DRIVER ZONE:
Overall Rank: 8
Overall Score: 8 points
URL: /wesbrown
Member since: 08/03/2007
Number of hits: 2573
Gender: Male
Location: Somerset, KY
Quote/Motto: Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.
Favorite Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Driver I won't be sending a Christmas card:
Kyle Busch
Favorite Track:
Bristol Motor Speedway
Favorite Racing Moment:
Dale Jr. winning the Pepsi 400 in 2001
How I discovered Rowdy, and why I Listen:
I stumbled on to it through iTunes...then it went away...now it's back. Things are good.
Why I'm a race fan:
My family are huge fans...I guess it was just in my blood.
What car/truck I drive now:
2001 Camaro
My dream car:
1969 Camaro SS - Black with white stripes
Favorite Music:
Jay-Z, Alabama, Prince, Ray Charles, etc.
Favorite Movies:
Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, JSBSB, Clerks 2, Lucky #S7evin, 300
Favorite TV Shows:
Heroes, LOST, PTI, How I met your mother, FOOTBALL
Favorite Books:
The 48 laws of power, Supersystem, The art of war
Interests:
Music and Sports
Dislikes:
People who call their desktop background their "screensaver"
Hobbies:
Music
Vices:
Hot Wings
Virtues:
Loyalty
Can't get over The Hump
The rumors are swirling through ESPN and several other sites that Humpy Wheeler is set to retire from his position with Lowe’s Motor Speedway. I guess that shouldn’t come as a total shock because he is 70 years old and has been doing this for 33 years. The thing is that for 33 years he’s been doing it better than anyone else. Take a minute and think about it. How many “promoters� come to your mind? There are some, but none that do it like Humpy.
The apparent torch bearer in the NASCAR realm is most likely Eddie Gossage. The problem with that is that his antics aren’t lovable and are anything but traditional. While Humpy is jumping on soap boxes and playing a carnival barker, Gossage is more like a salesman from a kiosk in the mall that won’t stop until you’re well out of range. While Humpy is blowing up buses and bringing out car devouring metal monsters, Gossage is putting bounties on helmet throwing and throwing up disparaging billboards.
It’s a totally different era now. Maybe Eddie has it right for today’s world of blogging and up to the minute television updates, but there was something “just right� about Humpy and the way he approached business. It was that throwback track promoter touch that made him so likeable to me, a link to the past that the younger generation of the France family has seemed to care so little about.
NASCAR has grown tremendously and for that I’m ever grateful. There are new fans, new opportunities, and entirely new ways to enjoy the sport we all love. In order to move forward we’ve had to shed some of the tradition and I’ve come to accept it. The crops of driver’s who had to work all week on their cars in order to have them ready for the weekend are thinning to near nothing. Every kid with an ounce of talent is signed to a development deal in the womb and given equipment that is worth more than some teams made in the 80’s. The times are changing and if I’m going to lose my links to the past I at least want them to exit with respect. If not for the Humpy Wheelers of the sport then I have no doubt that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this sport the way I get to on a daily basis.
Have fun in retirement Humpy, you’ve earned it.
Sporting News is reporting that Marcus Smith (Bruton's son) will take over. Hopefully he's learned from Humpy how to be a successful promoter in NASCAR. And who knows, maybe things will be even better going forward? Humpy certainly wrote the book, but perhaps Marcus will bring some new ideas to the table.
- Lauren
- 10:59:59 05-21-2008
it was confirmed this morning. i heard it on my local radio news at 6:30! it certainly woke me up!
- Julie
- 11:46:34 05-21-2008
Game Challenges
Now you can match your score against other players and see how you stack up! Simply find a friend, issue your challenge and play your best. Good luck, and we hope you make some new friends!
CHALLENGE ANYONE, ANYTIME!
