Humpy Wheeler discusses Bruton Smith, rainy Coca-Cola 600s, NASCAR in Chicago and more

“He was a force to be reckoned with.”

That’s Humpy Wheeler, beginning a story about his former boss and late NASCAR mogul Bruton Smith.

At another point in the same story: “The fact that they kept from total warfare, which would’ve hurt the sport, is really a miracle when you look back today,” Wheeler said with a chuckle. “But it also was not terribly different than the old days, when promoters fought each other with tooth and nail.”

Wheeler, now 84 and long-known for bringing jaw-dropping stunts and entertainment to racing, has been retired for more than a decade. But stories like this — so many stories — feel untouched by time.

The promoter and longtime Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager shared some of those stories with Observer reporter Alex Zietlow ahead of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, which lands in the 75th anniversary of NASCAR. And he offered valuable perspective on pretty much everything — whether those stories were about managing Charlotte Motor Speedway, or about his late and legendary boss, or the upcoming Chicago Street Race.

Here’s an excerpt of the interview, edited for clarity and brevity.

Humpy Wheeler, rain and Charlotte Motor Speedway

Zietlow: You’ve had to race on a Monday or a Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few times, right?

Wheeler: Oh yeah, we went through that. Gosh, we went through so many bad situations race-wise, it’s not even funny. (Laughs.) You just gotta keep going, dig deep and roll on.

Zietlow: What was one of those times?

Wheeler: I think probably the first one was in 1976. Not for the 600, but for the 500. It rained 21 inches in the North Carolina mountains. I mean, that’s a lot of rain. (Laughs.)

Zietlow: A crazy amount of rain.

Wheeler: The bridges fell. The roads washed out. And so many fans were from up in that western North Carolina area that it was just a tough deal. But I think the 600, I’m trying to think of the year. I probably can’t think of it because I’ve tried to wash it out of my mind. (In 1992), we had seven straight days of rain. And things were falling. Our concession stands were falling down the bank. Parking was horrible because it was just so much water. And there were people who wanted us to call the race off, even though Sunday the weather looked OK. But it was what happened before. But we got through it.

I had invited this old man from up in the mountains. His name was Ed Presnell. And he made dulcimers. And I invited him down to the race because I’d met him up there. And he’d never been to a race. And then here comes the rain. I looked down the grandstands, and no one was in it except Ed. (Laughs.) He was sitting there with his World War II poncho, and was just like, “Nothing’s going on.” And I asked him later if he had a good time. And he said, “Well I got a little wet, but nothing was wrong other than that.” (Laughs.)

Our fans were so tough and resilient, it’s kept us in business for a long time.

Zietlow: Sorry, you said he sold... what? Dul-ci—

Wheeler: Oh he made dulcimers. D-U-L-C-I-M-E-R. They’re kind of a unique stringed instrument known only to the mountains of North Carolina.

Zietlow: Oh wow. How have I not heard of them?

Wheeler: Well because you’re from Raleigh! They don’t have dulcimers in Raleigh.

Wheeler watches North Wilkesboro All-Star Race

Zietlow: Fair enough. OK so like you said, NASCAR fans are tough. They’re loyal. We got to see a lot of that at North Wilkesboro last weekend.

Wheeler: Oh yeah.

Zietlow: Did you get a chance to catch that race?

Wheeler: Yeah, I was there.

Zietlow: Where were you sitting?

Wheeler: I was sitting up in a suite above the fourth turn. ... I thought Wilkesboro was kind of a miracle. There was just simply no reason for that track to continue to run. I thank the governor profusely for those millions that were dumped into the track, which enabled them to do what they’re doing.

There were a lot of miracles at Wilkesboro. Back in the day, years ago, I worked for Firestone Racing. And I had to spend race time in the pits, checking on tires, this-that-and-the-other-thing. I remember always going by Junior Johnson’s pits, and I’d say, ‘Has it started yet?’ And he’d say, ‘Nope, it hasn’t. Just keep looking.’ Well by ‘starting,’ we’re talking about the fights in the grandstands.

And I don’t know whether they gave everybody Valium before they came in here or not, but it was just like everybody was behaving themselves this year. Of course except one guy, I saw they towed him out. But he was unmarked, so I figured that he had just imbibed the grape too much. ... But what was amazing to me about North Wilkesboro was how the fans responded and came out. I mean by the droves. And they knew it was going to be a bit difficult to get in or out. Well, it wasn’t so bad! I was amazed.

I was particularly amazed at one person. And that was a girl I hired years ago as an intern from Belmont-Abbey. Jessica Fickenscher (executive director for 2023 All-Star Race).

Zietlow: Oh really! You hired her?

Wheeler: Yeah, she was in charge of the whole deal. And she put her nose to the grindstone. ... That was an example, really, of where we’d come from in racing. And that is, back in the days when we had no money, we were in hostile environments many times, and yet it was pulled off and done. And it just rolled on. So I was very impressed with it.

The making of the Coca-Cola 600 and Bruton Smith

Zietlow: This race, this Coca-Cola 600, will be the first one without Bruton Smith. He passed away in June 2022. And with it being the 75th anniversary of NASCAR, and this being North Carolina’s biggest race, I’ve been thinking about his legacy. How would you describe his legacy?

Wheeler: He was a force to be reckoned with. And the competition between International Speedway, Daytona and Charlotte SMI has been a ferocious one, to say the least, over the years. The fact that they kept from total warfare, which would’ve hurt the sport, is really a miracle when you look back today. But it also was not terribly different than the old days, when promoters fought each other with tooth and nail.

Well, No. 1, he was as smart as anybody I’ve met. And No. 2, when he wanted something, he got it, just from pure perseverance, despite a lot of animosity toward NASCAR and vice-versa.

On the other hand, I think NASCAR saw that Bruton was picking the sport up, moving it up high, and getting things done that we could’ve never have done before.

For instance, up until ‘77 or so, there was just no money in racing. I say “no money” — there was plenty of money when they had a race, and down at the ticket booth, there was a lot of money. But on Monday there wasn’t any because it all was spent. It’s an expensive sport. The purses were high. And I say Monday because you might have had it Sunday, but Monday you had already paid the drivers and car owners, and you started looking at the tail, and it was pretty empty. And you think, “Oh jeez, I gotta start this again. Where am I gonna get the money?”

And Bruton had the ability to raise money like nobody in racing ever had. He got what is now Bank of America involved in it in ‘77, and we were able to build the first major development in racing, and that was to be able to put 17 suites in, a press box that you could breathe in, and some restrooms and other accouterments that we’d never had before. And that all came from long-term borrowing. ...

He had that ability to work with the banks that nobody has had before. Probably the only guy who is even close to him today is Roger Penske. Of course, the banks look favorably toward racing now, and they’ll loan you money. But in those days, it was pay us Friday, they’ll want it back on Monday, and then Tuesday you could dribble in there and lay it in. So anyway, that was the big change in racing. ... So the ability to borrow money, it was probably his greatest asset, besides his tremendous brain. He had a brain that was just beyond. We all owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

Zietlow: Did Bruton Smith love the Coke 600? Was that his favorite race?

Wheeler: Oh yeah. When he was building the track, you’re like, “OK, we gotta run something. We gotta run a race.” And he thought, “Well we gotta be different. So let’s throw another 100 miles on it. And everybody will be talking about it.” It’ll be different than the Indy 500, and there was a lot of competition between Charlotte and Indianapolis and Daytona and Indianapolis. Daytona built a 2.5-mile track just so they could run faster than Indianapolis. So all of that really did nothing but help the sport to grow. Because you had people competing in a fairly positive way toward each other, and it all worked out.

Zietlow: So anyway: Bruton said, “We’re going to be different. We’re going to run a bunch more miles?”

Wheeler: Back in the day, he was building the track, he ran completely out of money. The track went into bankruptcy. And he became the first track, the first business in the state of North Carolina, to survive a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The first one. And by surviving that bankruptcy, and being able to pay the bank off, it gave the banks some security as far as what racing could do. And then it became more successful.

I always likened NASCAR and Charlotte — and everything it encompassed — to Nashville. Nashville is a city of insurance companies and some manufacturing, etc. They did not embrace country and western music at all when it started. It was not country or western music, it was hillbilly music.

I told Chamber of Commerce’s board here in 1976, I said, “Guys I want you to do one thing: Just look at your bank account Memorial Day Tuesday versus the rest of Tuesdays.” And they found out that a huge amount of money had poured into this city that wouldn’t have been here if it weren’t for the race. So that helped a tremendous amount. A city or state or whatever it is will embrace those who bring cash in and throw the rest of the people out.

So that was a step way up. Because Charlotte was basically a distribution center run by Scotch-Irish businessmen who were very conservative and were not at all quick to jump on anything. And the fact that as the money started pouring in, and they recognized that, it began to change their mind completely. So they began to embrace the race and put their arms around it.

Zietlow: That’s fascinating.

Wheeler: If the community doesn’t embrace you, no matter what you have, you’re not going anywhere. I remember the first time I spoke to the Chamber of Commerce board. This was in ‘76. It’s traditional that you give the speaker some sort of gift. It was Luther Hodges who was running what is now Bank of America. And he was the chairman of the Chamber. And he said, “Come forward, Humpy, we got a gift to give you.” And so I walked up there wondering what they were going to do. And he gave me a pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon and two pairs of white socks, and I thought going back to the track that day, ‘Boy, you got a longggg way to go.’

So anyway, I know a lot of people in Nashville. Don Light, one of my friends, he has been instrumental in the advance of country music up there — from hillbilly, some might say. And he’d say same thing: “You’re fighting that same battle that we were. The fact is that we’ve gotten there now. We gotta keep it there.” It’s an interesting parallel between the two cities, and between the two entertainment venues.

Jimmie Johnson and the streets of Chicago

Zietlow: Jimmie Johnson, who’s retired from full-time Cup racing and is instead more involved in the ownership side of things, will run the Coke 600. He’s won at Charlotte eight times. Is he the best driver, in your opinion, to come through Charlotte Motor Speedway? Or is there someone else that has that moniker for you?

Wheeler: Well you know, racing is hard to say about that. Because we’ve probably had better drivers who’ve never won a race. They never got in the right car. It’s like the player who never got on the right team, or the quarterback who was absolutely fantastic but didn’t have a left tackle, so they kept finding him on his back when they tried to pass. So evaluating Jimmie Johnson is difficult in one way.

But in the other, the man had just absolutely tremendous talent behind the wheel. His real forte was simply not letting what was happening down on that track affect his brain. He just had the ability to stay cool through all that, as did Petty, as did Earnhardt, as did Waltrip, as did Cale Yarborough. ... So Jimmie has a tremendous legacy here, and he’s done all he’s needed to do to make the Hall of Fame and everything else that a driver could aspire to.

NASCAR heads to streets of Chicago

Zietlow: I wanted to also ask you about NASCAR going to Chicago for the street race.

Wheeler: Well, I understand why they’re doing it. They’re trying to get into a new market. There was a tremendous amount of effort going to New York a few years ago, and that didn’t work out because of various things. But where else are we going to go? Well, we can go to Los Angeles. Did that. And now let’s see what’s going to happen if we go to Chicago.

In the old days, none of us in the business were particularly fond of going to road courses. And a whole new thing’s happened. And that is television has really changed racing in a certain way — and that is you can take a race on a road course that would have fans bored as the Dickens in the seats, so to speak, and put it on TV, and all of a sudden it’s a great race! (Laughs.) ...

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when they go there. Road racing, some places, is beyond thrilling and is just a lot of fun. On the other hand, it can be terribly boring if it’s a place where the track hadn’t been laid out right, if there’s no passing. And everybody goes to sleep, and their wife tells ‘em, ‘Well, the race is over!’ You don’t want that. That’s what concerns you about any new track that opens whether it’s a road course or an oval. It’ll also be interesting to see how the press, the media, react to it. What kind of publicity and media hype they get. Because if they don’t, there’s no reason to be there. ....

Another thing, road racing, it keeps things tight. And you don’t get that runaway that you sometimes get on an oval track, where a guy just runs away from it. I can remember sitting up at that control tower while the 600 is going on, particularly when Bobby Allison went and won. And Bobby Allison and I are wonderful friends. But if I’d had a way to gas him, I would, because it was just a miserable day. And he just kept going further and further, and as he went further, the grandstands got lighter because they were all leaving.

You want close racing. That’s the main thing.

Zietlow: So what’d you do? Did you tell Bobby that later?

Wheeler: Oh, God yes I did! (Laughs.) And I still tell him that. I told him that the other night. This is 30 years later or whatever it is. ... It’s an interesting scenario. Chicago will be one of the most interesting aspects that we’ve had: What will the media react to it? How was the show? What is the fans response? Etc.

And people say, “Oh Chicago, that’s a big city. They don’t like racing.” Well, there are millions of avid race fans within a shot of Chicago, and hopefully they’ll show up there that day, and we’ll have a good show.