In 1989, Wolfgang enjoyed another dream season in the No. 8d car owned by Memphis native Danny Peace and wrenched by Gary “Deuce” Turrill and Robert Hubbard. Together they captured 43 victories and more than $500,000 in winnings, including Wolfgang’s fifth Knoxville Nationals triumph.
Wolfgang’s stellar career essentially ended with a devastating crash and fire at Kansas City’s Lakeside Speedway in April 1992. Although he later managed to race and win, the Wolfgang magic of the previous years had vanished. Another serious injury in 1997 brought his remarkable career to a conclusion.
That was nearly 20 years ago, but the Wolfgang mystique is as strong as ever, especially at Knoxville. People there still buzz with excitement as they recall his exploits, particularly at the Nationals. On two occasions he raced from deep in a preliminary feature to make his way into the final event, passing literally dozens of cars in the process.
When Wolfgang arrived as a Knoxville regular in the mid-1970s, the track was in the midst of a generational transition. More than one local observer has noted that Wolfgang played a key role in attracting a new generation of fans to the great oval, and credits with him playing a role in the track’s tremendous growth and rise to international prominence in the 1980s.
Wolfgang, in his typical self-deprecating style, will have none of it. He says he was simply a lucky kid from South Dakota who, as he puts it, was “all right” at driving a race car.
“I have boxes of pictures and stuff from those days, but I don’t think much about it,” he said. “I think what I did as a race car driver, I’m proud of it and I think I was OK, but I’m a little uneasy when people say something to me about being a legend. That makes me a little bit uncomfortable. Proud, but uncomfortable. I’m as big a hillbilly as anybody who ever raced, nothing special and nothing more than that. I won my share and that’s about all there was to it.”
The Knoxville memories people seem to recall most vividly, he says, aren’t centered on the nights he won the race.
“People don’t mention the wins; they want to talk about the nights when I came through the preliminary races,” Wolfgang said. “I came from deep there a couple of times to run fifth in the feature and that’s what they remember most.”
Wolfgang still returns to Knoxville occasionally, but spends most of his time around his Sioux Falls home. He continues to build and repair Wolf-Weld chassis, and campaigns a 305 sprint car that his son, Robby, has driven to several local wins.
“I really enjoy going to the races to see my friends, but I don’t know … it’s kind of different when you’ve raced all your life and now you don’t,” he said. “I still like the races and I try to pay attention to what’s going on. And I like helping Robby, that’s still fun.
“It’s a sad way to put it, but most anybody who raced in a previous generation looks back at their time as the best that ever was. They don’t really like it the way it is now. I’m sure A.J. Foyt would say that about Indy car racing and Richard Petty would say it about stock car racing. Well, I say it about sprint car racing and that don’t make it true. It’s just that I’m getting older and that’s how I feel. I guess it’s a natural thing.
“But I’m proud to have been a sprint car racer. That’s a fact, I just am.”