Bowman Gray Stadium
| NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track | |
|---|---|
| Location | 1250 S Martin Luther King Jr, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27107 |
| Capacity | 20,000 |
| Owner | City of Winston-Salem |
| Opened | 1949 |
| Major events | NASCAR Grand National (1958-1971) NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour |
| 1/4 mile flat oval | |
| Surface | asphalt |
| Length | 0.25 mi (0.40 km) |
| Banking | flat |
| Lap record | 12.966 seconds (Tim Brown, Brown Motorsports, 2008, Farm Bureau Insurance Modified Division) |
| Bowman Gray Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Location | 1250 S Martin Luther King Jr, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27107 |
| Coordinates | 36°4′58″N 80°13′20″W / 36.08278°N 80.22222°WCoordinates: 36°4′58″N 80°13′20″W / 36.08278°N 80.22222°W |
| Opened | 1937 |
| Owner | City of Winston-Salem |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 20,000 |
| Tenants | |
| Winston-Salem State Rams (NCAA) (1956-present) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (NCAA) (1956-1967) |
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Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned 1/4-mile asphalt flat oval short track and football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team.[1] It was also the home of the Wake Forest University football team until Groves Stadium (now BB&T Field) opened in 1968.
The first NASCAR-sanctioned event took place on May 18, 1949 and was won by Fonty Flock.[2] The first Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) event took place in 1958 and it was won by Bob Welborn.[3] Other winners include Glen Wood, Rex White, David Pearson, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Junior Johnson and Marvin Panch.[3] The NASCAR Grand National Series (now the Sprint Cup) first raced at the track in 1958 and hosted a total of 29 Grand National races through 1971.
Bowman Gray's weekly racing tradition continues to this day as part of the Whelen All-American Series. Weekly races include the Modified, Sportsman, Street Stock, and Stadium Stock divisions. Bowman Gray is also a part of the Whelen Southern Modified Tour and hosts other special events including classic modified coupes, monster trucks, demolition derbies, chain races, and mini-cup races. The History Channel show MadHouse was taped at the track.
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Press Box side
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Endzone fieldhouse
[edit] See also
- Whelen All-American Series
- Whelen Southern Modified Tour
- NASCAR
- Bowman Gray, former CEO of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
[edit] References
- ^ Zona, Chris; Trevin Goodwin (2007). 2007 Rams Football. Winston-Salem State Athletics. p. 30. http://www.fansonly.com/photos/schools/wssu/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2007FBMGComplete.pdf.
- ^ "A LOOK BACK: Bowman Gray". hometracks.nascar.com. http://hometracks.nascar.com/Feature/30_Years_Running/Bowman_Gray. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
- ^ a b "Bowman Gray Stadium NASCAR results". Racing-Reference. http://racing-reference.info/tracks?id=085. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
[edit] External links
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