A Bowman Gray legend’s dream is finally realized as NASCAR Cup rookie

It’s a story rarely seen in modern NASCAR. One that feels like it was lifted from a Hollywood script or tag line. An older driver is given the chance to race the cars he helps build at the track where he made his name, fulfilling a dream he thought was lost to time — and against some of the biggest stars in American motorsports.

This story begins with Bowman Gray — a quarter-mile asphalt oval that has been around longer than NASCAR itself. The history of this Winston-Salem, North Carolina track is illustrious, and 53-year-old Tim Brown has been a major part of it. With over 100 victories and 12 track championships, he is the winningest driver ever at the infamous ‘Madhouse.’ He even owns the track record with a 12.965-second flyer in a Modified that has stood since 2016.

When Brown is not collecting trophies at Bowman Gray, he’s in the shop at Rick Ware Racing helping with the assembly of the Cup Series cars that race on the national stage every weekend. As the pinnacle of stock car racing announced its intentions to return to Bowman Gray for the first time in over half-a-century, it didn’t take Rick Ware long to figure out who he wanted to drive his No. 15 car in The Clash. Luckily, he was already working in the shop.

The dream

Rick Ware, Tim Brown

Photo by: Rick Ware Racing

Brown earned his first track championship at Bowman Gray in 1996, repeating the feat in 1997 and 1998. During that time, the dream of reaching the heights of stock car racing remained forefront in his mind, but as the years passed, the dream faded. Just before winning his fourth track title in 2002, he felt that his chances of ever making it to NASCAR were all but over.

“Once I got to be like 30 years old, I realized that it was all younger kids that were getting the opportunities with Cup teams,” Brown told Motorsport.com. “And the racers with money behind them from corporate sponsors or rich families were getting rides and not people like myself that come from the grassroots farming — (we) didn’t have a lot of money to support me racing at all. Just had to work hard to make it to the race track.” 

Few thought this day would ever come. Brown was stunned to learn that NASCAR was even considering returning to Bowman Gray. The last time Cup cars raced there, Brown was just a month old. And despite all of the success he has enjoyed in his career, he was certain that the day he was able to tell his son Cam, daughter Marley, and wife Megan that he would be going Cup racing “was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Tim Brown with his family

Photo by: Rick Ware Racing

But while a proud moment for Brown, Cup drivers are already lamenting the fact that they won’t be able to lean on the Bowman Gray veteran for advice, as exemplified by a recent conversation he had with a driver seeking his expertise. Brown humorously told him: “‘Nah, you’re on your own buddy. I’m gonna try to beat you, not help you!’”

Despite his thousands of laps of experience, Brown is keeping his expectations grounded for the challenge before him. “I’m a racer. I want to go and win the race but I also have to be realistic. Deep down inside as a racer, you want to go and put it on them and win the thing but in all reality, if we can go and just be competitive and make the race and have a good show, I’ll be happy with it.”

The pieces, parts, and heart of racing

There aren’t many drivers in the field these days that can actually put together the cars they are racing. This ‘rookie’ knows both the track and the car beneath him better than almost everyone else out there.

“I would like to think that me actually helping build the car and bolt it together and get to drive it on the chassis dyno and drive it around the parking lot would help, but man, these teams have such experienced mechanics and personnel working on these cars throughout this industry, it’s not really an advantage. It’s just a mental thing for me…I think it’s pretty cool that I actually get to help build the race car I’m gonna drive.”

It’s something that sets him apart from the Cup regulars, and it’s part of the reason why weekend warriors at Bowman Gray get so frustrated when their cars get torn up.They put their heart and soul (as well as a lot of cash) into building those racing machines. That won’t be the case for the stars of NASCAR when they enter the ‘Madhouse’ in a few days.

“These guys are the best racers in the world,” said Brown. “They’re all getting paid a lot of money to do this. At the level I race at weekly, we don’t get paid to do this, so when you tear $1,500 off my race car, I’m pretty upset about it. I don’t know if Cup drivers have that passion like we have at the local level when it’s your money that you’re spending and not a rich team owner. It’s probably a little bit different.

“I get paid to work on race cars whether they’re torn up or wiping confetti off them from winning so that’s not gonna change anything from behind the wheel,” he declared.

Rick Ware, Tim Brown

Photo by: Rick Ware Racing

Embracing the spirit of the ‘Madhouse’ 

The ‘Madhouse’s notorious reputation involves a lot of drama with tempers often overflowing, and Brown himself has been in the middle of a few viral moments.

“If you race at that place for a few seasons, you’re gonna be on one of the highlight reels for sure,” said Brown. “I’ve raced there for 33 years, so I’m not proud of it, especially now that I have two kids who can get on YouTube and watch videos of dad acting like he shouldn’t … I am a diehard racer (and) very passionate about it. I can only take so much before I flip out. Not proud of it, but that’s part of racing at Bowman Gray.”

‘That’s part of racing at Bowman Gray.’ Fights, payback and hurt feelings is the norm at this incredibly tight single-groove track. The only real way to move forward is to use the bumper, which is bound to spark conflict. 

Tim Brown

Photo by: Rick Ware Racing

While the hype is real, there are still detractors who don’t understand why NASCAR, which abandoned the traditional Daytona Clash in favor of flashy markets like Los Angeles, are now racing at Bowman Gray. But Brown thinks it’s a brilliant decision.

“There’s going to be the naysayers who think that this race is not gonna be good, but I one thousand percent believe that if you’re going to race a 1/4-mile race track with a Cup car, it has to be Bowman Gray Stadium. It is the oldest running NASCAR-sanctioned race track in history. It was one of the very first ones. It’s right here, 45 minutes from the majority of the Cup shops. I get the market side of that, like (L.A.) is a big city — you’re going to draw that market and that crowd. But man, for your local race fans who come to the Stadium every Saturday night to watch us race — to bring the Cup cars back there is absolutely amazing. Those people couldn’t  buy the tickets fast enough. “

Looking ahead to the race itself, the veteran doubts we will see Cups cars crack the 13-second bracket, and cars will likely clock in over a second per lap slower than his lap record. But the return of NASCAR brings with it some upgrades and improvements, which may change the way the drivers attack the track.

“They’ve taken a little bit of the racing surface away from us with the safer walls, which is fine because it’s the same for everybody so we just re-learn the groove,” explained Brown, who is pleased with the work put into the circuit. “Now there is a part of me that hates to see the old guardrails gone and some of the heritage that the Stadium had. Part of me is sad about that but I understand it. 

“I’m not saying that it’s going to be the best Cup race you’ve ever seen, but it’s going to be a really big deal for the fans and racers. If you look at the history of the place — your Earnhardts and Pettys and Allisons — they all raced there. You’re taking it back to where it all came from. How cool is that?”

Based on the sold-out crowd, he’s not the only one that feels that way. And he won’t be the only local hero in the race either as Burt Myers has also entered the event, driving the No. 50 car. Rick Ware Racing is a smaller team than most in the Cup Series and has never won, but whether that Ford Mustang rolls off the hauler fast or is difficult to handle, Brown promises one thing: “I’m gonna give it a 110%, whichever way it goes.”