Bowman Gray Stadium is home to a football team, NASCAR events, and now is being featured on a hit TV show entitled “MadHouse.”

An Ashe native is one of the featured drivers.

The show follows five drivers around the track for an entire season, allowing viewers to see what it is like to drive modifieds and be part of NASCAR’s oldest division of racing.

Tim Brown, Burt Myers, Jason Myers, and Chris Fleming are four of the drivers in the show. The fifth driver is none other than Ashe County native Junior Miller.

Miller, also known as “The King”, has tamed the quarter-mile asphalt track at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem for years. According to the show, the 58-year-old Miller has won 69 events at the track, far more than any of his competitors, especially his rival Burt Myers.

“The show followed me around about three days a week, it was really a lot like work,” added Miller about his experiences in filming the show.

Miller began his racing career drag racing, and eventually moved on to other forms of the sport.

“Max Hurley got me into drag racing. I went from drag racing to modifieds, just a lot more fun to race those. You can have trouble in a modified and still come back to win the race,” said Miller

According to thirdturn.com, a statistical website devoted to all forms of stock car racing, Miller competed in 27 Sprint Cup (formerly Winston Cup) races from 1976 to 1981. His career best finish in those races was a 13th place at North Wilkesboro. Miller also raced in 11 Nationwide Series (formerly the Busch Grand National series) races in 1983, with one top-10 finish at the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC.

Miller then began driving in the Whelen Modified Tour in 1986. He entered 21 races over 12 years and picked up four top-10 finishes. Miller also took an opportunity to race in the Goody’s Dash Series from 1994 until 2003. Over a span of 42 races, the veteran racer took home three top-5 finishes, and also finished in the top 10 a total of 10 times. He finished as high as 15th in the championship standings, which occurred in 1994.

Other than his dominating performances at Bowman Gray, Miller also reigned over his competition in the Whelen Southern Modified tour.

In 2005, Miller started off the season with a victory, a 4th, and a 6th place finish at Caraway Speedway, a nearly half-mile track in Asheboro, NC. Miller also finished 3rd at Bowman Gray, then picked up victories at Caraway and Ace Speedway in Alamance County. Miller finished the 2005 season with three wins, seven top-5 finishes, and 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races, and also took home the championship by finishing in 1st place in the overall standings.

The following year saw even better performances than Miller’s first year in the series. Miller began the year finishing in the top 5 each of the first six races, including two wins at Caraway, one of which he led all 150 laps, and a victory at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Miller also finished 4th at another race at Caraway, 4th at Bowman Gray, and 5th at the Motor Mile Speedway in Dublin, VA.

He finished the season strong with a win at Caraway, a victory at Hickory Motor Speedway, then finished the season in style with a win at Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, NC that clinched back-to-back Whelen Southern Modified championships. “The King” finished with six wins, nine top-5 finishes, and 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races.

2007 would be Miller’s final full-time season in the Whelen Southern Modified series. The season started off good with a 6th place finish at Caraway, a 4th place at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, TN, a victory at Greenville-Pickens, and another 4th place finish this time at Caraway. Miller continued his success at Bowman Gray finishing a solid 3rd place to keep him in the hunt for a third consecutive championship.

However, things would slide down hill with an 11th place finish at Caraway, a 15th place finish at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia and a 20th place finish at Ace Speedway due to engine problems.

Miller bounced back with back-to-back top-5 finishes at Caraway and at Southern National Raceway Park, but ended the season with a 10th place run and an accident in the final race of the season to finish a disappointing 17th. Miller finished 4th in the championship standings in his last full-time run for a title.

It was tough to pinpoint any exact memory, but there were plenty of happy moments to recall.

“Any race I won was a favorite memory, that’s the only reason we go is to win the race,” said Miller.

Miller did have one piece of advice to give to any young driver looking to start their career.

“Young drivers need to get themselves a sponsor in the sport. You really have to have some big bucks to be in first class racing. If you plan on winning races, you have to have the money.”

As for “The King’s” racing career, he is still hard at it and ready to keep going.

“As long as I am having fun and winning races, whether it’s two years or ten years, I’ll be there, said Miller.

“MadHouse” can be seen on Sunday nights on the History Channel airing at 11 p.m. with encore presentations airing throughout the week. It gives you an opportunity to see the lives of several modified racing legends both on and off the track.