A system to control the speed of a winder consisting of a cam-operated rheostat in parallel with a manually operated winder controller, the instantaneous cam position being directly related to the position of a cage in the shaft. If the driver left the manual control in the full-speed position, the cam control and associated closed-loop control would take charge and automatically decelerate the winder to creep speed as the cage approaches the surface. Should the driver still defer the operation of the lever, the winder would stop on the operation of an overwind limit switch. By the introduction of a small switch to initiate the wind and another to terminate the wind, fully automatic operation is possible.