Posted by: SLIDER Sep 26 2006, 11:12 PM
Paul White, son of Texas racing legend Bill White and brother of back to back IMCA Southern SportMod National Keith White, will be racing my car at this weekends IMCA Southern SportMod Nationals!
Paul has been my favorite driver since I began going to Heart of Texas Speedway back in the late 80's! He did things in his wide body Wing Mod owned by Joe Sturdivant, that others couldnt, or wouldnt do and always seemed to be able to pull it off!
Its truly my honor and privilege to have Paul race my car, the car I always dreamed of having! Paul White driving MY race car...Imagine that!
Thanks to all, that have helped me, be able to be "Livin the Dream"
Pflugergville Machine
Qwik Chassis
TCI
RCI
Moser
Awesome Race Suits
HardBodies
QSD Graphics
Braka Drilling
Aero Racing Wheels
Town East Ford
Larson Racing
Fast Shafts
Shoenfeld Headers
Performance Bodies
Bell Helmet
Brazos Roofing
Alliance MotorSports
Harris Auto Racing
and all the East Ward Boyz
A very versatile driver who has competed in a number of different series over the past decade, White won the 2001 USAC Silver Crown Series championship and continues to be a threat on the dirt. White also has won several track and regional championships in late models.
USAC Career
· 2005 – Competed in all 10 Silver Crown races for the Seals-It team, recording a season-best 10th-place finish in the “Hoosier Hundred” at the Indiana State Fairgrounds; Finished 17th in the “Little 500” for BWB Racing, completing 357 before being sidelined with driveline problems
· 2004 – Ran 11 Silver Crown Series races in the No. 99 Seals-It machine, finishing 15th in points standings with a best finish of fifth (DuQuoin, Ill.)
· 2003 – Shrugged off a lackluster 2002 campaign with a Top-10 finish in Silver Crown points, finishing eight with six Top 10s, topped by a third (“Hoosier Hundred”) and fourth (“SUMAR Classic”)
· 2002 – Suffered through a tough season in Silver Crown competition, finishing 24th in points with eight starts and a best finish of fifth in defense of his championship
· 2001 – Scored three victories in Silver Crown Series en route to championship, beating Russ Gamester by 78 points; Won the “Copper World Classic” and on the dirt miles of Springfield and DuQuoin, Ill., and added two other podium finishes
· 2000 – Produced ninth-place finish in sophomore season of Silver Crown Series competition, starting all 14 races with third- (Sacramento, Calif.) and fourth-place (Nazareth, Pa.) finishes aiding in his final placing
· 1999 – Honored as Silver Crown Series “Rookie of the Year” after posting 16th-place points ranking, earning “Rookie of the Race” awards three times
Career in Other Divisions/Races
· 2004 – Finished 39th in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings, finishing a season-best 14th (Gateway International Raceway) in six races
· 1995 – Won NASCAR Winston Racing Sun Belt Region Late Model Series crown for second time
· 1989 – Earned NASCAR Winston Racing Sun Belt Region Late Model Series title
· Career – Began racing at age 14, competing in Supermodifieds and Super Sprints; Also won the Tex All-Star Modified championship
Posted by: SLIDER Jul 18 2006, 08:29 AM
I want to start off by thanking Johnny Kellough and Tom Bonner at Bellmead Speedway for inviting me to be driver of the week! It turned out to more than I ever expected!
My 2 best friends of 20 years Scott Tacker and Richard Pickens pulled my race car to the track! My mom, step-dad Thomas, and my not so lil anymore helper Brandon Harrison all showed up early to help get me set up for the night! We were greeted by Johnny, Tom, and 2 reporters from local TV stations KCEN and KWTX! I had no clue the news crews were coming or that the night would turn out so cool!
I backed my car behind the bleachers right by the front gate and set up a table to put my t-shirts, pics, and candy on! With it still early the reporters interviewed me before the crowd started showing up! I dont see how anyone ever gets used to being on TV!
Shortly after the interviews the crowd started to show up! It was really fun autographing the pics for people as they came in! The kids that came in were probably one of the best things of the night! Of course the kids liked the candy but they loved sitting in my car!
I remember when I was young and sat in a race car for the 1st, its something I have never forgot! From the looks of the kids faces that sat in my car, I think its something they will never forget! I hope they grow up and become racers and return the favor to another generation of kids!
Johnny asked if I wanted to carry the American flag around the track during the playing of the National Anthem and I could say yes fast enough! Truly honor and privilege!
On to the racing! I always ask to start on the back because Im still learning and not ready to start up front! I finished where I started in the back in my heat! In the A-Main, I started 19th and saw alot of action! Had at least 3 cars spin across the track in front of me! Also had a car blow its motor and go up in a big fire ball in front of me! Stayed out of trouble, stayed on the lead lap, and finished in the money, 10th!!!
Ill have some pics from Saturday night on my site www.sliderracing.com tomorrow!
Thanks to all my great sponsors that made all of this possible!
Pflugergville Engine
Qwik Chassis
TCI
RCI
Moser
Awesome Race Suits
HardBodies
QSD Graphics
Braka Drilling
Aero Racing Wheels
Town East Ford
Larson Racing
Fast Shafts
Shoenfeld Headers
Performance Bodies
Bell Helmet
Brazos Roofing
Alliance MotorSports
Harris Auto Racing
Here is the link to one of the news clips they filmed at the track Saturday!
http://www.kcentv.com/video/sports/sport_716.wmv Posted by: SLIDER Sep 26 2006, 02:02 AM
I missed hot laps putting mufflers in so my heat race was 1st ever time on the track! I have never been a track so wet and sloppy, not even to pack! I know it wasnt Bos fault after all the rain! Just trying to learn the track since Id never been on it before I took it easy! When I seen Ronny give the 2 to go signal I knew it wasnt for me and that the leaders must be close I pulled through the infield to let them by! After the pack went by I pulled back out and slipped slid my way back on the track and took the checked flag!
15 cars started the B-Main and I knew I had to get 12th or better to make the A! The track was in great shape and my car handled good! I thought I had a pretty good shot at getting in! The green dropped and off we went! I hung back a lil cuz they were racing pretty hard in from of me and I wanted to let them sort out without getting caught in anything! Few laps later they piled up in the middle of 3 and 4 just as I was setting up for turn 4! I was already off the gas and saw they werent going to move I stabbed the brakes and the car turned sideways! Worked out perfect, I was aimed right between the pile up and the infield tire! I jumped on the gas and headed through the infield! I knew the go-kart track was there so I veered back toward the right to avoid it! From what I heard Kenny Merritt in the V-18 did a Dukes of Hazzard on the go-kart track getting some good and air nose diving in the ground hard!
All the cars in the pile up were able to continue so I still had to race my way in to the A! When the green flag dropped i hung with the pack knowing I had to get around a couple of cars to transfer! The last half of the race I tried to get around the 14 of Bob Coppernoll! He seemed to have missed the set up and was REAL loose in the corners! He would go in get loose and come down the track not giving me any room to pass clean so I waited for him to make a mistake so I could get by! Finally he went in to hard in turn 4 and almost spun! It was all I needed I dove under him and got by! I could hear him realy close coming out of 4 but didnt know where he was so I held my line in the middle! Went I got to the end of the straight I could hear him anymore so I went in to turn one mid to low and got a good run coming out of 2! Going in to turn 3 as soon as I let off to go in WHAM Coppernoll slammed in the back of my car turn me a lil sideways, I steered in to it jumped back on the gas drove out of 4 to take the checkered flag! I finished 13th and they only took the top 12!
Damage report from the hit, broken bumper bolt and the bumper shoved up and in as far as it will go!
Even though I only passed on car and missed the A by one spot I had an absolute BLAST! I think its the hardest I have ever raced! I think if I could have got by Coppernoll sooner I could have got up to challenged Brandon McElroy of the transfer spot! Oh well I had fun and thats whats all about!
Being 13th I was the 1st alt but everyone showed up! I asked Bo if I could tag on the back with the A-Main field just to make a few laps and he gracious enough to allow me to!
It was cool feeling to roll out with the A-Main! It was truly and honor to be on the same track with all those guys especial, one of my heros Troy Taylor! I have been a fan of Troys for as long as I can remember and years ago I had the privilege to have my SLIDER Racing on Troys car Christine! At the time I didnt think anything could top that but just being on the track with him, was icing on the cake! I also want to say thanks to Troy of sponsoring me a set of mufflers so I could race!
The green flag dropped and I hung with the pack but since I was just out the for fun I didnt want to get to close! We made one lap before a caution brought out a wreck, that one lap just wasnt long enough so I stayed out on the track! They lined back up and we went green again! We made a couple of laps under green before another tangle happened in turn 2 so I headed off the track!
Back in the pits I wished I could have stayed on the track but I was still proud of my night! I was out there Livin the Dream!
I want to thank my best friend Richard Pickens for towing my car to the track and helping me in the pits! Richard your a good crew chief no matter what Scott says! Thanks to Megan for helping so so many t-shirts! Thanks to Richards wife Karen and my moms husband Thomas for being there and helping! Last but not least thanks to my mom! Thank you for always being there for me! We have climbed many steep hills together and with your help we have topped ever one of them! I love you mom!
Also one last thanks to Bo Rawdon and the Cowtown staff for allowing me to race at such a great place!
Posted by: SLIDER Mar 25 2006, 07:00 PM
For those that have read about the building of my car here is the story of my 1st night at the track!
I had a blast! For some reason I wasnt nervous getting in the car the 1st time to hot lap! I knew I wasnt going to do anything crazy!
Right as I got all buckled in the car to go out, I was handed a couple pieces of paper from the track owner Gene Adamcik! I didnt think much of it, I thought it was just something you get when you register at the track! After a quick glance I knew it was ALOT more than that! It was letter from Brett Root at IMCA! What it came down to was, IMCA and there insurance K&K had concern about my condition and my ability to control the car and stated I must without assistance be able to climb out within 20 second! It also said something about holding a 20 or 30 pound weight for 20 second, what ever that means!
Without thinking about it to much I backed up and went out and hot lapped! The track was SUPER sloppy wet and it was my 1st ever time out, not a good combo! I easied on the gas down the back straight and the rear end wiggled looking for bite! I let off and eased in to turn 4 and the car slide a little! Not going fast enough to do much! Coming out of 4 I stepped the gas and got up a little speed going in to 1! As the car started to turn I hit the gas and the rear end stepped out! I steered in to and stayed on the gas and the went from loose to a push so I hit the brakes and drove on out of 2! My 1st ever lap ever on a race track and I didnt hit anything, life is good! I made 3 or 4 more laps with about the same results each lap! You cant learn much on a sloppy track other than the car gets dirty!
When I came back in and got out of the car, I knew I needed to find out what was going on with the papers from IMCA and if I was going to be able to race! I got my cell phone and called Brett to see what was going on! He just said pretty much what was in the letter and asked if I could stop the car OK! I told him I can lock up all for tires on asphalt and turn the wheels lock to lock sitting still! Controlling the car was not a problem! He then asked if I could get out of the car, I told him it was tough but that I could do it! I told him I understood his concerns and had no problem with it! Brett said his concerns were my safety and the liability issues that it involves! Which again I have no problem with!
I guess the only thing that bothered me was the last minute, as Im buckled in the car bomb, that was dropped on me! Ive been building my for 6 months, there was never a doubt I was going to get out on the track! I just wish this would have come up sooner!
I WILL meet all the requirements asked of me by IMCA and K&K Insurance and I WILL race!
I went back out for more hot laps after the races and the track was great! I was able drive a little harder and get some speed! With the track having some bite I could feel the g forces this time! Still being the 1st night out with the car, I found my foot would slip off the gas peddle! So we are going to have to work on that and the brake pedal was just a little too close which caused me to ride them slightly! Im also going to tweak on my seat a little to get it just right! My best friend of 20 years Scott Tacker was also on the track in his Limited! It was great to be on the track with him even though he lapped my about every 4 or 5 laps! The 1st time he went by I gave him plenty of room up top but he passed between me and the tire on the inside coming out of turn 2! All I could do was smile! Every time I would try to stay with him my foot would slip off the gas peddle, talk about frustrating! I made about 10 to 15 laps and pulled in! When parked I just sat in the car for a while just thinking about everything that has happened since I picked up a bare chassis from Qwik Race Cars, until I killed the car in the pits! It was just an overwhelming feeling!
So many people have come together in the building of this car, I dont know how I will ever thank them enough! I going to make list of everyone that has helped and post it for all to see! Its an awesome list of some very great people and company's! I would like say a special thanks to Brody Honea and all the East Ward Boys! With out Brody and the guys my car might still be sitting under my car port help up my a steel chair!
Things in my life may have slowed me down in my 34 years on this earth but NOTHING has EVER stopped me and nothing ever will!
The saying Im putting on the back of my car says it all "Gimp'n aint easy!"