NASCAR Legend’s Memoirs
Rex White, who was 1960 NASCAR Grand National Champion and Driver of the Year, has written a memoir. He is the oldest living of the drivers named by NASCAR as the Top Fifty Greatest, and a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame. ?People want to know about racing?s changes,? he says. ?They want to know how it all came about and what made it what it is today. Fans are always asking me questions about the past. I decided the best thing to do was get it all down.?
Gold Thunder : Autobiography of a NASCAR Champion, released by McFarland Publishers, describes his personal and career experiences against a backdrop of the history of NASCAR. Its title comes from the paint job on his gold and white # 4 Chevrolet.
?We wanted a nice shiny gold,? says White, ?so my mechanic, Louie Clements, made a mixture of clear enamel and gold dust. That car was magic. My 1962 Atlanta Motor Speedway win was the only super speedway victory by a driver with a 409 engine.?
In the 1950s, Chevrolet fans prayed for a savior and Rex White answered, winning more races than any other NASCAR driver from 1959-1963. Challenging a tough lineup of competitors, he raced against Lee and Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts and other well-known racing personalities. Referred to as Chevrolet?s best driver in the late fifties and early sixties, he is also known as the most consistent.
Gold Thunder tells of White?s struggle to overcome a poverty-ridden childhood and a physical disability to become a champion. In the book?s Foreword, Rick Minter, sportswriter for the Atlanta Constitution writes ?The way he performed in his era, the way he left the sport, and the way he was able to build another life outside of racing, make him forever a winner, forever a champion, forever a hero.
Some of White’s recollections are less pleasant, like a 1958 race at Nashville in which his hands became so blistered and raw that he required pain-killing injections.”The track was rough, my car wasn’t handling, and fighting the steering wheel all day tore my hands to pieces,’‘ said White, 74. ”Remember, we didn’t have power steering back then. We had to wrestle the cars around the track, and if your car was ill-handing it would flat wear you out. During that race at Nashville my hands got so bad that I injected Novocaine into them to kill the pain. But I finished the race.”
Although long retired, White still follows NASCAR. ”Everything is a lot different now,’‘ he said. ”When the big money started coming in that changed everything. It’s more of a business now.”
