The Wente’s Legacy

We survived the flood of 1993! 

Rebuilding the Valley

By Frank Johnson, Patch Staff

“On the evening of July 30, 1993, shortly before the levee guarding Chesterfield Valley – then known by the more rustically charming name of Gumbo Flats – from the Missouri River failed and the flood waters rushed in…

…The business owners and residents of the Valley were at the time in the middle of the hellish job of cleaning up the thick layer of black slime left behind by the flood. If they had been forced to start over, Herring estimates many of them would have just called it quits for good.

…Although many people lost everything in the devastation, many more returned and rebuilt, and the one-time expanse of farmland known as Gumbo Flats became the retail hub that is the Valley. “

And so it began… Wentes O & W was opened by Terry & Carol Wente. Named for Terry’s dad, Bob Wente.

Mr. Wente's Race History 

Mr. Wente was a legend in the United States Auto Club as Midget Car National Champion 1963, after finishing second in the standings for three consecutive seasons. He ranked second to Mel Kenyon in career USAC Midget Auto Racing Association. He progressed up to the U.S. Auto Club ranks and raced in all three championship classes - Midgets, Sprints, and Champ cars. He won the USAC Midwest Championship for Midgets in 1960, but lost the national title by 9.75 points to Jimmy Davies. In 1961, Mr. Wente was the USAC Indoor Midget Champion.  He also won the Night Before the 500 Midget Car race in 1969 and again in 1976.  He won the prestigious Hut Hundred in 1963. His only appearance in the Indianapolis 500 was in a car prepared by his Midget Championship-winning mechanic, Bob Higman, in 1964. Mr. Wente started 32nd and finished ninth in that Indy 500, and it remained a highlight of his driving career.