66th for the season. That was the end of his ARCA career after his team was dissolved.
Ciccarelli's NASCAR Career
Ciccarelli's NASCAR debut came at the Eldora Dirt Derby, a Truck Series, in July 2017 in Homestead, riding the No. 10 Chevrolet for Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing. He finished 22nd in the race, in the same place he returned to finish 32nd in the next race on November 17, 2017, originally qualifying 31st before an engine failure got the green flag waved at him. In between, he start-and-parked the No. 0 car for Jennifer Jo Cobb again at Michigan [August], New Hampshire [September], Texas [November] and Phoenix [November], respectively finishing 26th, 29th, 28th, and 26th.
Ciccarelli rode the No. 0 car for Jennifer Jo Cobb's team in 2017 (the picture), 2018 & 2019.
Photo Credit: Scott W. Grau, Icon Sportswire
For the 2018 season, he drove the No. 50 Chevrolet for Beaver Motorsports at the Gander RV 150 and 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 250. He finished 27th and 28th respectively. He then returned for JJC Racing in mid-November 2018 at the Baptist Health 200 finishing 25th with the No. 0 truck.
2019 was the biggest year so far for him with his best-ranked race coming at the 2019 Corrigan Oil 200 in Michigan finishing ninth. Of course, it was with his own racing team CMI MotorSports, restarted after acquiring trucks, equipment, and owner points from the then-closed Premium Motorsports' No. 49 truck. He raced nine times in total, once with JJC Racing's No. 0 Chevy and finishing 29th.
No. 49 is apparently his lucky number, as you may have noticed.
Photo Source: Scott W. Grau, Icon Sportswire
They also had planned for a race in the fourth round at Martinsville, after skipping the Las Vegas round. They did not qualify either way, which repeated in the Kentucky qualifiers after skipping six more races in between. Other average-ranking races by him included 16th in Texas and 19th in Pennsylvania.
There were big plans for the 2020 season with the same No. 49 truck. They did not qualify for the Daytona race while they skipped the other three races, despite some being postponed. He was also scheduled to "return to the driver's seat in the No. 83 CMI Properties/Osage Contractors Chevy" at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in the postponed June 2020 weekend, before quitting it all. Fox Sports reporter Alan Cavanna tweeted his withdrawal from the list after his social media announcement.
How the Confederate Flag Was Banned and Ciccarelli Had to Explain It Was Not the Reason for His Departure
Ray Ciccarelli took to Facebook on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, to announce that he was quitting the 2020 season, or rather his retirement, around the time NASCAR announced its rule of a ban on the Confederate flag from all its events and properties. NASCAR's response was two days after Bubba Wallace, the only full-time African-American driver in NASCAR's Cup Series, called for its removal on CNN on the night of June 8.
The racer's posts on all social media platforms, however, have been removed after a flurry of backlashes, or rather ridicules, from the social media community. His statement read,
"Well, it's been a fun ride and dream come true but if this is the direction NASCAR is headed, we will not participate after 2020 season is over. I don't believe in kneeling during Anthem nor taken ppl right to fly what ever flag they love. I could care less about the Confederate Flag, but there are ppl that do and it doesn't make them a racist all you are doing is fucking one group to cater to another and i ain't spend the money we are to participate in any political BS!! So everything is for SALE!!"
Of course, his statement had "I could care less about the Confederate Flag" in there. But despite being a lesser-known individual, he was attacked for the latter part of that sentence. Everyone was knacking him for being "done with this racial equality BS." They were making fun of him in the social media world.
NASCAR Truck series is going to have to find someone else to finish 28th each week because Ray Ciccarelli is done with this racial equality BS.
#BLM pic.twitter.com/xdZpWgIN5r
— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) June 11, 2020
BREAKING: NASCAR truck driver Ray Ciccarelli will quit because they banned the Confederate flag
UPDATE: We still don't know who Ray Ciccarelli is
UPDATE: Actually, we don't know what a NASCAR truck driver is
UPDATE: Actually nevermind, no one cares
— Nico COVID Haircut XW (@Nicoxw1) June 11, 2020
After a host of attacks, he jumped on Frontstretch.com on Thursday night to clear out that his statement was not a support for the Confederate flag but rather for the freedom taken away for everyone to do as they please. Many believe that's the same thing.
"The [Confederate] flag means nothing to me. It never has. My thing [has] nothing [to do with] the flag, that's why I'm not sure why it turned into the flag. I could care less about the flag," Ciccarelli stated. "The only thing I was saying was, you take one thing from somebody and help [make] somebody else more comfortable, then you have the person you took it from, and now they're not happy. That's the whole point that I was trying to make."
"I had seen the post about them taking away the rules of where you can kneel for the national anthem," Ciccarelli continued. "That just irritated me, because personally, I don't believe in that. I have family members that have been in the military, and so on." Despite saying this, he also says he has no problem with the protests either.
He also added that his return is "to be determined", after having "had a couple conversations" with NASCAR since his initial tweet.
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