There's lots of bumping, banging, and spinning out. The caution flag gets thrown about every other lap, and the red flag flag seems to fly at least once in any race. Tempers run high. Every time the cars stop, there's at least one racer chasing after another competitor yelling and shaking fists. It usually only takes a minute or two to separate them and get the next event underway.
Punches fly, but never seem to connect.
It's been going on most Saturday nights for 52 years. In fact, the tiny track held 28 Winston Cup events from '58 to '71. One look at the place tells the entire story of how far Winston Cup has come over the past 29 years. All this came to mind a couple weeks ago at Martinsville, which is now the shortest track on the circuit-even though it's more than twice the length of Bowman Gray and seats something like 80,000 more people. Yet, putting 42 cars on Martinsville's half mile results in a show that's a lot like the World Wrestling Federation on wheels.