Bowman Gray Stadium was used by Wake Forest from the year it moved to Winston-Salem, in 1956, through 1967, when Groves Field (now Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium) was completed. It was their first home venue after the move from the town of Wake Forest. It is now primarily thought of as a NASCAR venue, though it remains the home field of Winston-Salem State, who first played there in 1940.

Overall, NC State had a record of 3-4 at this field, losing once when the venue was a neutral site and going 3-3 as a true road team. NC State never played a ranked oponent at Bowman Gray, but lost the one game in which they were ranked; all the games at this venue were conference matchups. Eerily, every game NC State has lost at this field has featured a 13 in the score.

  * Non-conference games

Bowman Gray Stadium originated as a WPA public works project, intended to help bring both jobs and athletics to the Winston-Salem Community. A 42-acre tract of land known as the Spach-Creech Property was earmarked for the use of the project in January 1937, and was made possible by the generosity of W. M. Spach, John Spach, Mary Katherine Spoch, and Charles Lester Creech Jr., who donated the land, and financial benefactor Mrs. Nathalie Fontaine Gray (nee Lyons), who contributed $30,000 -- later increased to $35,000 by WPA demands -- (just under $735,000 in 2023) of the projected $100,000 for the project in memory of her late husband, Bowman Gray Sr., who worked for RJ Reynolds tobacco. The WPA made up the remainder of the costs [1] [2].

Initial construction only called for two 5,740 seat seating sections on the east and west sides of the field, while a 5,000 seat expansion on the south side was to be added at a later date; the field house was expected to complete the shape to the north, creating a horseshoe-shaped stadium modeled closely after Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium. Later, it was agreed to start the venue as a 10,000* seat stadium with designs to increase the capacity by another 10,000 in the future. Construction began in early March, with floodlights placed on the grounds so crews could work both day and night [1] [2]. Just a few days later, it was announced that the previously-unnamed stadium would be named in Bowman Gray's honor [3].

Construction progressed quickly, and the bulk of the major work was complete by the summer of 1937, with the field house in particular taking shape quickly [4] [5]. Another $54,000 was needed by August, largely to extend the retaining wall all the way around the stadium; this made the stadium again a horseshoe shape at the beginning, creating a grass berm for the future seats to be added. Other work the allotment accounted for was the provision of a parking lot, landscaping, and to "assure the construction of four comfort stations." Of the disbursement, $18,000 of the sum was provided by private sponsors, with the remaining $36,000 coming from federal funds [6].

Construction of the track surrounding the field was finished in early January 1938; later that same month, the city began taking bids for the construction of the public address system and permanent lighting [7] [8]. By the end of February, this was completed, allowing the stadium to formally open with an initial capacity of 11,200, with an option to expand to 16,500 [9]. Despite this, it was announced that the venue would not be used until October so that "the shrubs, [blue] grass [surrounding the field] and playing field [bermuda grass] and playing field [m]ay be in excellent condition for the dedicatory football game in October" [10].

The first official event held at Bowman Gray was a "hymn festival" held the first Sunday of May in 1938 [11]. Though a neutral-site Wake Forest-Duke game, held on October 22nd, 1938, is often credited as the first college football game at the stadium, the first was actually a North State Conference rivalry between Elon and Appalachian State held the previous night. Due to the late kickoff, however, the Baptist-Presbyterian tilt's 2 PM kick was selected to be the dedicatory game over that of the Christians and Mountaineers. Interestingly, the first high school football games were not held in Bowman Gray until the following year [16].

The first racing events for which the venue is now known were a series of "midget" dirt track races, starting in 1939 [12]. The venue did not have a paved track until 1947, when a promoter offered to pay for the work and then skipped town; the work already being done, the city was forced to cough up the money [13]. The horseshoe was completed in 1954, upping the seated capacity by about 6,000*. Though the stadium was expanded with the prospects of hosting Wake Forest's football team, whose move had been pending since 1946, the real breadwinner was by then the stock car racing: of the $50,000 (about $561,000 in 2023) in renovation costs, football directly contributed only $1,000, with concessions making up over thirteen times that amount, and racing receipts expected to furnish most of the other $34,000 [14]. It is worth noting, however, that the city hosted only sporadic neutral site games, high school games, and Winston-Salem State games at the time; it lacked a true powerhouse football program to play host for.

* Modern reports imply the initial capacity of Bowman Gray was greatly overstated, with most claiming the venue opened with just 10,000 seats, a thousand fewer than local journalists' reports, and four thousand fewer than the count of the WPA. Most period reports, however, wrote the venue's 1954 expansion would would increase seating by 6,000, to a total of 18,000, while modern writers report that the improvements added 7,000 seats, bringing the stadium's capacity to 17,000. Which set of numbers should be believed as the venue's true capacity? Your guess is as good as mine, though I tend to lean towards the numbers presented at the original dates of construction for each portion of the stadium: 11,200 and 17,200. Some of the discrepancies may come down to the fact the venue has room for another roughly 2,000 standing patrons.

Photos of Bowman Gray Stadium