Another season is coming at the famed quarter-mile known as Bowman Gray Stadium. All the same players of recent years will be back to do battle, but we always want to see something “different”. In 2016 people will get a chance to see something they have not seen in three years, BoBo Brown and his brother JonBoy Brown on the track together for a full season. “Brownstyle” is back.

I wanted to talk with the two about the upcoming season, sponsors, rivalries and whatnot so I rode over to their shop where the cars are housed. We decided to do a video instead of an article, some beverages were had, we did a video, I watched it later and let’s just say I’m not ready to get into videos like that before the racing season even starts. I know at some point someone threw BoBo a Kit Kat in which he held up beside his head and replied on camera as if a scene out of Talladega Nights “If you don’t like Kit Kat, well….”. I think you get the point…..

Of course the first thing on the agenda was how all this came together.

“We have some great sponsors this year and everything just lined up,” said BoBo. “We have had great help last year from Adam Thomas with V’s Barbershop, my good friend Cliff Cagle with CMC Homeworks and Eric Scott at A&J Pallets. This year they are all back, along with Camel City BBQ Factory, 4 Oaks Tavern, Salem Plastic Surgery, AGL Property Solutions, Blue Rock Wealth Management, Maaco and Farm Bureau Insurance. For the first time in me or my brother’s life we are fully sponsored and ready to rock.”

JonBoy is equally grateful after not running full-time for a few years and having just “one offs” in other people’s equipment.

“I’m just happy to be doing this the right way,” said the always calm older brother. “To have the funding behind me and to know what I know on these cars. I’ve always been confident, now I can be confident in the parts under me to go along with everything else. This is the first time me and my brother have run out of the same shop so we can bounce stuff off each other more and ultimately get more work done on the cars when needed. We will more than likely have some pretty big disagreements in this shop but on the track it’s going to be balls to the wall.”

With Tim Brown and Burt Myers dominating the Modified division for many years, the brothers look to change the landscape of the modified division at the stadium.

“We aren’t worried about championships, if you win enough races the rest takes care of itself,” JonBoy said sternly. “I’ve never sat in a car wanting a top five, I want to win every race I’m in and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it done. Even two years ago when Danny Bohn wanted me to drive his car in the last race, everyone thought I spun Jason (Myers) to help Danny, which is not true at all. He held me up for 30 laps so I moved him. If I had made it up to Danny I would have done what it took to get by him too. I’m there to win.”

BoBo echoed his brothers statements.

“I know my brother is a wheelman, I can say that with no problem. But I have some things to prove as well. My car for a while now has been thrown together with parts that shouldn’t have even been on it. Now I have some good stuff under me and I’m ready to win some races. I feel that this season I have the best chance I’ve ever had to do that.”

We can’t talk about the stadium without talking about potential controversy, it’s just the way it goes there. And for many years the Brown brothers have had a few rivals but at the end of the day it comes down to the Myers brothers, Jason and Burt. Of course they don’t mince words about it.

“I’m there to win races, not tear up cars,” said JonBoy. “I race people how they race me, I love racing with say Brownie (Tim Brown) or Randy Butner or Dean Ward. But there are some people who have crossed the line more than others, numerous times, you race them different. I don’t even think about that, but I’ll tell you what I do with that information from the past, I put it right here in the memory bank. When the time presents itself, we’ll see what happens. If someone wants to be stupid and tear up cars, I can build them as fast as others can buy them.”

“I try not to think about that stupid drama,” BoBo says with a grin. “I can tell you one thing though, I owe out a lot more than is owed to me. It’s hard to keep your temper under control at the stadium. At most tracks you have a few seconds to relax, over there you are on the edge of wrecking and busy with cars all over you each and every lap. It wears on people, that’s why you see some of the crazy stuff you see. Some are just blatant about it and when it’s the same ones over and over, you get tired of it. But with the car I have this year, I can’t think about that, if I can be a smarter racer it will help me more than losing my mind… and that’s happened once or twice.”

In a division that has become stagnant over the last few years with only a few dominating, the Modifieds look to be having a resurrection of competition this season. With seven to ten cars that could be potential winners this year, the Brown brothers look to be one of those cars shaking it up in the front. They have their work cut out for them but one thing is for sure, people will surely know they are there.