The Madhouse has a new boss.
NASCAR has acquired Winston-Salem Speedway, Inc., which holds the lease to run the racing operations at Winston-Salem’s legendary Bowman Gray Stadium.
The city-owned facility opened in 1937 and features a quarter-mile auto racing track around a football field that is currently home to the Winston-Salem State University Rams.
The 17,000-seat stadium is a mainstay of the city that draws huge crowds to its weekly racing events, which are known for fierce competition that often leads to post-race fisticuffs and led to its “The Madhouse” nickname.
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The track has been the subject of a TV series on History and a documentary produced by FloRacing.
The track is the longest-running NASCAR weekly series venue and hosted Winston Cup series races from 1958 to 1971.
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Many of today’s top drivers have visited it in the lower series and it was also used to test the Next Gen Cup Series cars before the first Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum in 2022, which featured a similar-sized oval.
“As NASCAR’s first weekly racetrack, Bowman Gray Stadium holds a special place in the history of our sport,” said Ben Kennedy, Senior Vice President, Racing Development and Strategy, NASCAR. “We are grateful to the Hawkins family’s multi-generational legacy of leadership at this historic track and we’re thrilled to oversee racing at one of the crown jewels in NASCAR Regional. We look forward to leading the racing operations of the facility in partnership with the City of Winston-Salem to preserve the history and legacy of the racetrack for the next generation of fans and racers.”
The current lease to operate the facility runs through 2050.
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