By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (December 23, 2020)………Two-time USAC National Midget feature winning driver and 1988 series runner-up Terry Wente passed away Tuesday, December 22, 2020. He was 65 years old.
Wente, a Missouri native, was the son of the third all-time winningest driver in USAC National Midget history, 1963 champion Bob Wente. Terry, along with brothers Bobby Wente Jr. and Mike Wente, were frequent competitors with the series throughout the decade of the 1980s with Terry being the most frequent racer of them all, making 161 feature starts between his 1979 debut and his final start in a points race in 1991.
Terry reached victory lane with the series in just his seventh career start, winning the first USAC race of the 1980s, on January 6, 1980, at Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind. for car owner Jerry Hatton.
He reached his highwater mark in the championship race between the years of 1986 and 1988 where he annually reeled off consistent finishes in the final standings, among them an 8th in 1986, a 3rd in 1987 and a 2nd in 1988. Despite no victories in that span, Wente did record eight runner-up feature results in those three years and totaled a career-high 13 top-five finishes in both 1987 and 1988.
Despite scaling back to a partial USAC schedule in the following years, Wente tallied his second and final victory with the series in late 1989 at his home state track of Moberly Motorsports Complex in Moberly, Mo. He finished 10th in the standings in his final season of 1991, then made one more start in the non-points invitational USAC Midget race indoors at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Ind. in January 1992 before embarking on an ASA Stock Car career during the 1992-1993 seasons.
Following the conclusion of his racing career, in 1994, Wente began owning and operating Wente’s O & W Restaurant and Saloon in Chesterfield, Mo. for 26 years before retiring on August 31, 2020.