Wilder served 18 months in the United States Air Force during World War II and had raced since being discharged. His most notable results was a third place in the 1953 12 Hours of Sebring, taking a class win, when he partnered Sherwood Johnston, in a Jaguar C-Type. The season before, he was seventh in the overall SCCA National Sports Car Championship standings, after winning Climb To The Clouds, at the Mount Equinox, and the Burke Mountain Hill Climb, setting hill climbing records in the process.