Willis E. "Wink" Hartman (born February 1, 1946) is an American businessman and political candidate from the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Early life

Born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, Hartman attended

Wichita Southeast High School Wichita Southeast High School, known locally as Southeast, is a public secondary school in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is operated by Wichita USD 259 school district and serves students in grades 9 to 12. Southeast is one of many high sch ...

, class of 1964, and graduated from

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Business career

Hartman's grandfather founded Hartman Oil Co. Before Hartman inherited the company, he gained experience working for the Derby Oil Company,

Xerox Corporation Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduction of the Xerox ...

, and

Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods Inc. ( trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company and subsidiary of NutriAsia, headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the largest producers, distributor ...

. He purchased a controlling interest in Hartman Oil from his father in 1990. He opened restaurants in Wichita,

El Dorado, Kansas El Dorado ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Kansas, Butler County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas. As of the 2020 Unit ...

and

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

. Hartman founded the

Wichita Wild The Wichita Wild were a professional indoor football team based in Wichita, Kansas. They were members of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL). The team was founded in 2006 as an independent indoor football franchise. In 200 ...

, an indoor football team, in 2007. Hartman was the co-owner of the

Indycar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

team,

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, currently competing as the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development, is an auto racing team founded in January 2008 which competed in the Verizon IndyCar Series. The team is jointly owned by former driver Sarah Fisher, F ...

, along with former driver

Sarah Fisher Sarah Marie Fisher (born October 4, 1980) is an American retired professional race car driver who competed in the Indy Racing League (IRL, now IndyCar Series) and the Indianapolis 500 intermittently from 1999 to 2010. She also raced in the ...

from 2012 to 2014 when it merged with

Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing, competing as "ECR", is an American racing team based in Speedway, Indiana that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team is owned by driver Ed Carpenter (racing driver), Ed Carpenter. The team is based in Indianapol ...

to create

CFH Racing CFH Racing was an American auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series The team was founded in August 2014 via a merger between Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing, and debuted in 2015. CFH Racing was co-owned by Ed Ca ...

. Hartman and Fisher later sold their shares in the team to former race car driver

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

. Hartman mentioned alleged harassment by customers and locals, which was not confirmed by his employees. He associated the claimed acts with his candidacy as Kobach's running mate at his two Jimmy's Eggs Lawrence restaurants in which he said he had invested about $1.5 million. Hartman closed them suddenly without giving his employees any prior notice.Wichitan Wink Hartman closes two Lawrence restaurants over political backlash, he says
''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'', Denise Neil, October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019. A manager who worked at both restaurants said she never witnessed any hostile acts, but staff at both locations had not expected them to succeed financially. Hartman had also closed two Jimmy's Eggs restaurants in Wichita.

Politics

Hartman ran unsuccessfully to represent

Kansas's 4th congressional district Kansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Based in the south central part of the state, the district encompasses the city of Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, three universiti ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in the

2010 elections This is a list of elections that were held in 2010. * 2010 United Nations Security Council election * 2010 national electoral calendar * 2010 local electoral calendar Africa * 2010 Burkinabé presidential election * 2010 Burundian Senate election * ...

. In 2011, Hartman hired Michael O'Donnell, for a marketing job at which O'Donnell worked part-time, during the same year O'Donnell was running for Wichita City Council."District 2 Sedgwick County Commission Race: Michael O'Donnell Wants to Transcend Political Divide,"
October 9, 2016, ''

Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Originating in the early 1870s, shortly after the city's founding, it is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surr ...

,'' page 1B, photocopy retrieved from Issuu.com, December 28, 2020 In February 2017, Hartman declared his candidacy for

Governor of Kansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

in the 2018 election. After loaning it $1.6 million, he ended his gubernatorial campaign in February 2018, endorsing

Kansas Secretary of State The secretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kansas. The current secretary of state is the former speaker ''pro tempore'' of the Kansas House of Representatives, Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on J ...

Kris Kobach Kris William Kobach ( ; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the attorney general of Kansas since 2023. He previously served as the 31st secretary of state of Kansas from 2011 to 2019. A former chairman o ...

. The next month, Kobach selected Hartman as his Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidate. The joint ticket of Kobach and Hartman was defeated by the Democratic ticket of state Senators

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,'' Kansas H ...

and Lynn Rogers, 48.0% to 43.0%, with the Independent ticket of

Greg Orman Gregory John Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American politician, businessman, and entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, earning 42.5 percent of the vote and losing to in ...

and Republican state Senator John Doll, finishing third with 6.5%. In January 2019, Hartmann announced that he was "seriously considering entering the race" in 2020 for the open United States Senate seat to replace

Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of R ...

but ultimately did not do so.

Personal life

Hartman and his wife Libba live in Rose Hill, Kansas on a ranch outside of Wichita.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartman, Wink Kansas Republicans Living people Businesspeople from Wichita, Kansas Wichita State University alumni Wichita Wild Candidates in the 2018 United States elections 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Candidates in the 2010 United States elections Wichita Southeast High School alumni 1946 births