Charles “The Wolfman” Lynn, the great character who yelled ‘PAPER!’ at the top of his lungs thousands of times inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has died at the age of 71.
Known to generations of IndyCar teams and IMS administrations as “Chucky,” Lynn became one of the track’s most endearing characters during his decades of selling newspapers each morning inside Gasoline Alley, in the media center, throughout the common areas in the infield, and anywhere else he could travel on the custom three-wheel cycles built for him by renowned chief mechanics over the years.
Each May, Lynn must have been the most successful newspaper salesman in the state of Indiana. He’d load the box at the back of his trike with copies of the Indianapolis Star in the morning and navigate around the expansive grounds where his legion of friends vastly overpaid — $5, $10, and $20 bills handed over for a single $1 paper — with a smile to help line Lynn’s pockets with cash.
Born in Johnson County, Indiana, in 1952, Lynn’s life was a challenge from the moment he was born as a deprivation of oxygen to his brain led to the manifestation of cerebral palsy that affected every aspect of his life. Undeterred, Lynn fought through speech, cognitive, and physical limitations with an indomitable will.
But that didn’t always translate into a joyful experience.
“During nearly 60 years of living with cerebral palsy, I have had to struggle with many varied life experiences,” he wrote in his self-titled autobiography, “Chuck ‘The Wolfman’ Lynn” from 2012. “Some of these have been communication, getting from one place to another, difficulty in feeding myself, being mistreated, periods of depression, needing to be accepted, and learning to live with low self-esteem.”
Using kindness and playfulness as a means to make acquaintances, Lynn was readily welcomed in the garages and embraced by IndyCar’s biggest names as everyone from A.J. Foyt to Tony Stewart to Tony George treated him like a member of their families. That also included regular ribbing and pranks at Lynn’s expense, and it was given back to legends and mechanics alike, which only strengthened his bonds in the IndyCar community.
Lynn’s first visit to the Indy 500 was in 1972, and by 1973, he and his younger brothers were exercising their entrepreneurial gifts at the Speedway.
“We had to pay 5 cents a copy for the papers and sold them for 20 cents a copy,” he wrote. “The Star made us buy 50 papers at a time. The first time I helped sell papers, I walked up and down the aisles by Gasoline Alley. I also sold papers in the No. 1 turn. On weekends, we went all over the track and there were lots of people there.”
Away from IMS, Lynn was devoted to his faith and an active church life that included volunteerism and fundraising to aid families in need of food.
As testament to his importance within the world of IndyCar racing, Lynn was a fixture on the Speedway’s yard of bricks the Monday mornings after the Indy 500.
With the winning teams posing for celebratory photos, “Chucky” became part of the annual shot list of dignitaries to sit with the driver and car starting in the early 1990s. The tradition continued into the 2020s, with his most recent taken with Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves (pictured, top), the fourth win for the Brazilian and the fourth victory photo with him for Lynn.
“He grew up on the south side of town, and when you think about what makes the Speedway special, a lot of it are those characters and the people that are so unique, and that was Chucky,” IMS president Doug Boles told RACER. “He found a niche, and he loved the sport, and he loved the people in it, and the people in it loved him. That was the great part. They came together as a community to get him a new bike or do whatever to take care of him.
“The number of people that would, on a daily basis, buy a $10 newspaper from Chucky was pretty impressive. And he loved being here. I would get calls from him and he’d need 10 tickets for his friends and we’d help because he was just always looking for a way to bring people to Speedway. He was definitely part of the IMS and IndyCar family, that’s for sure. Chuck someone that we’ll definitely miss. I’m going to go home tonight and get his book out and read through it again.”