Howard Augustine Wheeler , 86, passes Wednesday

 

I strongly suspect that most of you are asking “who WAS Howard Augustine Wheeler”? at this point.  Not a vet, but you’ll see the connection.

And NASCAR had Howard Augustine Wheeler Jr., more commonly known as “Humpy,” arguably the greatest promoter stock car racing has ever seen.

Mr. Wheeler was the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway for more than 30 years, and was instrumental in helping make NASCAR a national, vs. a regional, phenomenon.

Seems like every sport has someone who elevated its notoriety reputation.  Baseball had Bill Veeck, who famously put a midget in to bat, and put one-armed Pete Grey onto the St. Louis Browns back in ’45. NASCAR had Humpy.

“Former Charlotte Motor Speedway track president Humpy Wheeler died last night. He was 86. He spearheaded putting lights up at Charlotte (no big tracks had lights at the time). Also instrumental in Janet Guthrie competing in World 600. RIP,” Bob Pockrass wrote.

Wheeler made the annual Coca-Cola 600 a testimonial to military veterans, often having simulated “battles” and “invasions” on the Charlotte Motor Speedway frontstretch infield that featured cannons, helicopters, tanks and lots of smoke and noise that fans reveled in.

That SportsRush article has a nice section about how Humpy helped a young racer named Dale Earnhardt get to the big league, and how over the years he helped ‘sell’ other young racers, loan them some money to tide ’em over, and help them get a leg up.

Oh, other thing – if you were a vet and went to the Coca Cola 600 (btw, the second biggest race in the country, trailing only the Indy 500), it was on Humpy. No charge to vets.

 

Sources:

https://thesportsrush.com/nascar-news-humpy-wheeler-the-man-behind-dale-earnhardts-legacy-the-spectacle-nascar-is-today/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpy_Wheeler

Category: We Remember