There\u2019s a funny story about Humpy Wheeler that dates back to the days \u2014 and that was a long time ago \u2014 before he was in NASCAR.<\/p>\n
Wheeler was a left guard at the University of South Carolina where he played alongside former Baltimore Colts running back Alex Hawkins. When their Gamecocks days were through, Hawkins said Wheeler told him he thought he might go up to Charlotte and get in on the whole racing thing with NASCAR.<\/p>\n
Hawkins told Wheeler that was a dumb idea. He wouldn\u2019t make a dime. The two friends laughed about it years later because Wheeler did quite well for himself in the racing business. <\/p>\n
He became a legend in fact. And sadly, that legend is now gone. <\/p>\n
Wheeler died Thursday, according to NASCAR, at the age of 86. <\/p>\n
NASCAR.com credited<\/b><\/a> <\/b>Wheeler with ushering in \u201cNASCAR\u2019s presence onto the national stage in the 1970s with imaginative, often over-the-top pre-race shows. One headline called him the \u201cP.T. Barnum\u201d of NASCAR.<\/p>\n He was also credited for his vision for race-track facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cHumpy Wheeler was a visionary whose name became synonymous with promotion and innovation in our sport,\u201d NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France. \u201cDuring his decades leading Charlotte Motor Speedway, Humpy transformed the fan experience through his creativity, bold ideas and tireless passion. His efforts helped expand NASCAR\u2019s national footprint, cement Charlotte as a must-visit racing and entertainment complex and recently earned him the NASCAR Hall of Fame\u2019s prestigious Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. On behalf of NASCAR and the France family, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Wheeler family and all who were touched by his remarkable life and legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Belmont, North Carolina native actually spent 33 years running Charlotte Motor Speedway, and NASCAR highlighted the show that he turned races at the facility into with his pre-race extravaganzas. There were school buses jumping junkyard-bound cars and even a Robosaurus, which was apparently \u201ca towering, fire-breathing, car-crunching mechanical robot\u201d before the real racing started.<\/p>\n People loved it, and Humpy was loved for it. <\/p>\n Not surprisingly, the racing world responded to the news of his death Thursday, in a big way. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened by the passing of Humpy Wheeler,\u201d Richard Petty wrote on X. \u201cHumpy was one of a kind, a true showman and one of the sharpest minds this sports has ever seen. We\u2019ll all miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. \u2013 RP.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of my family and our organization, I\u2019d like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Humpy Wheeler,\u201d Rusty Wallace wrote on X. \u201cA NASCAR Hall of Fame Landmark Award winner, Humpy made an irreplaceable impact on our sport and how it operates. He was a true innovator that was far ahead of his time and he helped nurture countless future leaders in our sport. While Humpy may be gone, his legacy will undoubtedly live on. He will be greatly missed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRest in peace Humpy Wheeler,\u201d Mario Andretti wrote. \u201cThere are many giants in the industry; Humpy was the master. There will never be another one like him. That is the enduring legacy of Humpy Wheeler. Goodspeed and safe journey to heaven my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n And there were plenty more posts like that from racing outlets and legends remembering the man who moved on from college football to become an icon in the sport of racing. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a funny story about Humpy Wheeler that dates back to the days \u2014 and that was a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-169253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115078362865206432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}