29-01-2025
How NASCAR Found Its Way to Bowman Gray Stadium
The much-hyped NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray exhibition is at the sport's shortest and oldest track.
Bowman Gray is a quarter-mile bullring that's been hosting races for 86 years.
The race replaces the Clash at the Coliseum that was held in Los Angeles.
'If you build it, (they) will come.'
And will keep coming as long as there are cars to race and men to race them. Indeed, Sunday night's 200-lap Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is NASCAR's version of Field of Dreams. The much-hyped exhibition is at the sport's shortest and oldest track, a quarter-mile bullring that's been hosting races for 86 years.
In the late 1930s, as America recovered from the Great Depression, the new Public Works Administration was part of FDR's 'New Deal.' Its mission was to boost the economy by having unemployed workers build roads, bridges, airports, and public facilities. One of its projects was a sports complex in Winston-Salem, N.C.
It was named Bowman Gray Stadium to honor a local philanthropist and president/chairman of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. It opened in 1937 for college and high school football, and for running events on its quarter-mile dirt track. It later hosted harness racing and later still… automobile racing.
An open-wheel Midget series debuted in 1939 and ran for 11 years. The quarter-mile track was paved in 1947, and NASCAR's new Convertible Series visited a year later. Even while running weekly shows, the facility hosted 29 Cup races from 1959 through 1971, the last of NASCAR's 'long seasons.'.
The roster of Cup winners those 13 years is impressive: Hall of Fame drivers Rex White (6 victories), Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, and Glen Wood (4 each), David Pearson (3), Bobby Allison (2), and Lee Petty (1). Bob Welborn, Marvin Panch, Jim Paschal, Jim Reed, and Johnny Allen also won in races featuring only one or two lead changes.
The Convertible Series saw Welborn, Wood, and Curtis Turner win. Current-day Cup drivers with K&N experience there include Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Cody Ware, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece, and former champions Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. And NASCAR executive vice-president Ben Kennedy—great grandson of Bill France Sr.—won a K&N race there in 2012.
So, it seemed appropriate for Kennedy to announce last summer that Bowman Gray Stadium would host this year's Clash. 'This is the next evolution of the Clash,' he told fans during a Saturday night program. 'One of the areas where there's an opportunity to continue to switch it up and go to new markets is an exhibition like the Clash. This will be an opportunity to celebrate our roots, our history, and our regional series. The energy there is palatable; the fans bring it every week.'
We say again: 'If you build it, (they) will come.'
All 17,000 tickets were snatched up shortly after Kennedy's announcement. NASCAR has since launched a media and PR campaign unlike anything since the 1994 Brickyard 400. FOX-TV will be there, along with Motor Racing Network, the Fubo TV streaming service, and the NASCAR channel on SIRIUS XM Radio. The media turnout likely will outnumber some at Cup races.
After 43 years in Daytona Beach and three in Los Angeles, the exhibition more closely resembles weekly grass-roots racing. NASCAR bought GBS track last year and spent $10 million on upgrades. The investment was for both the Clash and the weekly shows that draw huge, raucous crowds. The upgrades include SAFER barriers and new Musco lighting.
As usual here recently, this Clash will be unlike anything Cup drivers see during their regular season. Nine practice sessions, four heats, a last-chance qualifier, and 2024 points will set the 23-car grid. The top five from each 25-lap heat and the top two from the 75-lap last chance qualifier are in. The 23rd starter will be 2024's highest-ranked driver not already in the show.
As with anything new, opinions vary. Preece, entering his first year at Ford-based RFK Racing, is thrilled. 'Look at the (winners') names, and adding my name to the (Cup) list would be special,' said Preece, a Modified winner in 2013. 'Look at the history behind (where) NASCAR was pretty much born. As much as it's an exhibition, anybody who says he doesn't want to win is lying.'
Team co-owner Eddie Wood was nine when his father, Glen, got his four Cup victories at Bowman Gray in the early 1960s. The aptly-named 'Madhouse' remains dear to 75-year-old Wood Brothers Racing, which is fielding Fords for newcomer Josh Berry this season.
'It's special to me,' Eddie said. 'When I heard they were thinking about going there, I thought, 'Man, that's the coolest thing ever.' There's something about the Stadium that brings out the worst or the best in people since everybody is amped up about doing well there.'
His brother, co-owner Len, feels much the same way. 'It brings back the history of everything our family did, what daddy did in particular,' he said. 'The oldest dated trophy we have is 1952 at Bowman Gray, where daddy won 29 races in Modified, Sportsman, Convertibles and Cup. We have a long history there.'
Few dislike BGS for the Clash, but retired Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. hates its eligibility standards. At its 1979 debut, only the previous year's pole-winner ran the Clash. But short fields lacking fan favorites didn't fly, especially with sponsors. In response, NASCAR repeatedly tinkered with the eligibility criteria until finally deciding to just invite everybody.
That's the part that troubles the sport's (still) most popular personality.
'I wish it was just pole winners, when the criteria to get in was more exclusive,' Junior said. 'Like, 'hey, these guys did this to earn it'; but it's not. I don't see that, don't feel that anymore. You can't be blind to long-term repercussions by just looking at short-term gains.'
Despite his stance, the two-time Clash winner isn't going change anyone's mind. NASCAR uses the Clash to promote itself, and leaving popular stars on the sidelines just isn't in their playbook.
With 39 entries going for 23 spots … let the fun begin.
