Holleman On Bowman Gray Stadium: ‘The Future Is Bright’

John Holleman with his modified in the Bowman Gray Stadium pit area. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – As he climbed from his battered, pink-and-black No. 69 behind Bowman Gray Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon, John Holleman IV couldn’t help but grin.

Even getting spun from the lead of Saturday’s Cook Out Madhouse Classic for tour-type modifieds couldn’t dampen Holleman’s enthusiasm for what the prestigious event meant to Bowman Gray Stadium and the local racing community.

“This was a big, big deal,” he told Motorsports Hotspot minutes later. “For this division and these teams, a stage like this … it’s a huge day.”

Holleman is a 27-year-old who grew up in Winston Salem and, despite now living in Knoxville, Tenn., continues to frequent his home racetrack and compete regularly in modifieds at the quarter-mile oval.

Having also grown up competing in the INEX Summer Shootout Series in Legend cars and Bandoleros, as well as the PASS Pro Late Model Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (now ARCA Menards Series East), Holleman knows full well the kind of attention a national stage can bring to grassroots racers.

That’s why he was so optimistic about the Madhouse Classic as a whole. Holleman knew it wasn’t just about his individual result, but more so the visibility that the race presents to Bowman Gray’s local modified division and its blue-collar teams.

“People forget that my first year racing a modified here was (in 2021) after COVID, and at that point … this class was really just fighting to survive, man,” Holleman noted. “It’s all been working toward reviving since then … and now, attendance (for the weekly shows) has worked its way back up, and I think a race like this is just a huge shot in the arm for this track and for these guys that put so much into it to give the fans a show, you know?

John Holleman IV (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

“What NASCAR has done to this place (in modernization efforts) is outstanding,” he continued, referencing the track’s new SAFER Barriers, upgraded lighting system, and updated catch fencing. “It looks amazing, and I’ve been coming here since I was three months old … so for what it was then to what it is right now, this whole weekend is a huge deal in so many ways.”

The Madhouse Classic served as the opening act of Cook Out Clash weekend, the first time that NASCAR’s annual preseason exhibition event for its premier Cup Series is being held at Bowman Gray Stadium and the first Cup Series event of any kind at the venerable quarter mile since 1971.

While the history of weekly racing at Bowman Gray dates back to NASCAR’s beginning in 1949, the kind of spotlight on the track during this year’s Clash is something that hasn’t shone in the community in more than a half century. It’s something that Holleman was cognizant of behind the wheel Saturday.

“You feel the history here, every time you’re here,” he noted. “Richard Petty raced here. Bobby Allison raced here. For guys like me now … Burt Myers and Tim Brown, legends of this place and these cars, race here every week. Everywhere you look, there’s something important about what’s going on at this track.

“Then you add in the fact that you’ve got NASCAR Cup (Series) cars back here … guys like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, champions of the sport … there was a time when I’m not sure anyone thought that would be possible here again. So just to be a part of that kind of historic weekend, it’s special. It really is.”

As far as Holleman’s actual race Saturday, the 125-lap special event couldn’t have started off any better.

He redrew the pole position after qualifying and led the first 75 laps, fending off challenges from the likes of Dan Speeney and Danny Bohn along the way.

But a restart with 50 laps left, where Holleman got squeezed sideways by second-starting Brandon Ward and broke momentum – before Bohn came in from behind with nowhere to go and sent the No. 69 spinning – changed all that in a heartbeat.

John Holleman IV (black and pink) leads a pack of cars during the Cook Out Madhouse Classic at Bowman Gray Stadium. (Erick Messer/BGS photo)

It sent Holleman to the tail of the field and forced him to rally back in the closing stages. He got back to fourth place at the finish, thanks to attrition and others’ scuffles along the way, but fell just short of having enough time to challenge for the win he arguably deserved.

“Anybody in my position would be a little upset, and the end result does sting a bit, but I feel like our team has so much more to be proud of and hang our hats on leaving here than what a fourth (place finish) shows,” Holleman said. “It’s hard to be too mad, especially understanding what happened with (Ward) on the restart that messed me up.

“That’s how he races me. That’s how he’s raced me for almost five years now. I would have hoped he’d race me with a little bit more respect, but it was what it was,” he continued. “Danny (Bohn) was put in a spot where he knew he could take the lead if he shot the inside … and I don’t blame him because any racer would do that. But with Brandon, he was playing games and trying to turn into me coming to the green, and it’s just really childish.

“But I’m not upset about it because I understand that’s just how (Brandon) and I race each other, unfortunately. He wrecked me in my very first race ever in a modified. … I think we unloaded the best car here, and I think we showed that because even after we got wrecked, we still came back to finish fourth.”

It’s a top-five result that’s not only a morale-booster for Holleman, but something he feels is just a harbinger for even more good days to come in the future – for both himself and Bowman Gray Stadium’s venerable modified division.

“I’m pumped for what’s to come here,” Holleman affirmed. “I think NASCAR has done a great job of setting this place up for the long haul (after taking over the Stadium’s racing lease through 2050 last March), and I want to continue to be a part of that for as long as I can.

“The future is bright here. I really believe that.”