Rex White (born August 17, 1929) is a retired American auto racer and
NASCARThe National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947-48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
champion. White was one of the drivers who competed for the original Chevrolet racing team. He began racing in 1956, grabbing fourteen top-ten finishes. After a part-time run in 1957, White won twice in 1958. His most notable year came in 1960, when he won six races, and the
NASCARThe National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947-48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) championship. When he retired in 1964, he had acquired 28 career victories. Throughout most of White's NASCAR career, he drove
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it...
brand cars, typically painted gold and white, sporting the number "4" on the side. After he retired, White was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame in 1974, and was named one of
NASCAR's 50 Greatest DriversNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers is a list of NASCAR drivers.In 1998, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, NASCAR gathered a panel to select "The 50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers of All Time." It was inspired in part by the NBA's decision to select the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History on its 50th...
in 1998.
Personal life
White was born on on August 17, 1929, and raised in
TaylorsvilleTaylorsville is a town in Alexander County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,799 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Alexander County.Taylorsville is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. White said that at the age of eight, he was working on his family's
Model TThe Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage...
. "I was unaware the car on which I labored represented hope to people around me, frustration to those trying to stop illegal
moonshine| align="right"||}Moonshine is a common term for home-distilled alcohol, especially in places where this practice is illegal.The name is often assumed to be derived from the fact that moonshine producers and smugglers would often work at night...
. I saw automobiles as transportation, not the symbol of an upcoming billion-dollar sport." White was born during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and suffered from
polioPoliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. The term derives from the Greek , meaning "grey", , referring to the "spinal cord", and the suffix -itis, which denotes inflammation...
as a young boy The polio left one leg withered, but when speaking about it White said: "Most of the lessons I have learned have stayed with me all my life. The biggest one was how to conquer fear." Rex learned how to drive by piloting a neighbor's truck in the fields where he lived when he was 6 years old, and often pretended to drive while sitting in the family Model T, imagining that he was on a race track. White's looks have at times been compared to those of comedian
George GobelGeorge Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor, best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, from 1954 to 1960 .-Radio:Gobel was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Chicago's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1937...
.
Racing career
In 1954 White got his first car when one of his wife's relatives helped him scrape together the $600 he needed for an old 1937 Ford. Within a year he was making enough at the race-tracks to survive. White ran his first race in the Sportsman division at West Lanham Speedway in
MarylandMaryland is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east. It is comparable in size to the European country of Belgium. According to the U.S...
. He was forced to drop out of the race due to engine problems. By the time the season was over, White, as a
rookieRookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport and has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
, had won the Sportsman championship at the 1/5-mile high-banked oval.
NASCAR
Rex White started racing in
NASCARThe National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947-48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
in 1956, when the premier stock-car racing sport was known as the Grand National division. He started 24 races in 1956 and finished in the top 10 on 14 occasions, as well as finishing second in the final NASCAR Short Track standings, an lower division of the NASCAR Grand Nationals.
White competed in only 9 of 53 events in 1957; but finished in the top 10 in six of those events, with four of those finishes being in the top 5.
In 1958 White moved from Washington to Spartanburg in order to join forces with Louis Clements, his friend, partner, and chief mechanic. White and Clements proceeded to build their first
late-modelA "late model car" refers to a newer car, which has been recently designed or fabricated. Essentially, “late model” means “latest model.” By contrast, the terms "early model car" or "classic car" would refer to older cars. The term is broadly used in racing, and often appears in common use, as in...
Chevy, and started competing together in the NASCAR circuit. They met a year or so earlier when both were working for Chevrolet's factory racing team, an enterprise that retired from racing in June 1957, when Detroit and Chevy temporarily withdrew its financial backing to the industry. White competed a total of 22 times of the 55 races that year, winning his first NASCAR race at the season-opening event at the Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC.
At the age of 29, White ran in 23 of 44 NASCAR races, winning five times and capturing five
pole positionThe term "pole position" comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole.The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsport, a driver has pole position when he or she starts a race at the front of...
s. He finished the season with 11 top 5's and 13 top 10 finishes.
White's first and only championship came in 1960, and his first win of the season occurred in the ninth event of the season. Through the remainder of the season, White won 6 more of his 28 career victories. White finished outside the top 10 in finishing position only 5 times throughout the 40 starts of that 1960 season, winning the championship. By the end of that 1960 season, he also notched the
Most Popular Driver AwardNASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award is awarded to the fans' favorite NASCAR driver. The award has been awarded since 1956. It started out as a poll of just the drivers, but eventually included all NASCAR Cup competitors. Today it is voted for by fans across the United States...
, and the
Driver of the yearThe Driver Of the Year Award is a racing award founded in 1967 by Martini & Rossi. Today it is privately owned and the voting panel consists of the top automotive and racing journalists in the US. Mario Andretti won the first award in 1967. The 2007 winner is Jimmie Johnson...
awards. White, in his gold and white 1960 chevy, secured his championship just prior to the season-ending Atlanta 500 mile event. White's championship hopes improved dramatically in the inaugural World 600 (now the named the
Coca-Cola 600The Coca-Cola 600 , and also known as the "Coke 600" and "600" is a in length stock car race held annually at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend...
), when his chief rivals,
Richard PettyFor the president & C.E.O. of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, see Richard PeddieRichard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
,
Junior JohnsonRobert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , known as Junior Johnson, was a moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s he became a NASCAR racing team owner; he sponsored...
,
Lee PettyLee Arnold Petty was an American stock car driver in the 1950s and 60s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR, and one of its first superstars.-Career:...
, and three other drivers were disqualified for not making a proper entrance to pit road at the
Charlotte (N.C.) Motor SpeedwayLowe's Motor Speedway is a speedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. It features a long quad-oval track that seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield...
. White eventually finished the 600 mile event in sixth place. White's check for winning the 1960 NASCAR championship totaled $13,000.
In 1961 White won seven races, and finished second in points. He competed in a total of 47 of 55 events that year, and notched a total of 29 top 5's, and a career best 39 top 10 finishes.
White competed in 37 events throughout the 1962 season, winning a career-best 8 times, and finished the season fifth in points. When reflecting back on his racing career, White considered his victory at the 1962 Atlanta speedway one of his best: "My best finish was over
Marvin PanchMarvin Panch is a former NASCAR driver.-Early career:He started his racing career as a car owner in Oakland, California. One week his driver didn't show up, and he raced the car to a third place finish...
in the 4 car right here in Atlanta in the 1962 Dixie 400. The last fuel stop was out of sequence and my crew chief put on the pit board that he questioned my gas. ... So I knew we weren't going to make it to the end without fueling. I hung on to Marvin and just drafted. He ran out of gas with two laps to go, and I went all the way to the bank."
In 1963 White was unable to win a race for the first time since the 1957 season, but still managed to finish ninth in points, and notch 14 more top 10 finishes. From 1959 through the 1963 season, White won more races (28) than any other driver; including legends
LeeLee Arnold Petty was an American stock car driver in the 1950s and 60s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR, and one of its first superstars.-Career:...
and Richard Petty,
Ned JarrettNed Jarrett is a retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR champion.Jarrett was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". Yet he was an intense competitor when he put his two hands on the steering wheel of a NASCAR Grand National stock car...
,
Fireball RobertsEdward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, Jr. was one of the pioneering race car drivers of NASCAR.-Background:Roberts was born in Tavares, Florida, and raised in Apopka, Florida where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball...
, Junior Johnson,
Curtis TurnerCurtis Turner was an early NASCAR driver. In addition to his success in racing, he made a fortune, lost it, and remade it buying and selling timberlands. Throughout his life he developed a reputation for drinking and partying...
,
Joe WeatherlyJoe Weatherly was a two-time NASCAR championship driver. Weatherly was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009.-Personality:...
and
Buck BakerElzie Wylie Baker Sr. better known as Buck Baker was an American racecar driver.-Racing career:...
.
White was known for running up front even if he didn't finish. He was also recognized as one of the first drivers to focus on the goal of the Grand National title. Despite racing without substantial backing, he captured 36
polesThe term "pole position" comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole.The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsport, a driver has pole position when he or she starts a race at the front of...
and had total of 28 career victories in 233 starts. White finished in the top-10 in the point standings six of the nine years he competed in NASCAR's.
NASCAR career statistics
| Year |
Races/of |
Wins |
Poles |
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
Laps Led |
Start |
Finish |
Winnings |
Season Rank |
| 1956 |
24 / 56 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
14 |
0 |
14.3 |
12.0 |
$5,333 |
11 |
| 1957 |
9 / 53 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
193 |
18.1 |
10.8 |
$3,870 |
21 |
| 1958 |
22 / 51 |
2 |
7 |
13 |
17 |
471 |
5.1 |
8.1 |
$12,232 |
7 |
| 1959 |
23 / 44 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
13 |
827 |
7.4 |
10.2 |
$12,360 |
10 |
| 1960 |
40 / 44 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
35 |
541 |
6.4 |
5.3 |
$57,525 |
1 |
| 1961 |
47 / 52 |
7 |
7 |
29 |
38 |
1224 |
7.6 |
7.0 |
$56,395 |
2 |
| 1962 |
37 / 53 |
8 |
9 |
18 |
23 |
1129 |
6.7 |
9.9 |
$36,245 |
5 |
| 1963 |
25 / 55 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
14 |
171 |
7.7 |
12.2 |
$27.241 |
9 |
| 1964 |
6 / 62 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
27 |
11.2 |
13.7 |
$12,310 |
28 |
|
| Totals |
233 |
28 |
36 |
110 |
163 |
4583 |
8.1 |
9.0 |
$223,511 |
|
Data as of March 2008
Legacy
Standing only five feet, four inches (1.6m) and weighing 135 pounds, Rex White was the smallest man to ever capture the NASCAR championship. After 10 years and over 36,000 miles of racing in 233 races, White accumulated 28 wins, 110 top-5 finishes, and 163 top 10 finishes. White is considered by NASCAR as one of its
top 50 driversNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers is a list of NASCAR drivers.In 1998, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, NASCAR gathered a panel to select "The 50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers of All Time." It was inspired in part by the NBA's decision to select the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History on its 50th...
, a winner of the Living Legends of Auto Racing Pioneers awards, and the
Smokey YunickHenry "Smokey" Yunick was a mechanic and car designer associated with motorsports in the United States....
Pioneer award. White is also a member of the
National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame at
DarlingtonDarlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition"...
, and the
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
Automobile Racing Hall of Fame.
White's 163 top 10 finishes in 233 races, which calculates to about 70%, is unlikely to be topped due to the parity and longevity of today's drivers. Only
Tim FlockJulius Timothy Flock was one of NASCAR's early pioneers, and a two time series champion. He was a brother to NASCAR's second female driver Ethel Mobley and NASCAR pioneers Bob Flock and Fonty Flock.- NASCAR career :...
comes close to such record numbers.
White authored his autobiography titled
Gold Thunder, and teamed with editor Ann Jones for a second book covering 58 memoirs of past and present NASCAR legends titled
All Around The Track.
Sources
External links