MOORESVILLE, N.C. — There are hundreds of short-track racing heroes with the talent to race in the NASCAR Cup Series but never get the opportunity.
Tim Brown is getting that chance. The veteran modified racer will drive a Rick Ware Racing Ford in the Feb. 2 Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Brown has won 12 track championships and 101 races at the legendary quarter-mile race track, which also serves as the home of Winston-Salem State football. As well, Brown is a full-time employee of Rick Ware Racing, preparing race cars that compete weekly in the Cup Series.
As one would imagine, the 53-year-old Brown is excited about the opportunity.
“They call it the Madhouse for a reason. That place is super exciting because it’s the pinnacle of short-track racing,” Brown said. “When you’re driving a modified there, the thing is turning 8500 rpm’s and really loud, but you can hear the fans cheering you or booing you when you’re actually racing, and I don’t know that there’s any Cup track that you could hear that, so it’s definitely different. The fans there are super passionate. Just the history of the place. It’s gonna be an awesome show, I believe.”
He believes experience at Bowman Gray will be more important than at other race tracks.
“I think you’re gonna have to be super aggressive just to get the tires to fire to make lap times. I also think that any driver that’s had any laps around the stadium is gonna have an advantage over any driver that hasn’t just simply for the fact that the grip level there is totally different,” Brown explained. “The line is different. The place is just unique. It’s completely flat.
“There’s no banking at all and that’s a unique place all on its own. As far as being aggressive, we hope our car is fast enough that you really don’t have to be that aggressive, but you’ll have to go into each circumstance and do what you have to do to get in the show and run as well as you can. If that means putting the bumper to somebody and moving them to get by, that’s what we’ll have to do.”
Unlike any other driver in the Clash field, Brown is playing a hands-on role in preparing the car he will drive in the annual exhibition race that kicks off the NASCAR season
“I’d say 60 percent of the car,” Brown said. “I definitely have a big part in all of the suspension parts, the racks, the steering, even help install the motor, the seat interior, rear suspension – all of it, basically. I don’t have anything to do with the body hanging and things like that, but all of the mechanical stuff I’ll have a part in.”
Though, Brown has never raced a Cup Series car, he’s very familiar with the cockpits of the machines he will race.
“Here at RWR, I drive our race cars on the chassis dyno every Friday, so I sit in them quite a bit, but this one is a little bit different because I know this is actually a race car I’m going into battle with,” he said. “It’s pretty cool from that side of it to just sit in it and realize in the moment that, ‘Hey, I’m gonna actually get to race this one.’”
Like most local racing competitors, Brown is familiar with what it takes to balance a job, racing on the weekends and family life. He credits his wife, Megan, with his ability to make it all happen.
“I hope my wife is listening because the balancing act falls on her because basically Megan has to run our entire household as far as getting the kids to school and home and feeding them and putting them to bed because my day starts at 3:30-4:00 o’clock in the morning and it ends about 10 o’clock at night,” Brown said. “I live an hour-and-a-half from work and then my shop is 15 minutes from the house, so I’ve dedicated my whole life to it. She knew that going in.
“When we dated I was a racer, so we got married and she kind of understood it, but it’s just what I do. That’s what racers do. We do what we have to do to go compete at the highest level that we can and it’s tough.
“I really don’t have a balancing act. It’s a hard conversation to have every now and then of like, in my world, and I hate to say this, I can’t really prioritize anything because working for a Cup team or even on my race car, you never know what that day has in store for you,” Brown continued. “If NASCAR makes a rule change or someone comes out with a part that’s better that will make us faster, like for my deal, then you’ve got to stay and get it done. So, it’s very important as a racer to have a wife that understands and doesn’t complain and fuss about it too much. Megan is how I survive, basically.”
Brown will continue to chase his racing dreams on Feb. 2.
