WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—Gray Garrison rarely stops thinking about good ol’ fashioned stock car racing. He’s always figuring out his latest angle, a fresh and exciting way to keep people flocking to the legendary Bowman Gray Stadium which he and his family have promoted since the late 1940s.
No weekly short track has held a NASCAR sanction longer than Bowman Gray, but Garrison isn’t about to sit back and allow the track’s history to go stale.
Gray Garrison and his family have promoted Bowman Gray Stadium since the late 1940s.
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Not Garrison, and not here at Bowman Gray.
“I’m passionate about racing,” says Garrison, who attends Maplewood Baptist Church in Yadkinville, N.C., about 30 miles west of Winston-Salem. “I lay awake at night and try to figure out how I can save five minutes off the program to get people home Saturday night so they can get up and go to church the next day.”
Bowman Gray Stadium—which was featured in a series on The History Channel a few years ago called “Madhouse”—is very much about “racin’, ‘rasslin and religion,” according to Garrison. It’s racing, because there are cars on the track in five separate divisions every Saturday night from April through August. It’s wrestling, because there have been more than a few heated rivalries over the years at Bowman.
And it can be a lot like your church.
“We have people who come and sit in the same seats every Saturday, just like they do on Sunday,” quips Garrison, who is also a building contractor and realtor. “You can see people at church walk in, and if somebody’s in their seat, they’re like a deer in the headlights. They don’t know what to do.”
Gray Garrison (left) presents a plaque to Robbie Brewer, the 2011 Sportsman Division Champion. (Photo by Eric Hylton Photography)
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The similarities go even deeper than that. To watch Garrison on any given Saturday night at Bowman Gray is to see a man who is equal parts promoter and preacher, with maybe even a little bit of politician thrown in for good measure. He walks from team to team, car to car, and gets stopped every few steps to answer a question or help put out a fire.
Garrison also makes the rounds of the stadium’s concourse, thanking fans for plunking down their $10 admission. Just watch out if someone thinks his or her favorite driver has been wronged in any shape, form or fashion.
The decisions he makes have a way of making some people happy and others, well, not so happy. When crises erupt during and after a race, Garrison sends everybody back to their respective corners as quickly as possible and then spends the next two days on the phone mending fences.
“It’s just like being a preacher,” Garrison says. “A preacher will say some things to step on some toes. He says it, and he wants to get your mind turning. I do the same thing. I want you to be thinking about things and get you passionate about what you’re doing, so you’re not just going through the motions.”
And like any pastor, Garrison can ill afford to play favorites between longtime Bowman Gray Stadium competitors and rivals.
“You like them all, you really do,” Garrison says of his drivers. “There’s a lot of race tracks in North Carolina, and I feel like it’s an honor for anybody to come race at our track. He can pick and choose another track or he can choose another hobby, but he’s choosing to come and race at our track. I’m honored that they’re there, so I want to treat them equal and treat them like a friend and brother.”
Garrison will try just about anything. This year, in 2012, the track will hold a “skid plate” race, where a car’s rear tires are replaced by metal plates. Some ideas have worked, others have not—like the time Garrison tried using co-pilots to scream instructions to blind-folded drivers.
Whatever the case might be, whatever he’s doing has been working for years. Grandstands packed with upwards of 17,000 people most every Saturday night don’t lie. What would Garrison say to a group of Baptist pastors about pulling people through their church doors? His would be a multi-pronged plan of attack:
• Keep things as fresh and exciting as possible.
• Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. What’s your church’s version of a skid-plate race?
• What kind of music does your church play—and what kind do most members prefer?
• How about children’s programs? Are they connecting with families?
It’s a variety of different things,” Garrison concludes. “Do something for everybody there. That’s the reason we run five different divisions. We run so many different type cars because there’s something there for everyone. Church is the same way. You’ve got to entertain, so the message gets out there.”
Rick Houston (apollo18cdr@yahoo.com), based in Yadkinville, N.C., is a contributing writer for the Religious Herald.