Jan. 23-Feb. 5 . 2010 qnotes

television
Spring A&E Guide
‘Tobacco Road’ is a ‘Madhouse’
Queer race fans, you’d better set your
DVRs and clear your TV viewing schedule
Sunday nights this spring as The History
Channel zeros in on North Carolina and one of
the nation’s most popular sports
Back in July 2008, Winston-Salem Journal
columnist Tim Clodfelter wrote of a local
demo shoot for a series then tentatively titled
“Tobacco Road.” Wake Forest University grad
Grant Kahler, along with fellow executive producers
Tim Tracy and Aengus James, were
taking a look inside the world of modified
race car drivers at Winston-Salem’s historic
Bowman Gray Stadium, one of the nation’s
oldest and NASCAR’s first-ever certified race
car tracks.
Kahler’s “Tobacco Road” isn’t just a dream
or demo now. It premiered on The History
Channel in early January, but don’t look for
it under that name — “Tobacco Road” is
now “Madhouse,” airing new episodes on
Sundays at 10 p.m.
The show follows the lives of a select few
racers, including folks from longtime racing
families the Myerses and Millers. A mix of
auto racing tech and real life struggle and
rivalry, “Madhouse” could very well be a
guilty pleasure for anyone looking to wrap up
their weekends with a bit of learning and lots
of laughs.
The History Channel compares the
families’ rivalries to that of the Hatfields and
McCoys. They write in a press release: “At
the granddaddy of all NASCAR short
tracks in the U.S., rivalries between
racing families run deep and they
run hot. Bowman Gray Stadium, the
quarter-mile racetrack…locals call the
‘Madhouse,’ has a history going back
to the moonshine-running days of the
1920s. Then, the cars were made fast
in order to outrun the police. These
days, the families race to win for family
honor and to continue a longstanding
61-year feuding tradition. And because
they are settling scores and family
rivalries that go back generations, ageold
feuds like the Hatfields & McCoys
that have festered for years ramming,
spin-outs, high-speed crashes and
fistfights are what fans have come
to expect on Saturday night at the
‘Madhouse.’”
Some race fans have said the show
has set the sport back 20 years or
more. Others say it is full of caricatures
and makes a mockery of the dedication
many racers put into winning. But, hey,
I’m a Winston-Salem native and my
family loved Bowman Gray racing. I’m
not exaggerating when I say that any
and all of the “caricatures” in “Madhouse”
are almost true to the core and about
90 percent accurate.
So, maybe the show profiles some unsavory
parts of the amateur side of NASCAR
Not for Reproduction
Brothers Burt and Jason Myers are two of several Bowman Gray Stadium racers featured in
The History Channel’s ‘Madhouse.’
Photo Credit: Brian Spoor/History Channel
racing. Or, maybe the show plays up the
“hickishness” of the rural Piedmont and Winston-Salem.
But, come on now, how often do
you get to see Tar Heel rednecks race cars,
crash into each other and cuss up a storm on
national TV?
I think I’ve found my favorite, Sunday night
show for the the next few weeks. : :
— by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com
18 qnotes Jan. 23-Feb. 5 . 2010
Not for Reproduction