Bowman Gray Stadium is a polarizing topic amongst those in the New England Tour Type Modified community.
Some appreciate the history and view it as an important part of NASCAR and short track history and others consider it a circus and lesser than the racing that takes place at stalwart facilities like Stafford Motor Speedway, Riverhead Raceway, Thompson Speedway and the Waterford Speedbowl.
Then there’s Ryan Preece, from Berlin, Connecticut, who has always volunteered to race at ‘The Stadium’ even when it wasn’t required our of whatever series he was running full-time back when he was an emerging prospect.
He enjoys it, which is why he is driving for Hughes Motorsports on Saturday in the Madhouse Classic, the Madhouse Modified race on Saturday preceding the Cup Series Clash.
“What I did is I ran a true Bowman Gray modified race one time,” Preece told Short Track Scene during a Zoom press conference earlier in the week. “I actually raced the Whelen (NASCAR) Southern Modified Tour, which is a traditional wide tire car, probably, I think three times.
“So, there are some differences. The Bowman Gray style modified, it’s not a spooled rear end, the motors are a little different as well as a narrower tire. So, there are some little differences, but at the end of the day, from what I understand, their weekly show it’s exactly that, it’s a show.
“As much as it is racing, you’re there to entertain fans and sometimes, as much as I want to go and win by a lap and lap people, part of racing is entertaining and that’s something that they definitely still do, which sometimes comes at the detriment of their race cars, which that’s expensive. I don’t necessarily support that at all, but it’s different and obviously they pack that place every single week, so there’s a lot of passionate fans and I think the Madhouse TV show that was on, I can’t remember what channel it was, but that brought a lot of attention to it.”
At the same time, he respects the purity and how what he grew up with in New England and how it differs from the ‘Madhouse.’
“There are a lot of personalities and they certainly know how to put a show on, but, certainly, guys like us up north, some of the quarter miles that we have, it’s just a different style of racing,” Preece said. “You can definitely get your knuckles a little bloody if you know how to race rough, but you just don’t take it to the extent sometimes that it seems like it gets to down there.”
To wit, Preece has two more chances to win at the Stadium on Saturday and Sunday and he is relishing both.
“Winning in general you want to do, right,” Preece said. “But, Bowman Gray and the history that’s behind it, you look back at some of the names and adding your name to that list of the Cup Series going and winning at Bowman Gray, that’s where NASCAR was pretty much born, so it would be pretty special to go and do that, and what better way than to kick it off here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“That’s number one is to try and get through this weekend and it’s a great way to really start the season. One of my strengths is certainly short track racing and we’ve made the Clash three out of three years and it would be a great way to get this team up and going. It’s a good opportunity to build momentum.”
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
