Bowman Gray Stadium
History
History
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The stadium was built in 1937 as a public works project to provide jobs during the Great Depression. The first event at the new stadium was a football game in the fall of 1938 between [Wake Forest College](/wiki/Wake_Forest_College "Wake Forest College") and [Duke University](/wiki/Duke_University "Duke University"). In the beginning, the stadium's sole use was for collegiate football until trotter horse racing was added on the  dirt oval. The first auto racing at Bowman Gray was a type of [midget car racing](/wiki/Midget_car_racing "Midget car racing") on the dirt quarter mile track from 1939 through 1949\. The track was paved in 1947, after a promoter got the City of Winston\-Salem to agree to pay to have the track paved in exchange for restitution of payments through a percentage of future income from races. However, after the track was paved the promoter fled before any payments were made to the city. Stock car racing at Bowman Gray Stadium was started by Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins, two men who were founding fathers of NASCAR. The track was NASCAR's first weekly track and the first paved track that NASCAR raced on. The track would run weekly NASCAR sanctioned events during the summer months.

The first [NASCAR](/wiki/NASCAR "NASCAR")\-sanctioned event took place on May 18, 1949, and was won by [Fonty Flock](/wiki/Fonty_Flock "Fonty Flock"). The track was opened by [NASCAR](/wiki/NASCAR "NASCAR") founder [Bill France Sr.](/wiki/Bill_France_Sr. "Bill France Sr.") and Alvin Hawkins, and remains operated by members of the Hawkins family to this day. By the end of the inaugural Bowman Gray season 11 races had been run and five more were rained out. [Tim Flock](/wiki/Tim_Flock "Tim Flock") won the track championship with a season that included four wins.

As the racing had become extremely popular at the track, an additional 7,000 seats were added in 1953, raising the seating capacity from 10,000 to 17,000\.

The track has hosted numerous series throughout the years including the NASCAR Grand National Series (now [NASCAR Cup Series](/wiki/NASCAR_Cup_Series "NASCAR Cup Series")), [NASCAR Convertible Division](/wiki/NASCAR_Convertible_Division "NASCAR Convertible Division"), NASCAR Late Model Short Track Division (now [NASCAR Xfinity Series](/wiki/NASCAR_Xfinity_Series "NASCAR Xfinity Series")), [NASCAR Grand American](/wiki/NASCAR_Grand_American "NASCAR Grand American"), [Dash Series](/wiki/ISCARS_Dash_Touring_Series "ISCARS Dash Touring Series"), [NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour](/wiki/NASCAR_Whelen_Southern_Modified_Tour "NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour"), [NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division](/wiki/NASCAR_Late_Model_Sportsman_Division "NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division"), and [NASCAR K\&N Pro Series](/wiki/NASCAR_K%26N_Pro_Series "NASCAR K&N Pro Series"). The first Grand National event took place in 1958 and it was won by [Bob Welborn](/wiki/Bob_Welborn "Bob Welborn"). Other winners include [Glen Wood](/wiki/Glen_Wood "Glen Wood"), [Rex White](/wiki/Rex_White "Rex White"), [David Pearson](/wiki/David_Pearson_%28racing_driver%29 "David Pearson (racing driver)"), [Richard Petty](/wiki/Richard_Petty "Richard Petty"), [Bobby Allison](/wiki/Bobby_Allison "Bobby Allison"), [Junior Johnson](/wiki/Junior_Johnson "Junior Johnson") and [Marvin Panch](/wiki/Marvin_Panch "Marvin Panch"). Richard Petty won his 100th race at the track. The Grand National Series first raced at the track in 1958 and hosted a total of 29 Grand National races through 1971\.

Motorcycle races were run on a temporary dirt track at the stadium in 1970 and 1971\. The stock car races were run first in the events before construction crews would lay dirt down during an intermission for motorcycles races the same night.

Bowman Gray's nickname, the "Madhouse", is largely attributed to the racing antics that take place on the tight, quarter mile bull ring. In 2014, Bowman Gray's promoter, Gray Garrison described the events at BGS as part racing, part religion, and part wrestling. While this is partially the reason for the nickname, it actually originated from a qualifying format the track used in the 1950s called the "mad scramble."

In 2015, Bowman Gray celebrated its 1,000th NASCAR sanctioned race 

On November 14, 2018, it was announced that the Stadium would get a $9 million renovation. It will begin in 2019, with construction starting in 2020 and ending in 2022\. It will include new restrooms, a track resurfacing, and a new name for the football field titled "Rams Field At Bowman Gray".
Currently, the track features four divisions: the [modifieds](/wiki/Modified_stock_car_racing "Modified stock car racing"), sportsman, street stock and stadium stock. The modifieds are the featured division at Bowman Gray, the division started in 1949 and the all\-time wins list features some of the best NASCAR drivers including [Lee Petty](/wiki/Lee_Petty "Lee Petty"), [Ralph Earnhardt](/wiki/Ralph_Earnhardt "Ralph Earnhardt"), [Ned Jarrett](/wiki/Ned_Jarrett "Ned Jarrett"), [Richie Evans](/wiki/Richie_Evans "Richie Evans"), and [Jerry Cook](/wiki/Jerry_Cook "Jerry Cook").

The football history of the stadium is also quite storied. Wake Forest University played home games in the stadium from its move to Winston\-Salem in 1956, until the 1968 season when Groves Stadium (now [Truist Field at Wake Forest](/wiki/Truist_Field_at_Wake_Forest "Truist Field at Wake Forest")) opened. Players such as [Brian Piccolo](/wiki/Brian_Piccolo "Brian Piccolo"), the 1964 ACC Player of the Year who led the nation in rushing and scoring, played their home games in Bowman Gray. Piccolo later became famous as the teammate of Gale Sayers with the Chicago Bears, and the subject of the 1971 film *[Brian's Song](/wiki/Brian%27s_Song "Brian's Song")*. The Winston\-Salem high schools of R.J. Reynolds High and Parkland High also played their home games at the stadium in the late 1960s through the 1980s.


What type of event was held at the stadium in 1938?