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
Maryland. He was forced to drop out of the race due to engine problems. By the time the season was over, White, as a
rookie, had won the Sportsman championship at the 1/5-mile high-banked oval.
NASCAR White started racing in
NASCAR 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-ten on 14 occasions, as well as finishing second in the final NASCAR Short Track standings, a lower division of the NASCAR Grand Nationals. 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-model 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. At the age of 29, White ran in 23 of 44 NASCAR races, winning five times and capturing five
pole positions. He finished the season with 11 top-fives and 13 top-ten finishes. 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-fives, and a career best 39 top-ten finishes. White competed in 37 events throughout the 1962 season, winning a career-best eight 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 Panch 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-ten finishes. From 1959 through the 1963 season, White won more races (28) than any other driver; including legends
Lee and Richard Petty,
Ned Jarrett,
Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson,
Curtis Turner,
Joe Weatherly and
Buck Baker. White was known for running up front even if he did not finish. He was also recognized as one of the first drivers to focus on the goal of the
Grand National Series title. Despite racing without substantial backing, he captured 36
poles and had total of 28 career victories in 233 starts. White finished in the top-ten in the point standings six of the nine years he competed in NASCAR's Grand National Series.
NASCAR career statistics == Legacy ==