Safer Racer Board of Director BIO: Schrader

Safer Racer Board of Directors ~ Humpy Wheeler

Mr. H. A. (Humpy) Wheeler has been described as one of sports greatest promoters. His 50 years in motorsports has brought about many, many innovations and earned him a place in nine halls of fame.

Born in Belmont, N.C., he was an outstanding boxer and earned a place in the Carolinas Boxing Hall of Fame and had a record of 40-2 with more than 20 tournament wins. He also played football at the University of South Carolina and was a member of the Block “C” Club.

He began his racing career as a teenager driving and assisting tracks in promoting races. He has been a newspaper and magazine writer, a TV producer and real estate executive.

But it was in racing that he made a huge mark. He operated dirt tracks successfully before a seven year stint with the racing division of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company when they were the largest and oldest manufacturer in racing for nearly 50 years. He worked on the NASCAR, Indy, Formula One and road racing circuits where he became friends with such legendary drivers as Jimmy Clark, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, the Unser brothers, Roger Ward, Fireball Roberts, Ned Jarrett, Jr. Johnson, Fred Lorenzen, Marvin Panch, Curtis Turner and most of the other top drivers of the sixties.

When he came to what was then Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1975 he helped change the face of NASCAR and was one of the men who propelled the sport into the national limelight.

His innovations at Charlotte included many firsts including huge pre-race shows, flyovers, lighted super speedway, air shows, world class stunts, boxing matches, concerts, taxi cab races, school bus races, massive sky dives, war reenactments, circuses and many other unique events.

Under his direction the speedway grew from 75,000 to 167,000 seats and was dubbed the “Taj Mahal” of racing.

With Bruton Smith they formed a company called Speedway Motorsports which in 1993 became the first racing entity to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. As COO the company prospered and was named several times as one of the fifty outstanding companies of its size on Wall Street.

Perhaps one of his most unique accomplishments was the creation of Legends Cars in 1992, three quarter size versions of the modifieds that launched the golden age of NASCAR. It became the first and only successful race car to be built on an assembly line and by 2009 more than 4,000 had been sold throughout the world.

He has garnered many honors in his career including being given the Grace Award and Pius Award for his work at Belmont Abbey College, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the Governor of North Carolina, the Charles Maxwell Award for outstanding service to tourism in North Carolina, voted several times Promoter of the Year by several organizations and honored as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. He has also been honored as Man of the Year by the Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has won over 20 other awards for civic and charitable work both locally and nationally.

He has also appeared in motion pictures and was the voice of Tex in Disney/Pixar’s award winning “Cars”.

He is active in the Catholic Church and is a member of the Knights of Malta. He is married to Patricia Adele and has three children Patti, Tracy and Trip and four grandchildren.

"I am honored to be on the board of Randy LaJoie's endeavor which has already been a tremendous shot in the arm for auto racing safety. Not only is Randy a great racing champion but his dedication to safety on the grass roots level is what this country needs," - H.A. Wheeler