I met up with a friend Saturday afternoon and he took me to the venerable Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC to watch the races there. Bowman Gray Stadium is one of the oldest tracks in the country and they have been holding NASCAR short track races there since the start of NASCAR in 1949. The Stadium is just that, it's the actual football field where the Winston-Salem State University team plays but the area around the sidelines is paved and hosts 700+ horsepower, 2500 pound race cars instead of runners. The track is very tight and it's so flat that if a radiator gets broken the water runs to the outside wall rather than down the track.
We arrived early and walked through the pits before they were closed, then went inside to watch the practice and races. The races were very good, they had lots of race cars in every class, and the drivers were definitely going for it!
Yes, it's as tight as it appears:
About 20% of the 4 cylinder class, waiting to begin their first practice. They split the 4 cylinder cars up into two groups of approximately 25 cars per group and even so, some cars had to go home without racing:
Probably my favorite photo. It was getting dark when the 100 lap Modified race started, my little camera couldn't handle the light but I got this fantastic speed shot:
Some of the cars in the pit area:
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