It’s 9 p.m. on a Saturday night in a drenched but deafening Bowman Gray Stadium. A round of midday thunderstorms and a sopping-wet grandstand couldn’t keep thousands of fans from flocking to the venerable raceway, NASCAR’s first and longest-running weekly track.

As the night’s main attraction — the Modified Division — prepares for takeoff, the already-charged audience erupts. It’s as if the lightning blasts from earlier in the day were bottled up, held for a few hours, then unleashed somewhere along the quarter-mile of asphalt.

So what is it exactly that makes this 61-year-old track a perpetual madhouse?

It’s the drama. It’s the history. It’s the personalities. It’s a raceway that seems more fitting for a track-and-field team than a fleet of race-car drivers. It’s seating so close that fans can seemingly reach out and high-five drivers as they soar by. It’s hair-blazing, white-knuckle racing — and it all comes at an ultra-low price.

But while the track continues to pull in impressive crowds, averaging around 10,000­­–15,000 fans per week, it tends to hide in the shadows nationally. It seems Bowman Gray has long been one of racing’s best-kept secrets.

That’s about to change, though.

This summer, the glitz of Hollywood has blitzed the track, as production crews with The History Channel are busy filming a reality series set to air later this year. The series will slice through the layers of Southern Americana that make Bowman Gray one of a kind. “It’ll be like a turbo-charged soap opera,” one production member says.

To get a sneak-peek, we spent time with two of the drivers set to star in the series: brothers Burt and Jason Myers. What we found was two ordinary guys with ordinary lives, who just happen to do extraordinary things come race night.

Meet the Myerses

It’s 3 p.m. on a sun-soaked Thursday afternoon. Burt Myers, Bowman Gray’s equivalent to a rock star, is pacing around his Walnut Cove garage in flip-flops. The garage itself is as big as a house, and holds his family’s prized possessions — a slew of ultra-fast Modified cars and a seemingly infinite stock of trophies.

After checking the oil level in his car, he stops and looks up at the mob of cameramen buzzing outside the garage. “They’re everywhere, aren’t they?” he says, laughing, before retreating back under the hood.

Unlike most of the drivers at Bowman Gray, Burt makes the hobby of racing his full-time profession. In addition to Saturday night races, he and Jason are part of the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, which races around the Southeast each year. Because of his individual success at Bowman Gray — 33 career victories and three season championships — he’s one of the biggest draws at the track. Couple that with his family’s history in racing, and you’ve got a driver who’s used to being in the spotlight.

His father, Gary Myers, enjoyed a solid career at Bowman Gray, currently sitting at No. 8 on the all-time career victory list.

Before his father’s reign, Burt’s grandfather Billy and great-uncle Bobby were mainstays at the track. That is until their untimely deaths in the 1950s: Bobby died in a head-on crash at Darlington Speedway, and Billy died from a heart attack suffered during the final lap of a Bowman Gray race. “They died doing what they love,” Burt says.

Despite his family’s legacy, Burt insists he wasn’t forced behind the wheel. In fact, he didn’t start racing until he was 17.

“You hear about parents buying their kids go-karts and getting them on the track when they’re 5 years old,” he says. “But Daddy never forced [Jason and me] into racing. If he would have, we might not love it like we do today.”

A few minutes later, Burt cranks up his car to test a newly installed oil cooler. Almost instantly, the roar of the engine explodes inside the garage and out into the surrounding Stokes County hills. “It’s like a rocket ship on wheels,” he yells.

Burt, a 33-year-old father of three, is everything you’d expect a popular driver to be: charismatic, good-humored, aggressive on the track, but genuinely friendly off. Like anyone with a good deal of success, though, he’s made his share of enemies along the way.

He talks of having to dodge loose change, flying bottles of water, and even barbecue sauce on his victory laps. He recalls one night when a 15-year-old girl hurled a full Pepsi on him. “You’ve got to love the fans,” he says. “Like my grandpa used to say, ‘Whether they love you or they hate you, they come to see you race.’ “

With the camera crew wrapping up for the day, Jason finally rolls into the garage. Unlike Burt, Jason works two part-time jobs to help fund his racing fix. The 30-year-old father of two gets home most days around 4 p.m., changes clothes, then shuffles across his front yard to the family garage. Once there, he’ll stay well into the night. It’s a routine that doesn’t allow for much free time.

“I actually got to go home for dinner last night,” Jason says with a halfhearted laugh. “But nah, we don’t get much free time. I could really use about three more days in the week to get everything done.”

Laid back and usually smiling, Jason made a name for himself in the Street Stock Division before moving to the more-potent Modified cars. “Street Stock was fun,” he recalls. “Driving a Modified is still fun, but it’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby.”

Later that afternoon while both brothers are tweaking their cars, a petite brunette comes racing into the garage. She throws her arms around Jason’s leg before making a desperate plea for candy. It’s his 5-year-old daughter, Emma.

“Are you going to be a race-car driver when you grow up?” he playfully asks her.

“Nope,” she promptly replies before whizzing back outside.

“Her mom thinks she’s going to be a ballerina,” he says. “We’ll see.”

A short time later, Jason and Burt’s father, Gary, makes an appearance. Though his driving career ended earlier this decade, you’ll still find him in the pits most weeks, dropping hints of wisdom to each son. “It’s usually in one ear and out the other,” he says with a laugh.

Throughout his racing career, Gary epitomized the Bowman Gray lifestyle: Work hard, earn a decent wage, pay your bills, and spend whatever’s left on your car. “Sometimes you miss a house payment so you can go buy tires,” he says. “You learn how to work on a shoestring budget. You have to.”

After all, racing isn’t exactly a lucrative hobby … at least not at Bowman Gray.

In a sport where an engine could cost more than $40,000, even the most successful drivers are lucky to break even. “You win a race, and it might be enough to get you a new set of tires,” Burt says. “But when it’s your passion …” he trails off, “you do what it takes.”

With the daylight fading, Burt starts to make his way home. Jason will spend a few more hours in the garage — tuning and checking, adjusting and readjusting — before heading home himself. The next day, they’ll get up and start the whole process again. The day after that, it’s time to go racing.

Saturday Night Fever

It’s now 7 p.m. back at a drenched-but-drying Bowman Gray Stadium. Due to the earlier downpour, the night’s featured race — the Bowman Gray Gear 100 — won’t have any qualifying. Instead the drivers will draw a number for their pole position. Burt lucks out and draws the second spot. Jason draws the 10th spot in a 16-car field.

With the crowd beginning to settle into their seats, both drivers seem to withdraw themselves from reality. The normally outspoken Burt stands quietly still, his head resting on his car’s spoiler. He watches his pit crew give one last check to the tires.

Jason sinks into a chair on top of his trailer’s roof, calmly smoking a cigarette as the sun begins to fall. Soon, he’ll trade his T-shirt and jeans for a fire-retardant racing suit. First though, he’ll run a few laps in his head. “I try and plan some things out beforehand,” he says. “If the guy next to me does this, then maybe I can do this. But as soon as they throw the flag, it’s just ‘hang on.’ “

Race day begins early for the guys. They arrive at the track in the morning, drop off their cars, and get a few practice laps in if necessary. After that, they head home for a bit, catch their daughters’ tee ball games, then arrive back at the track in the afternoon. As far as pre-race meals go, “We don’t have them,” Jason says. “Most drivers don’t eat on race day.”

With the first race of the night about to kick off — a 20-lap Sportsman race — Jason emerges with his suit on. He stops to chat with the camera crew before ducking into his car. “My wife is really hoping I win tonight; I’m much nicer when I’m winning,” he jokes.

The Sportsman race ends. Up next, the Modifieds. Jason and Burt wheel their cars onto the track, get in line, and await the green flag. Within minutes, they’re streaking down the front straightaway, sending a whoosh of exhaust fumes and summer air into the grandstands. This is the moment drivers live for.

Burt takes the lead for a brief period at lap 30, but quickly loses it to Jonathon Brown because of a transmission problem. A few laps later, Tim Brown roars to the front, pushing Burt back to third. Jason sits one spot behind him in fourth.

The race ebbs and flows through several cautions and appears to be headed for a drama-less finish.

That is until the very last lap.

Jason, still running fourth, gets a shove on his rear bumper from Junior Miller, No. 69. The move is nothing new for Miller, the most successful racer in Bowman Gray history. He’s a polarizing driver known for his intimidating driving style.

The bump sends Jason spinning into the infield. Just like that, he goes from fourth to ninth place.

Tim Brown wins the race. Burt finishes third. Miller finishes fourth. As Brown celebrates with a victory lap, tempers rage inside the pit area.

Jason and Burt, who have a strained history with Miller as it is, get in a war of words with Miller’s crew. After some tense moments unfold, law enforcement steps in and breaks up the squall.

For better or worse, it’s altercations like this that seem to define the Bowman Gray pits. Fans love it, drivers are used to it, and now, a TV crew is there to gobble up every second of it. “I’m sure it’ll make for good TV,” Burt says after the fight, a little disgust still in his voice.

Twenty minutes later, Jason emerges with a cigarette in his hand and a smile starting to creep back to his face. He talks about the last-lap squabble: “I was upset for about five minutes, but I’m over it now. That’s just how it goes some nights.”

The brothers talk things over a bit more before changing back into their street clothes. Soon the pits will open up to fans, and the Myers brothers will surely draw a hefty crowd of supporters. They’ll take a few photos and sign a few autographs before closing the books on another Saturday night. Come Monday, they’ll start working their way back to the checkered flag.

“We’ll get up tomorrow, go to church, and try to forget about everything that happened tonight,” Burt says. “First thing Monday, we’ll get back in the garage and rev it up.

“We’ve got a race next week, you know?”

Races are held throughout the summer at 8 p.m. on Saturdays. For more, go to bowmangrayracing.com.

Who’s behind the wheel?

Get to know some other Modified drivers at Bowman Gray.

Jonathon Brown, No. 53

Hometown: Kernersville

While Jonathon, 26, is one of the youngest drivers in the Modified Division, he’s quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Running his first full season at the track, he’s taken home several top-five finishes, including second in the Bowman Gray Gear 100.

On the fans: “The fans here are incredible. I can be racing wide-open with my ear plugs in, and I can still hear the fans yelling up in the stands. It gives you that added adrenaline boost, that tingly feeling that makes you want to win even more.”

Tim Brown, No. 83

Hometown: Cana, Virginia

As a seven-time champion in the Modified Division and current defending champ, Tim “The Rocket” Brown is one of the stalwarts at the track. He’s already picked up two huge wins in 2009 — The Tucson 200 and the Bowman Gray Gear 100.

On high-speed racing: “It’s a rollercoaster out there. Imagine hitting 100 miles an hour down I-40, then whipping onto an offramp. That’s what makes Bowman Gray so much fun; you’ve got to stay on your toes the whole time. One little slip-up, and you’re out of the race.”

Robert Jeffreys, No. 75

Hometown: Winston-Salem

The elder of the father-son Jeffreys duo, Robert has raced at Bowman Gray for 30-plus years. He’s tied for 10th place on the all-time career victories list with 32 main-event wins.

On racing at Bowman Gray: “I’ve always said that if you can win here, you can win anywhere. You’re going around a football field at 100 miles an hour, then you’ve got to slow down and go the other way. We’ve ran big tracks and we’ve run smaller ones, but nothing quite like this.”

Lee Jeffreys, No. 77

Hometown: High Point

The son of longtime racer Robert Jeffreys, Lee has been a mainstay at Bowman Gray for nearly two decades. He’s notched 14 career victories at the track, the most recent being the second race of the 2009 season — a 25-lap Modified race.

On the Bowman Gray experience: “You won’t find another track anywhere that packs as many people in the stands. It’s good entertainment … it’s cheaper than taking the family to a movie, probably more exciting too. We try and make sure we put on a good show for everybody.”

What is a Modified car?

Simply put, it’s the most powerful car under the NASCAR sanction. Sitting a mere two inches from the ground at their lowest point, Modified cars are 11 inches shorter and three inches wider than Sprint Cup cars. Modifieds also feature an opened-wheeled design (no fender), similar to Indy cars. With their lightweight bodies and supreme horsepower — which pushes into the 550-650 range — the cars feature a devastating combination of speed and agility. As Burt Myers likes to say, “It’s like a rocket ship on wheels.”