He promoted Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR while organizing stunt shows, re-creating military operations and introducing a car-crunching mechanical robot.

Wheeler will be remembered for his love of stock car racing and his acumen for promoting races — one that yielded the nickname the “P.T. Barnum of Motorsports.”

With fire-breathing robots and death-defying school-bus stunts, he brought spectacle to stock-car racing as the sport boomed in the 1970s and beyond.