H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler has passed away at the age of 86, Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR confirmed on Thursday morning. The native of Belmont, North Carolina, built an incredible legacy as the longtime general manager and promoter of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The man, who was known as the P.T. Barnum of NASCAR, was honored with the prestigious Landmark Award for innovation and contributions to NASCAR, and will be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
“Humpy Wheeler was a visionary whose name became synonymous with promotion and innovation in our sport,” Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO said in a statement. “During his decades leading Charlotte Motor Speedway, Humpy transformed the fan experience through his creativity, bold ideas and tireless passion. His efforts helped expand NASCAR’s national footprint, cement Charlotte as a must-visit racing and entertainment complex and recently earned him the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s 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.”
Charlotte Motor Speedway also issued a statement offering its deepest sympathies for the loss of a man who meant so much to the iconic race track’s storied history:
Charlotte Motor Speedway was blessed to have a leader in Humpy Wheeler who can only be described as ONE of a kind.
For more than 30 years, Humpy was a promoter’s promoter at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Alongside our founder Bruton Smith, Humpy pushed the speedway to new and greater heights – establishing the famed 1.5-mile superspeedway as not only the most innovative facility in NASCAR for fan, partner and competitor amenities, but also one of the most progressive in all of sports.
Humpy’s engaging smile and flair for promotion were legendary, and his impact on every stakeholder in motorsports will be long-lasting. Often described as the “P.T. Barnum of motorsports,” Humpy not only made his mark with publicity, but also with a laser-focus toward the fans. He would often tell his staff to pay attention to “the three Ts – tickets, traffic and toilets” in order to ensure fans have the best possible experience. He would also say it was our job to put a little “technicolor in people’s black-and-white lives.”
While the motorsports world has lost an icon, the legacy H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler created by building and promoting remarkable events at Charlotte Motor Speedway will continue for generations to come.
A member of the National Motorsports Hall of Fame, Wheeler never left anything on the table when it came to promoting events at the 1.5-mile speedway in Concord, NC.
Whether it was school buses jumping cars, installing lights around the 1.5-mile speedway — a foreign idea at the time — to produce night racing for the 1992 All-Star Race (dubbed “One Hot Night”), or running point on launching opportunities for race car drivers such as Janet Guthrie and Dale Earnhardt — Wheeler did whatever needed to be done to ensure that people packed the stands for races that he was promoting.
Along the way, not only did Wheeler become a successful and integral cog in the traveling circus that is NASCAR, but he also became a fan-favorite among those who made the trek to Charlotte Motor Speedway each year.
As a native North Carolinian, Wheeler, who attended his first race at Charlotte Speedway at age 11, always had a deep love for auto racing, and he kicked off his career in motorsports in the 1960s as the director of Firestone Tire’s motorsports program. In 1975, Bruton Smith tapped Wheeler as the successor of Richard Howard as the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Wheeler would serve Charlotte Motor Speedway for 33 years before retiring in 2008.
The legendary track president, general manager, and promoter left an undeniable legacy, which taught everyone within the racing industry to never stop thinking outside the box.
