RIP Humpy

Two stories among many tell the tale of the legendary racing promoter, Abbey advocate

Photo shared by NASCAR memes via X.com

In light of Humpy Wheeler Jr.'s death this past week, you're not going to hear much about these two stories. Always the promoter, a good litany of racing stories about the man will likely emerge in the following days.

First, Wheeler did what he could to promote NASCAR, motorsports, and even Belmont Abbey College. And promote and raise money for Belmont Abbey, he did.

He found one notable way back in the late 1990s, selling bottled water from Belmont Abbey College's land.

Photo: The Chronicle of Higher Education

Sure, it was a gimmick, but it was a way to promote the school quickly. Some of you may remember the Carolina blue label (not red, sorry you Raise the Red, Made True-lovin' millennials) with the fancy, cursive words affixed to it. As far as the public knew, the water came from the campus. I don't recall the water trucks arriving on campus back then. Maybe they did it in the middle of the night or while we were on spring break. Who really knows?

Anyway, the eyes of prospective students, noteworthy alums, and Catholic folk lit up when they saw that one thing in the bookstore for $2. Race fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the few that bought water and not Bud Lite, could taste Belmont Abbey College for a change and wonder briefly if they could go to school there one day.

Now, as a fledgling Abbey student, it was a novelty. The fact that you could get Abbey water in a bottle was remarkable. Back when there were likely only a few companies selling bottled water, and bottled water was all the rage.

Anyway, the gimmick was short-lived for many fellow Abbey students who lived in O'Connell and Poellath dorms in those years. Here, Belmont Abbey was selling cool, clear water coming from the "holy" land. In the dorms, it was another story.

We had to deal with air bubbles coming out of the pipes in our water. Students received subsequent water testing reports printed on sheets of paper in their mailboxes, indicating the water was safe to drink. However, how could we be certain? O'Connell students especially had cause for alarm in those days. The dorm housed the BAC maintenance staff, and that group of rag-tag workers was always doing something that had more than one Abbey student scratching their heads. Abbey students did what they could, buying filtered water or boiling the water to feel some comfort amid the far-fetched rumors that Abbey water had gasoline (?) and other chemicals in it back then. Especially with those old, crumbling dorms and the sketchy pipes running through them. Wasn't Abbey dorm life in the 1990s grand?

Not to begrudge Wheeler's entrepreneurial and promotional spirit, but there were two Abbey campus worlds we were living in back then.

So, you have the water story. There were likely hundreds of Humpy stories, Abbey and non-Abbey, behind the scenes. Now, consider another great Humpy story.

As you know, Wheeler made significant contributions to the racing and NASCAR world. In a multi-million dollar sport that somehow stays afloat to this day, the Belmont native brought spectacle and razzle-dazzle to the masses. As you know or may soon know, many of these explosions, spectacles, and other attention-grabbing things brought folks to the Charlotte Motor Speedway (or Lowe's, if that's your thing).

Notably, he attempted to bring a black driver to NASCAR years before Bubba Wallace found success in the sport. In Racing While Black: How an African-American Stock Car Team Made Its Mark on NASCAR, writers Leonard Miller and Andrew Simon portrayed Wheeler as a Branch Rickey-like figure who tried to bring Willy T. Ribbs (or a Jackie Robinson-like figure) into NASCAR racing years after Wendell Scott. The authors said that Wheeler thought he could "stir up a little buzz" by bringing Ribbs into the circuit.

There was a series of unfortunate events that brought Ribbs to CMS for the May 1978 Coca-Cola (World) 600 and, unfortunately, a few more that kept Ribbs from participating in that race. Ultimately, Wheeler "sent him home," and he didn't join in racing that weekend. Subsequent reports have Dale Earnhardt Sr. taking over Ribbs's ride for that race on his way to a pretty successful career.

Sure, it was a setback for Ribbs. There were a lot of things about the Californian's tact in those days. He could have said a few things himself about the way things went those days. But he did eventually find his way into NASCAR. He competed in Cup races in the 1980s and returned in 2021 for the Craftsman Truck Series.

But what it comes down to is that Wheeler wasn't afraid to attempt to get Ribbs into NASCAR. It wasn't NASCAR executives or fellow racers looking around the pits saying, "Hey, guys, it's a little too white around these pit stalls."

It was a man from Belmont with Belmont Abbey roots, who said,' Hey, maybe we should grow the sport a little and make it more friendly to others outside our circle.' Sure, it was about selling tickets, too, but that attempt has to be recognized, too.

Rest in peace, Humpy.