KAT Motorsports

KAT Motorsports is a American auto racing team owned by Kathryn Azure. Initially formed as a development subsidiary of FAC Motorsports, owned by Azure's husband Frank Azure to develop talent in FARC sanctioned series', but after a disastrous 2015 season, FAC cut all ties to the team and started running as an independent organization for 2016 onwards.

Formation
During the FARC Lone Star Championship weekend in 2014, FAC Motorsports owner Frank Azure announced that he would hand all FARC related operations to his wife, Kathryn Azure after the 2014 FARC season. This was done as a cost-cutting measure on FAC's part as the team felt that the return they were getting from their FARC teams wasn't worth the amount of money they were putting into them, most of which went to fixing wrecked race cars. This new team would still serve under FAC, but would be run on a somewhat smaller budget, which resulted in the closure of their FARC Modified team. Another reason for this move was that FAC could re-open their TM Lights team, which they shut down after the previous year due to the excessive repair bills stemming from the FARC team. The new team would be called KAT Motorsports.

2015, A Disastrous First Year and the Split From FAC
During the 2014-2015 offseason, KAT Motorsports would announce that, although they couldn't keep the Modified team, they would still field the No. 46 car in the FARC Elite Series as well as two cars in the newly rechristened FARC Super Series. They also announced that Nick Azure, who had driven the 46 the previous two years, will share driving duties of the 46 with Alex Whitt. FAC Motorsports, who Nick Azure was still under contract for, wanted Nick to cut back his FARC schedule in order to focus on his eventual TM Lights return. As part of the team's reduced budget, and the fact that Nick wasn't running for the title anyway, KATM reduced their schedule, only planning to run 2/3 of the season. Along with splitting the 46 in the Elite Series, Whitt was also tabbed to drive the No. 94 car full-time in the Super Series. KATM also retained FAC development driver Frank Azzaretto to drive the second Super Series car.

Things got off to a terrible start when KATM had three cars attempt the season opening Smash Beer 200 at Texas World Speedway, and none of them qualified for the race. Things would get would only get worse from there where in the four races the team showed up for out of the first five, they only qualified for one. Whitt would finish 15th in the team's first race the next week at the Columbia Speedway, Whitt's home track. Despite Whitt earning three top 15 finishes in four races, Azure would failed to qualify for every race he was in the car. After Whitt finished 15th at Mosport, the 46 seemingly disappeared from the grid, not showing up for another race. While no official reason was given, it is believed that the new team's finances were not completely in order combined with the rocky start to the season and that they already reduced their schedule before the season.

The Super Series team did manage to survive the season. Their efforts in that series were somewhat better. Although Whitt was penalized multiple times throughout the season for getting into accidents under caution, and Azzaretto's career at that point has been known for bad luck and his tendency to fall apart in critical moments. Whitt however, did have a tendency to bring the car home in one piece then Azzaretto, with Whitt only having three DNF's compared to Azzaretto's seven, and both cars finished in the top 20 in points. Whitt would finish 10th in the final standings with three top 5's and six top 10's, while Azzaretto would finish 16th with four top 10's. Despite this, it wasn't enough to satisfy Frank Azure and FAC.

After the season, Kathryn Azure revealed that FAC had cut all ties to KAT Motorsports. Despite the moderately successful Super Series season, due to the disappointing Elite Series season, FAC felt that FARC and KATM was not worth their time and resources. As a result, the team lost almost all of it's funding. Due to sponsor Murphy's Law Auto Repair's deal being with FAC, and Alex Whitt, who brought his own video production company, Alex Whitt Media, to sponsor his efforts, only signed a one year deal and would not return in 2016. Some theorize that the split actually happened during the season, which would explain why KATM couldn't finish the Elite Series season. Many also believe that the reason they abandoned the Elite Series team, but kept the Super Series team is that the Super Series team was cheaper to operate, and that Whitt's sponsorship did help that effort. However, neither FAC or Frank Azure himself ever commented about the split.

2016, Hiring Chuck Johnson and the FARC Championship
Entering 2016, KAT Motorsports was in financial shambles. With no funding or a driver, it wasn't even known if the team would even be able to run the upcoming season. The team was also unable to continue the Super Series team. After looking for a solution, three weeks before the start of the season, KATM signed 2014 National Pro Cup Championship champion and former FARC Truck Series driver Chuck Johnson to drive the No. 46.