Humpy Wheeler, a pioneering motorsports promoter and former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, has died at 86. NASCAR announced his passing on Wednesday, stating he died of natural causes surrounded by family.

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.