New racing-themed series to debut on History on Sunday night

It’s the Hatfields & McCoys on hot asphalt, with high-speed spinouts and crashes.

NEW YORK, December 23, 2009 – History will premiere MADHOUSE on Sunday, January 10th, 10pm ET/PT. The 13-hour series tracks the long history of a family feud that rivals the Hatfields and McCoys.  This time it’s the Myers and the Millers. All is set to the backdrop of intense weekly car races and colorful characters. Each week, the drivers and their crews build, repair and hone their “weapons” to prepare for the breakneck battle on Saturday night. 

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 in Winston-Salem, NC, that 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 out-run 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 – family rivalries that go back generations, age-old 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. 

At the MADHOUSE, every story has a checkered past – and colorful personalities to match.  Legendary Junior Miller, “The King” of Bowman Gray… the vengeful Myers Brothers, Burt and Jason… reigning champion Tim “The Rocket” Brown… Chris Flemming, aka “The Showstopper” – all are among those vying for victory and the humiliation of their rivals. 

Keeping up the cars – massive damages from last week’s race often require rebuilding them from scratch – is a nearly full-time job (all drivers have day-jobs as there’s no money in this “passion” racing).  Among other things, winning (and trashing a rival’s car) is how they get back at the other drivers.  As they repair massive crash damage done to their cars, soup up their engines, switch and tweak parts to get the most power and speed out of every second on that track – they are exacting their generational revenge in a uniquely American way, in a feuding tradition born in the Deep South.

Going to the Madhouse on Saturday night is a 61-year-old custom that remains a highly popular event in Winston-Salem, and brings this community together every summer. Tensions run high, emotions are strong, and the different racing families and their devoted fans hate each other with a passion. It’s the real deal, with as many as 22 cars on this, one of the shortest NASCAR racetracks in the U.S.  It is grassroots racing, and the flat, narrow, quarter-mile track makes for some of the most intense and dangerous racing in the country. Spinning-out and crashing rivals is not only legal at the Madhouse, it’s what wins races and keeps over 8,000 screaming fans coming back each week.

MADHOUSE presents a madcap, historic slice of small-town American culture.  Through the eyes of this obsessed community and local radio host "Bad Brad," MADHOUSE explores the purity of the sport and the bitter family feuds that still exist in this small town in the south.

Executive Producers for HISTORY are David McKillop and Carl H. Lindahl. MADHOUSE is produced for HISTORY by Triage Entertainment.  Executive Producers are Stephen Kroopnick and Stu Schreiberg. Show Runner/Executive Producer is Jym Buss.  Executive Producers are Grant Kahler, Aengus James, and Tim Tracy.

HISTORY™ and HISTORY HD™ are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network's program offerings are hit series such as Ax Men, Battle 360, How The Earth Was Made, Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars and The Universe, as well as acclaimed specials including 102 Minutes That Changed America, 1968 with Tom Brokaw, King, Life After People, Nostradamus: 2012, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed and WWII in HD. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy® Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network's latest initiative connecting America's schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY web site, located at www.history.com, is the definitive historical online source that delivers entertaining and informative content featuring broadband video, interactive timelines, maps, games, podcasts and more.

PHOTOS: Junior Miller - MADHOUSE - Photo Credit - David Holloway History // Burt and Jason Myers - MADHOUSE - Photo Credit - David Holloway History

From Becky Auslander // Middleberg Communications, LLC