Rex Allen White was born on August 17,1929 and is a retired auto racer and NASCAR champion.
28 Facts About Rex White
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Rex White began racing in 1956, grabbing fourteen top-ten finishes.
3.
Rex White was born on August 17,1929, and raised in Taylorsville, North Carolina.
4.
Rex White's looks have at times been compared to those of comedian George Gobel.
5.
Rex White ran his first race in the Sportsman division at West Lanham Speedway in Maryland.
6.
Rex White was forced to drop out of the race due to engine problems.
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Rex White started racing in NASCAR in 1956, when the premier stock-car racing sport was known as the Grand National division.
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Rex White 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, a lower division of the NASCAR Grand Nationals.
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Rex 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.
10.
In 1958 Rex White moved from Washington to Spartanburg in order to join forces with Louis Clements, his friend, partner, and chief mechanic.
11.
Rex 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.
12.
At the age of 29, Rex White ran in 23 of 44 NASCAR races, winning five times and capturing five pole positions.
13.
Rex White finished the season with 11 top 5s and 13 top 10 finishes.
14.
Rex White finished outside the top 10 in finishing position only 5 times throughout the 40 starts of that 1960 season, winning the championship.
15.
In 1961 Rex White won seven races, and finished second in points.
16.
Rex White competed in a total of 47 of 55 events that year, and notched a total of 29 top 5s, and a career best 39 top 10 finishes.
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Rex White competed in 37 events throughout the 1962 season, winning a career-best 8 times, and finished the season fifth in points.
18.
Rex White ran out of gas with two laps to go, and I went all the way to the bank.
19.
In 1963 Rex 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.
20.
From 1959 through the 1963 season, Rex White won more races than any other driver; including legends Lee and Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Buck Baker.
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Rex White was known for running up front even if he did not finish.
22.
Rex White was recognized as one of the first drivers to focus on the goal of the Grand National Series title.
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Rex White finished in the top-10 in the point standings six of the nine years he competed in NASCAR's Grand National Series.
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Rex White is considered by NASCAR as one of its top 50 drivers, a winner of the Living Legends of Auto Racing Pioneers awards, and the Smokey Yunick Pioneer award.
25.
Rex White is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame at Darlington, and the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame.
26.
Rex 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.
27.
In January 2015 Rex White was selected as an inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
28.
At the time, Rex White was NASCAR's "oldest living champion at 85 years of age".