Humpy Wheeler
Howard Augustine "Humpy" Wheeler Jr. was an American motorsports executive and businessman. He was best known as the general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, a banked racetrack in Concord, North Carolina. Wheeler held the positions of publicity directors for numerous companies and later became the president and general manager of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He was a major auto racing promoter and businessman, particularly in stock car racing and IndyCar racing.
Wheeler was born and raised in Belmont, North Carolina. In 1964, he gained his first major publicity job when he was hired by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. After bouncing around real estate and public service jobs when Firestone shut down its racing program in 1970, Wheeler was hired by Charlotte Motor Speedway chairman Bruton Smith as president to replace the outgoing Richard Howard in 1975. During his time at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, he gained a reputation for creating unique promotions for races at the speedway. He abruptly retired from the position in May 2008, a decision that was seen as shocking to most of the NASCAR landscape. After retiring as president of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, he pursued other business endeavors with his advising company The Wheeler Company, including the failed Grand Prix of America proposal and Speedway Benefits, an American short-track alliance program.
Wheeler was regarded as a pioneer in promoting in the motor racing industry. Throughout his time as a racing promoter and general manager, Wheeler was known for pulling off numerous unique promotions and stunts in order to promote the Charlotte Motor Speedway and its races, making him one of the most successful promoters in auto racing. Drivers and industry leaders view Wheeler highly for his promotions and actions during his time at the Charlotte Motor Speedway due to their effectiveness and the unique nature of Wheeler's promotions.
Wheeler was involved in a years-long rivalry with Bruton Smith, the chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports, the company that owned the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Wheeler, who had worked under Smith since 1975, retired from his position at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008 due to disagreements with Smith, a decision that was seen as a surprise in the NASCAR landscape. Wheeler heavily criticized both NASCAR and Smith for the next twelve years. The two decided to end the rivalry in 2020, after Wheeler made successful attempts to reconnect with Smith.
Early life
Wheeler was born in Belmont, North Carolina, on October 23, 1938, to Howard Augustine Wheeler Sr. and Kathleen Louise Dobbins. His father was the athletic director and the football head coach at Belmont Abbey College, and often took Wheeler to games. Wheeler often imagined during games how to improve the quality of the events. Wheeler attended Charlotte Catholic High School, a private preparatory school that was connected to Belmont Abbey.Initially wanting to play football at Charlotte Catholic, he resorted to boxing as the school did not have a football program. At Charlotte Catholic, Wheeler was known as a jock who had won numerous debate contests.
According to Wheeler, his family was middle class. He said he had learned most of his life lessons from his mother, who owned a mercantile store. Throughout his childhood, he had an "entrepreneurial itch and desire to make my own money", a trait that he credits to his mother. He inherited the moniker "Humpy" through his father, when his father—underage at the time—was caught trying to buy a pack of Camel cigarettes during a football practice session with the Illinois Fighting Illini. He was hesitant to inherit the moniker, as he wanted a different identity from his father. He had tried on numerous occasions to remove the moniker, due to numerous companies not wanting to hire him due to the nickname. After being told he could not work at a New York-based public relations firm with the name Humpy, his father became seriously ill. After seeing his father in his condition, he realized "how much the name meant to me", and eventually inherited it.
Unable to work with cars at the time, at the age of 13, he founded the town's only bicycle repair shop, in hopes that teenagers in the town would break their bicycles. The business became successful, and Wheeler eventually began to hold and promote weekly bicycle races. At the same time, he also held a part-time job at a local hardware store.
Wheeler watched his first auto racing event in 1949 at the age of 11 at the Charlotte Speedway. According to Wheeler, after a Sunday service session, he headed down to a local drive-in where a race car with "wild colors" passed by the restaurant. He later found out from an older friend of his that the car was racing in a stock car race held at the speedway by Bill France Sr. At the age of 15, now old enough to work with cars, he spent most of his time working in a garage with a car owner who fielded and raced a 1937 Ford coupe in races throughout the Carolinas; mainly at Newberry Speedway in Newberry, South Carolina. As a race car driver, he drove at Newberry Speedway until 1960, when he was banned by the promoter of the speedway.
College education
Wheeler initially pursued a professional boxing career, having ambitions to join the 1960 United States Olympic boxing team. Wheeler had gotten a scholarship to join the Michigan State boxing team, but the scholarship was later revoked after Michigan State's conference, the Big Ten Conference, entirely withdrew from boxing after a conference boxer died. As a result, Wheeler initially decided to skip college and train in New York-based Stillman's Gym to compete in amateur boxing. After competing in 42 matches with a 40–2 record, he withdrew from boxing after realizing that in his weight class, he could potentially have to face up against Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. He instead focused on a football career.Wheeler accepted a football scholarship to play for the University of South Carolina in February 1957 as a left guard. Playing for the team's freshman squad, Wheeler managed to make the dean's list during the spring semester of 1958. The next season, Wheeler redshirted the season. During his junior season, he suffered a back injury during a scrimmage that led to him being placed into the university's infirmary. The injury left Wheeler temporarily paralyzed as a paraplegic, taking nine months for Wheeler to regain some function in his lower limbs. While Wheeler had hopes of being promoted to the main squad in 1959, the back injury eventually led to Wheeler abandoning his football career. Wheeler graduated from South Carolina in 1961, double majoring in journalism and political science.
Business and promotional career
Early business and promotional ventures
Wheeler gained his first job in 1956, working as a publicity supervisor for the Allstate Racing Association. He later bounced around numerous publicity jobs, including being the publicity director for the Dixie Auto Racing Company, the International Timing Association, and the University of South Carolina athletic department. He was also the assistant publicity manager of Darlington, South Carolina–based Darlington Raceway, working under Russ Catlin.During his time at South Carolina, Wheeler was hired as a sports writer for The Columbia Record in 1959. He worked for The Columbia Record until he graduated from South Carolina. After graduating, Wheeler was hired as the promotion copy editor for Charlotte, North Carolina, television station WBTV in February 1961. Two months later, he was promoted to become the publicity director of the station. Around the same time, he obtained a lease to run the Robinwood Speedway in Gastonia, North Carolina. A track that had gained a reputation for being rundown, Wheeler spent around $20,000 to renovate the track. A year later, Wheeler was hired to promote the Starlite Speedway in Monroe, North Carolina, and the Gastonia Fairgrounds the year after. After seeing initial success, Wheeler absorbed heavy amounts of debt due to "judgement against in accidents" and a lack of insurance according to Wheeler. In addition, Robinwood Speedway was closed in 1963 after the Gastonia Country Club moved near the racetrack. In later interviews, Wheeler stated, "My God, how did I last as long as I did? I was a loose cannon."
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, departure from racing
In February 1964, Wheeler was announced by The Charlotte News to have been hired by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company to be the company's new public relations representative for their racing program. In 1969, Wheeler and Firestone had threatened to exit the NASCAR Grand National Series, citing the fact that the company's rival, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, had the majority of drivers that were directly supported by manufacturers under contract, meaning they could not run a lap with Firestone tires.In 1970, Wheeler left the company after Firestone closed its public relations office in Charlotte. While Firestone wanted Wheeler to transfer to a new location in Washington, D.C. and despite the fact that he had been working there for two months, his family wanted to stay in Charlotte. Wheeler then moved towards promoting the North Carolina tourism industry and economy, hoping for Charlotte to be a major East Coast seaport by 2000. In November, he denied the sale of Darlington Raceway and the transfer of its two races to a new superspeedway between the South Carolinan cities of Myrtle Beach and Conway. In 1971, he was named the public service director for the city of Charlotte. By early 1972, he had hopes of turning Asheville into the North Carolina's leading seaport.
In May of the same year, he resigned from the city of Charlotte to become the public relations director for the Ervin Company, a real estate development company. By early of 1973, he had ambitions of turning the Charlotte housing industry more "interchangeable", wanting houses in Charlotte to feel like homes consumers could associate with. In early 1975, he became the vice chairman of the Charlotte–Mecklenburg Bicentennial Celebration, a celebration that commemorated the United States Bicentennial in Mecklenburg County. He was able to attract then-President of the United States Gerald Ford to the celebration.