Wheeler's legacy created in three decades at Lowe's

Had they been alive at the same time, Phineas Taylor Barnum might have met his match in Howard Augustine "Humpy" Wheeler. Both were showmen of the highest caliber, consummate promoters and marketeers, and above all, outstanding businessmen. While one was the master of circuses featuring performers of the animal kingdom, the other specialized in ones of the automotive kind.

Humpy Wheeler was an entrepreneur from an early age. By the time he was 13, he began organizing bicycle races in his hometown of Belmont, N.C., and as the races became more popular, opened a bike shop to handle the demand for parts.

Wheeler

"Down the street was the community house and public area, so I started organizing bicycle races every Saturday afternoon at 1," Wheeler said in a 2005 interview. "There were two trees and we just raced around the trees, made an oval track out of it. You had to have fenders. I didn't allow any open wheels because I wanted to repair fenders. It got really big and kids would come from all over to race their bicycles.

"I had the only bicycle shop in Belmont and I was looking for a way to make money. I was tired of mowing grass and delivering papers, so I started promoting bicycle races. I actually ran the bicycle shop until I went to college."

Wheeler played football at the University of South Carolina -- one of his teammates was NASCAR executive Jim Hunter -- and graduated in 1961 with a degree in journalism. He also was a successful amateur boxer. But despite short stints as a sportswriter, television director and real estate manager, his true calling was in motorsports promotion, having been smitten by the racing bug by the time he was 8 or 9.

"Belmont was such a small town that we used to go out on Highway 29 and watch cars go by," Wheeler said. "I started seeing race cars going over to the old Charlotte Speedway which was only six miles from where I lived, and that excited me. So I started thumbing over to the race track. The first time I went I was probably 10, and I was hooked. I started working at tracks, selling Cokes and things like that, and one thing led to another."

Wheeler started promoting shows at local dirt tracks, and he soon landed a job at the new Charlotte Motor Speedway, handling advertising and promotion. However, his first attempt at a career there was short-lived, as he was let go in 1963.

"The track was in bankruptcy protection and times were tough," Wheeler said. "I was doing advertising and promotion, and had a 1-year-old daughter. A guy told me they had to cut back and I was gone. The next day a friend told me not to be mad about getting fired, but to put my energy into getting a new job."

That was excellent advice, as Wheeler wound up as a publicist with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, then was promoted to the director of motorsports position. Wheeler admits it was a job that wound up being the foundation for everything that would follow.

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"Running the dirt tracks helped me a lot, but I got a master's degree in racing during the seven years I spent with Firestone," Wheeler said. "I got introduced to IndyCar racing, Formula One, and sports car racing. That really opened my eyes. I traveled all over during that time so I got to see all the great race tracks.

"One of the most interesting things was being able to talk to Art Pillsbury, the guy who built the board tracks. He designed and built every board track. Guys like Russ Catlin, Bill France and Tony Hulman, the real pioneers of American auto racing. I was infatuated with all these guys and I was able to talk with them. They liked to talk to young people and they knew I had an interest in it. That was back in the days that if you weren't a driver or mechanic, not many people made a living in racing. I was fortunate to be with a company that was big in racing."

Wheeler's second big break came, once again, after losing a job. In 1975, Wheeler was working for Ervin Industries, a company that specialized in commercial and residential real estate. But a downturn in the economy created a disastrous situation.

"Interest rates began to soar into the upper teens and the economy plummeted," Wheeler said. "This huge company, which employed thousands of people, was brought to its knees. We were down to seven or eight people when I was let go. They gave me seven months' notice. By then, Bruton [Smith] had acquired majority ownership of the speedway and we began talking about me coming back here."

Wheeler joined the speedway in 1975, replaced Richard Howard as general manager in 1976, was named president in 1980 and then president of Speedway Motorsports Inc. in 1995. Along the way, with Wheeler's guidance, the track expanded to more than 160,000 seats, added VIP suits, condominiums, lights for night racing and some of the most outrageous pre-race shows in motorsports.

A re-creation of the Grenada invasion, performed by the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, complete with helicopters and repelling soldiers? A stuntman trying to set a record for the longest school bus jump? A huge shark with a dead chicken in its mouth? Yep, all ideas from the fertile mind of Humpy Wheeler.

Of course, not every promotion turned out the way it should. Because of rain, nobody showed up for a compact car race in 1977, except for Wheeler, the public address announcer and the sponsor. A Waylon Jennings concert on qualifying day in 1979 turned into a melee, with eight people injured and three arrested. And then there was the attempt to break the record for the world's largest marching band.

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"We got 5,000 high school and college band members in here," Wheeler said. "I failed to pay a lot of attention to the weather, which is unusual for me, but the whole week had been clear and I knew it wasn't going to rain. What I didn't see was that a heat wave was moving in and it was going to be over 85 degrees.

"The band members came in the back and were going to march in opposite directions around the track, meeting at the start-finish line. About halfway there, people started passing out. They had these heavy wool suits on which are OK for Friday night football but not for a hot Sunday afternoon. ... We ended up having to treat a hundred of them at the infield hospital for various stages of heat and fortunately none of [the injuries] were serious."

But all showmanship aside, Wheeler said the key to being successful is integrity, in the ability to earn other people's confidence.

"If there is one thing about a general manager of a track, it's that he has to be trusted," Wheeler said. "The competitors have to trust him that everything is the way it's supposed to be. The fans have to trust the person because they spent a lot of money in advance and they've taken a chance that they are going to have a good time. You reduce the chance element if the fans trust the person running the track. The public officials also have to trust that person. You need to be a promoter, but trustworthiness is the most essential ingredient."

Just before the running of the 2008 Coca-Cola 600, Wheeler announced his retirement from Lowe's Motor Speedway and SMI, citing "a number of disagreements" with Smith. In association with his son Trip, Wheeler shortly thereafter created The Wheeler Company, a management consulting firm primarily focusing on motorsports.

But when all is said and done, the evolution of Lowe's Motor Speedway the last three decades will remain Wheeler's greatest legacy.

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