He's no longer the most visible face at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he reigned as president for more than 30 years before "retiring" amidst a dispute with his boss, the enigmatic Bruton Smith, in May of 2008.

But make no mistake. Humpy Wheeler remains busy these days, as well as highly visible in the motorsports industry.

Wheeler talked recently about a number of topics, including whether or not the Cup Series should be racing in the rain, his new Wheeler Company (a management consulting operation primarily focusing on professional sports, motorsports and general business), and Humpy's Heroes, a driver development program he sponsors along with current Cup driver David Ragan.

Question: Should the Sprint Cup Series be racing in the rain? Or is that a bad idea?

Wheeler: We should be racing in the rain. There is no reason why we can't. There are a number of things that have got to be done. I understand it's a pain in the neck to get to that point, but [Sunday] at Watkins Glen, once the lightning stopped, would have been perfect for it. You don't want to be racing in the lightning with people up in metal grandstands -- but we've got a pretty good rain tire for the Nationwide cars that certainly would work on the Cup cars.

There's no reason why we can't race in the rain at the other tracks, too. I'd start on the road courses and then go to all the short tracks, like Bristol and Martinsville and Richmond. And then I'd start a program to see what we could do on the big tracks. People say you can't do it on the big tracks; they don't know what they're talking about about, [because] you can. It would be a different type of a show. It wouldn't be as fast, and obviously the tracks would have to do some things like put covers over the grandstand. But that certainly could be done. In Europe, they use a lot of this nylon stretch material that covers grandstands and protects the fans.

Q: Why do you think it's so important to get to a point where races in the rain become reality?

Wheeler: It would add a lot of interest, I think, to it. It just costs so much money when we have to postpone a race. It costs everybody money across the board -- NASCAR, the promoter, the teams, etc. If we could just start off with the road courses and the short tracks, we'd be way ahead of the game.

And certainly at your flat tracks -- places like Indianapolis and Pocono and places like that -- you should be able to do it. Then really at places like Kansas and Chicago, I don't think it would be much of a problem. They're not banked that much. Daytona and Talladega would be the two most difficult places. But it could be done because they race the 24 Hours of Daytona in the rain -- and they use the high banks and have awful fast race cars. It's just a big change for American-type racing to do that, but it certainly can be done.

Q: Do you think in time it will be done?

Wheeler: I don't think there's any question that eventually we'll be forced to do it, because there's too much money riding on it. We play football in the rain; we play soccer in the rain; sometimes we even play baseball in the rain. So I don't see it as an enormous problem.

Q: Were you surprised Lowe's Home Improvement didn't renew their naming rights contract with your former track?

Wheeler: No, I really wasn't. I had heard rumblings before, and when they entered into it, they were a regional company becoming a national company -- and they needed to grow their name. It was a perfect thing for them at the time, but they're pretty well known across the country now. Also, they've had a tough time from a financial standpoint this year.

And you want a commitment of at least 10 years when you go into something like that. So when they just went into a deal for one year last year, that was pretty much a signal to me that it was going to be a tough deal [to have them renew].

Q: What else have you been up to lately?

Wheeler: Just running the Wheeler Company and keeping up with Humpy's Heroes and all that. That's about it.

Q: Have you picked up any new hobbies?

Wheeler: I've been flying model airplanes, radio-controlled airplanes, quite a bit. I've kind of picked that up and have fun doing that.

I'd like to design another race car, something that's bigger than a Legends car [which he designed in 1992]. I've been thinking about that ... It would be a step up from a Legends car, something with a V-8 [engine] in it. It would be an affordable Late Model, using recycled parts like the Legends car does. If I could find a big motorcycle engine to put in it, I'd probably do that. But that might be a little tough.

Q: Why a motorcycle engine?

Wheeler: Motorcycle engines are just wonderful, because they've usually got an aluminum block, they've got a lot of horsepower, and they've got good torque. They're just a neat deal.

Q: So are you having a good time these days, or do you miss the old job?

Wheeler: No, no, no. I'm having a great time. The company is doing well. So I'm just having fun.

Q: I guess you and your former boss, Bruton Smith, still aren't exchanging Christmas cards?

Wheeler: Nope, we're not. I haven't talked to him since I left.

Q: That seems unfortunate for all parties ...

Wheeler: It is, after all the time we spent together and the things we did together. We did a lot of good things together. There just came a time where I just needed to get away from him.

Also:
• Wheeler staying busy with own business, TV projects
• Wheeler's legacy created in three decades at Lowe's