Gary Lang ‘a voice of reason’ in McHenry County moves on to his life’s next chapter

When Wendy Wegner’s 8-year-old son wanted to adopt a puppy at an event her boss, Gary Lang, was sponsoring, she thought there was no way having a dog could mesh with a hectic schedule that included 12-plus-hour days and a two-hour round-trip commute.

But after seeing the boy with the dog, Lang intervened: It’s OK to bring it to the office each day. Four years later, it is a trained emotional support dog, visiting people in hospice care. The dog, Jemma, also spends every day with Wegner in the office.

“The goodwill he did was always pure and straight from the heart,” said Wegner, the dealership’s marketing director.

As Gary Lang closes a nearly 40-year chapter of running a prominent car dealership in McHenry County, it’s perhaps that sort of generosity that has fostered a deep loyalty to him around the office and community.

Lang, 71, sold his McHenry auto dealership last month to Castle Automotive Group. The financial details were not disclosed, but Lang said he plans to maintain a presence in the community.

“I am very fortunate to have had the opportunities” to give back to the community, Lang said from his Florida home last week. “McHenry County and the surrounding area has been extremely supportive, and I will continue to do that.”

Over the years, the dealership sponsored community events and youth sports leagues, donated vehicles to fire departments, helped fund a McHenry dog park and splash pad and worked to create goodwill in the community.

McHenry area politicians and business leaders asked about Lang’s legacy noted that he’s had a positive effect on the community through his financial and personal support over the years. Nevertheless, his tenure included some controversies that put himself and his dealership in the media spotlight.

McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett said Lang “was one of the main reasons” he ran for mayor. Lang, Jett said, would put his support behind candidates he thought were good choices for the community.

Former state Rep. Mike Tryon, who records show received a $500 Lang campaign donation in 2003, agreed.

Lang “was the type of person that recognized the type of person that was … committed to the community and representing the community,” Tryon said, adding that Lang attended fundraisers for him, but the two did not have a close relationship.

He’s donated $10,810 to local candidates and political committees between 2001 and 2017, according to campaign finance records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. That includes $1,400 to then-state Sen. Pamela Althoff’s 2004 Illinois Senate campaign and $3,000 to Andrew Zinke’s unsuccessful 2014 run for McHenry County sheriff, records show. Lang also has donated more than $22,000 since 1990 to federal committees, primarily to the National Automobile Dealers political fundraising arm, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Lang also helped Jett fulfill one the his promises he made when running for mayor – bringing back the downtown McHenry theater. Now called The Vixen, Lang’s donation gave him naming rights to the theater’s mezzanine level, the “Gary Lang Autotorium.”

That naming rights sponsorship will now go to Castle Auto Group, Jett said.

Tryon also said the tax dollars auto dealers bring to the community. “The taxes they generate, it is an incredibly positive tax resource for a community,” Tryon said.

Those tax dollars were a positive for McHenry as well.

“Gary Lang was in integral part of the city of McHenry’s growth in late 1990s and early 2000s,” said Althoff, now a McHenry County Board member and McHenry’s former mayor.

The dealerships brought in local tax revenues and Lang was “always very philanthropic” she said.

There were some issues with the McHenry City Council and Lang when he moved the dealership from downtown McHenry to the city’s south end on Route 31, including site location, berms and aesthetics “that were worked out. It has been beneficial to the city of McHenry,” Althoff said.

When Lang expanded his brands and dealership, McHenry entered into a tax rebate deal with Gary Lang Auto Group to return a portion of the sales tax paid on cars. That rebate then helped to fund the site development at 1103 S. Route 31.

That deal will be transferred to the new owners, city officials said.

Sue Meyer, then Sue Low, was McHenry’s mayor when the deal went through.

Gary Lang Group “was always a vital business for us” because of the tax dollars it brought in, Meyer said.

Passing the tax rebate ensured Lang would keep his business in the city. “People could second guess us all they wanted, but we were not going to roll the dice and let him leave the community when there was a way for that to not happen,” she said of the deal.

Meyer also pointed to one example of Lang’s philanthropy – his donation helping to establish McHenry’s McBark Dog Park. “It was something he was personally involved in,” she said.

Two incidents may have jarred Lang’s legacy.

In late summer 1998, five of Lang’s employees – the then-general manager, a finance manager, a salesman, a mechanic and one other former employee – were accused of vandalizing cars at competitor lots or damaging their billboards.

One of the men pleaded guilty in 2002 to a felony. Prosecutors alleged that man was the ringleader on the incidents. The others took misdemeanor pleas. None of the men was given jail time, but were sentenced to probation, restitution, fines and community service.

The episode remains a “tremendous embarrassment” Lang said, adding the dealership itself was never implicated in the employees’ actions. Current managers at some of the dealerships affected in 1998 said they did not want to revisit the incidents.

In media reports at the time, a defendant’s lawyer said the vandalism stemmed from a competitor’s letter to the Illinois attorney general, claiming improper conduct at Gary Lang Chevrolet.

More recently, in spring 2021, Lang brought national attention to McHenry when he used his dealership’s electronic sign to make a political statement.

“Drug dealers, terrorists, sex offenders and new strains of [COVID-19] coming over the border but Kamala is flying to Chicago for chocolate cake ... brilliant!” the marquee message read, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Illinois that spring.

That same week, Standing Up Against Racism-Woodstock held a rally with local activists at the downtown historic Woodstock Square, protesting violence by police. Lang’s electronic message became a flash point at the march. Jett said the city also received complaints from residents about the sign.

When asked last week about the sign, Standing Up Against Racism-Woodstock members declined to comment. One of those organizers, Heidi Sommers, said in 2021 the Woodstock rally was designed to show its support for Black, indigenous and people of color in the community.

Lang denied to the media at the time that the sign was racist, adding that he was sorry community members took it that way.

The dealership “came out fine” after the controversy, he said.

“The sign incident is an example of the cancel culture … make big deal of the statement, and it draws national attention,” Lang said last week, adding he thought it was an example of “how the left side controls everything.”

Still, Lang has worked well with people he may disagree with politically in support of the county.

At least one former lawmaker on the opposite side of the political spectrum from Lang said while he sometimes disagreed with him, they were always able to put that aside for the community.

“We didn’t always agree politically, which is fine, but he was never disagreeable,” former Democratic state Rep. and McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks said. “Reasonable people can disagree reasonably. We supported the county, and we supported each other.”

“I like Gary a lot. He was always a voice of reason and someone I could ask questions of. He had his finger on the pulse of the community,” Franks said.

Some of that “pulse of the community” could be credited for his event sponsorships, officials said.

Lang Auto Group has been a sponsor for the McHenry Chamber of Commerce’s Fiesta Days, the RISE Up Music Fest, the McHenry Area Rotary Club’s Blues, Brews & BBQ, and other events. His employees, including Wegner, also often volunteered at the events, chamber President Molly Ostap said.

“As Gary Lang Auto Group, there are several events throughout McHenry that he has been a major sponsor for,” Ostap said. “He has been extremely generous.”

For the dealership’s 30th anniversary in 2013, Lang purchased back the first Corvette he ever sold in 1983, according to Northwest Herald archives. It was the 1984 model year edition of the car.

In 2019, the McHenry Moose Lodge also raffled off a Corvette, donated to the organization by Lang. Funds from that raffle went to a playground at the lodge.

Lang, and his wife, Pat Lang, “do their best to help everyone. In some way, every person in this community was touched at some point,” by the events and causes they funded, Wegner said.

“It is not just that they wanted to be the biggest auto dealer in the city. They want to see people grow and people thrive,” she said.

Lang said he is ready to retire and enjoy his time now. After living in Richmond for almost 45 years, he and his wife moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a few years ago. They go back and forth between there and their Florida property, as well as spending time in Arizona, California and elsewhere.

“This is a good time to start doing other things,” Lang said, including indulging in some of his hobbies: collecting classic cars, outboard motors, neon and old advertising signs and boating. The couple has a boat both in Florida and Wisconsin.

“I am finally old enough to play golf,” he laughed, noting that in his experience, golf just took too much time to play. “I will probably do more of that.”