Welcome to Stadium Spotlight, a series highlighting the venues that shape North Carolina’s college football landscape. From mountain valleys to city skylines, each stadium in the Old North State has its own story. Our next stop: Winston-Salem, where Bowman Gray Stadium stands as the state’s largest NCAA Division II football venue — and the proud home of the Winston-Salem State Rams, one of North Carolina’s premier HBCU programs.
Bowman Gray Stadium also is a nationally known motorsports landmark, famously nicknamed “The Madhouse” for its intense weekly short-track racing and NASCAR legacy. It also has served as the home of Wake Forest College football and numerous high school games — and for a time even hosted NFL exhibition clashes.
🏟️ Where They Play: Bowman Gray Stadium
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Home of: Winston-Salem State Rams | NCAA Division II
Capacity: 17,000
Bowman Gray Stadium is one of the most unique venues in all of college football — and much of North Carolina’s sports landscape. Opened in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project, the stadium features both a football field and a quarter-mile paved oval racetrack. Today, it still hosts both NCAA football games and NASCAR-sanctioned races, creating an atmosphere unlike any other in the country.
Just a block from the WSSU campus, it’s been the home of Rams football since 1943 and has become one of the loudest and most spirited environments in the region. The stadium is owned and operated by the City of Winston-Salem and has long played a dual role as a football and racing facility.
The oval track was paved in 1947, and the stadium soon became a racing hotspot. In 1958, the NASCAR Grand National Series (now the Cup Series) made Bowman Gray a regular stop. Over the years, the stadium hosted legendary drivers and wild weekly shows, earning its raucous reputation.
In 2007, major upgrades were made, including the opening of the Bowman Gray Field House and a massive 18×18-foot LED scoreboard. And in 2025, the stadium made national headlines again when the NASCAR Cup Series returned to host the Cook Out Clash, a historic homecoming more than 50 years in the making.
As a gridiron home, Bowman Gray has played host to 12 CIAA championship teams, including a special run for Winston-Salem State from 2011-16 when it won four titles.
🗓️ 2025 Home Highlights
Only four home games this fall, but every one is loaded with meaning:
- Sept. 13 vs. Lincoln (PA) | Home Opener, CIAA Opener
The Rams kick off their home slate with a conference matchup. - Sept. 20 vs. Virginia State | High-Stakes Showdown
VSU finished as CIAA runners-up in 2024. WSSU has its eyes on a title return — this one could shape the early CIAA race. - Oct. 4 vs. Virginia Union | Revenge Game
The defending CIAA champions come to Winston-Salem. Expect a playoff-level intensity. It’s tough for visiting teams to win at Bowman Gray. - Oct. 18 vs. Livingstone | Homecoming • Senior Day • Red Out
Circle this one — it’s a triple-threat event with plenty of emotion. Always a scrappy rivalry game. And few do homecomings like Winston-Salem State.
🧠 Fast Facts & Historic Highlights
- Opened: 1938
- Capacity: 17,000
- First WSSU game: Oct. 3, 1943
- Stadium surface: Natural grass
- Video board: 18’x18’ LED, added in 2007
- Field name: Bill Hayes Field
🏁 Dual Identity: Football Meets NASCAR
- Bowman Gray is the longest-running NASCAR-sanctioned weekly track in the nation.
- From 1958–1971, it hosted NASCAR Cup Series races.
- In 2025, the NASCAR Cook Out Clash returned to BGS, marking the Cup Series’ first official race there in over 50 years.
- Known for its wild Saturday nights — fights, feuds and full grandstands.
🏫 College Roots
- Wake Forest College football played home games here from 1956–1967.
- Hosted NFL exhibition games in the late 1950s, including Packers vs. Redskins.
- WSSU lease runs through 2037.
🔨 Built by the People
- A WPA (Works Progress Administration) project approved during the Great Depression.
- Originally planned as a 10,000-seat horseshoe; finished in 1938 at double the budget ($200,000 at the time).
- Funded in part by the widow of Bowman Gray Sr., former president of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
