May 25, 2008
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Welcome to the longest….racing…day…ever.
Yes, it is time to take the track at the Coca Cola 600…600 miles that take the guys from sunlight to moonlight, and allow many of us to get a good solid nap or chores in between the drop of the green flag and the waving of the checkered flag.
Mind you, I love racing, and will be happy to spend my Sunday afternoon…and evening…and night…watching today’s race. However, 600 miles is a really long race. I have sat through it in person twice, and have vowed not to do it again any time soon. At least when I am at home, I can do something else, like my laundry, clean the house, learn a new language.
It doesn’t help that in the three times I have been to Lowe's Motor Speedway, the same person has won: Jimmie Johnson; although the #48 winning this year will be a victory in more ways than one the way that team has been running this year.
One thing that has always been guaranteed during this race weekend is entertainment before the race at Lowe's. This week, the man behind that entertainment, Humpy Wheeler, announced he is retiring…and the fans that go to the races at LMS will be much poorer in their experience as a result.
I remember the first time I attended a race at Lowe's, three years ago. Robosaurus was the primary show at hand, breathing fire and tearing up cars. After the race was over, at midnight, Robosaurus came back out to add a fire show to the post race activities. It was actually befitting my mood. That was the year the track had first been levigated, there were 22 cautions, including one caused when Junior took out Mikey on the front stretch…right in front of my seats. However, what I remember most about the race, besides the crashes and the late hour of our departure, was that fire breathing mechanical dinosaur.
Jeff Burton indicated a photograph hanging on the wall of the media center at Lowe's this week as he told reporters "I hate to use the word 'circus atmosphere,' but that's really it. When you come here, you never know what you're going to see….That picture's got Humpy written all over it — fire, cars flipped upside down and fans excited.
“To me, when I think of his impact, it’s more about the entertainment side of things. Making it fun for the fans and giving fans more than just the race. That's what I think about."
“I’ve never thought of this sport or Lowe’s Motor Speedway without Humpy Wheeler,” added Jeff Gordon. “He’s just constantly pushing the envelope. All the creativity and excitement and entertainment he’s brought for the competitors as well as for the fans is definitely going to be his legacy. He’s set a high bar, for sure.”
H.A. Humpy Wheeler (the nickname came from his father and a pack of Camel cigarettes) has been a fixture at Lowe's Motor Speedway for most of my lifetime. He joined Bruton Smith, Speedway Motorsports Incorporated’s Chairman and chief executive officer in 1975, and was appointed general manager at LMS in 1976. In 1980, Wheeler was promoted again to speedway president, and racing hasn’t been the same since. But Humpy hasn’t always been the marketing machine we know him as today.
A native of Belmont, North Carolina, Wheeler, who is 69, played football for the University of South Carolina in the late 1950's as a defensive lineman. Ironically, two of his teammates at the time were Jim Hunter, NASCAR’s vice president of communications, and Jim Duncan, a former marketing executive at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He graduated from USC in 1961 with a degree in journalism. He went on to become a Golden Glove boxer (he still laces up the gloves to keep in shape), and ended up dipping his toes in motorsports with the racing division of Bridgestone Corporation's Firestone tires from 1964 to 1975.
It was Wheeler who first introduced the idea of racing at night, offering to have lights put up around the then, Charlotte Motor Speedway, to make the “Winston” more exciting, thus preventing a discussed move of the race to Richmond. It was Wheeler who introduced a rookie driver named Dale Earnhardt to team owner Rod Osterlund, leading to Earnhardt earning 'Rookie of the Year' honors in 1979, and his first championship a year later.
And then there have been the pre race shows. The military setting up a mock battle on the front stretch; jet powered outhouses; the “Regurgitator”; school bus races (and jumps); the circus set up shop with elephants and tight rope walkers. And there was Robosaurus.
His impact isn’t just on the track, it is on the industry. Upon the announcement of his retirement, SMI’s stock prices actually dropped 0.7%. His leaving the sport was mentioned in both Forbes and Bloomberg.
When Wheeler retires after tonight’s race, he will sever all ties with SMI and LMS; however he will not leave the sport behind.
"While it is with sadness that I announce my retirement from Speedway Motorsports and Lowe's Motor Speedway, it is time for me to move on to other things," Wheeler said during his press conference on Wednesday. "I have devoted my entire life to racing and I don't intend on leaving it, just serving it in different ways.
"I will resume the Humpy Show on SPEED Channel and look forward to being chairman of the Charlotte Regional Partnership in 2009. I also look forward to other endeavors, including lecturing and working with the motorsports management program at Belmont Abbey College."
He will also share his experiences with us, the fans, in the form of a book. "I have made arrangements with a well-known author to co-write a unique book interweaving my various experiences in the sport with the wonderful human drama and rich characters that abound in it.”
If the book is anything as creative as Humpy’s efforts at LMS, it is sure to be a best seller.
“The people I’ve met along the way -- from the Salt Flats of Bonneville, to Indianapolis, to my early dirt-track days, to the wide ride of NASCAR to the top-have furnished me with experiences beyond my wildest dreams. For a boy from the little town of Belmont, N.C., who dreamed of a racing career, I can only say that it ain’t over yet.”
I for one hope there is plenty more on Humpy’s plate. It just won’t be the same without him.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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