The Scoop
MEET LEVI WHITE – 4TH GENERATION RACER
Posted on: Monday March 11, 2024
Levi White
Levi White could very well be one of the busiest 3rd graders you’ll come across.
Levi, who wheels a kart on Friday nights at Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park during the summer months in Cecil, Wisconsin, also plays basketball during the winter months in the Howard-Suamico school district.
As if summers weren’t busy enough when racing season is underway, Levi also plays baseball and when Fall rolls around Levi plays cornerback, wide receiver and even manages to take a few snaps at quarterback on the gridiron. Throw in religion classes and with the respective practices for the sports Levi is involved in – every month of the year can seem to be hectic.
Green Bay’s Paul White in victory lane in Seymour. (danlewisphoto.net)
Levi’s the fourth generation of racers from the Green Bay-based White family. Levi’s dad is a former Seymour Speedway street stock champion Paul White. Paul’s Dad, T.J. White, raced late models and was also a street stock champion. In fact Paul and T.J. are one of only three other father-son duos to win track championships at Seymour’s oval.
The other being Jerry and Eddie Muenster of Green Bay and Terry and Nick Anvelink of Navarino. Paul’s grandfather Bob White Sr. was the patriarch of the White racing family, having battled at the Brown County Fairgrounds in De Pere in the 1960’s during the popular coupe era and many years after that.
Levi White carries the American flag at Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park in Cecil. (Little Buckaroo photo)
Ironically it was a rainout on a Friday night at Seymour a few years ago which kick started Levi’s racing career. “Truth be told I’d never even been to a kart race before,” Paul White confessed. “In 2021 when we went Seymour and Little Buckaroo both run on Friday nights. When Seymour washed out we headed over to Cecil. They have a kiddie kart rental program at Little Buckaroo and we rented a kart for Levi that night. He loved it and he has been hooked on kart racing ever since.”
Paul White, who will turn 36 when this local racing season kicks off, is a welder by trade. He now works 1st shift and has a little more flexibility in his and his son’s respective racing schedules. “Friday nights are pretty much for Levi in Cecil,” Paul White said. “I plan on running in the Unified Street Stock class most Saturday nights at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. I may hit a couple of other higher paying specials at other tracks. Levi really likes racing at GSR Kartway in Clintonville too. Problem there is I get up for work at 3:30 a.m. so it makes it tough. I may take a Thursday or two off and we may take his kart out that way.”
When White won the street stock title at Seymour they ran on Sunday nights. “That was about the only night I could race because I wasn’t working on day shift back then,” Paul White said. “The year I won the title at Seymour it was the first year they converted it from the Tri-Oval to the regular oval they have now. I ran three nights the year before on the Tri-Oval so I kept my rookie eligibility. I loved that Tri-Oval. Everybody would slow down for that hairpin and you could really pick up a lot of spots that way. I was just 16 back then.”
According to Paul White he battled some heavy hitters in the division when he captured that track title. “Harley Simon was always tough in that class and most of the Van Ooyen’s were fast too. David Hoerning and Rod Solem I also remember always being tough in that class.”
For Paul he made the jump to the IMCA stock car class after his championship street stock run. It was in the class dubbed ‘too-tough-to-tame’ where he admittedly rode the ‘struggle bus’. “It was a real string of bad luck with motors and transmissions,” White confessed. “It’s a class where 40 different guys can potentially win. And I’d probably have stuck with that division if I was running one or two nights a week more regularly. But with the schedule I’m able to run – the street stock class fits in pretty well.”
Paul took a couple of years after selling off his racing operation right before Levi was born. However, he wanted to give Levi a chance to see what his dad and the rest of the family has been involved in. “I went and bought Faron Beilke’s old street stock car and started racing again,” Paul White recalled. “ I had enough spare parts laying around. That car is actually set up where it could run in either the street stock or the stock car class.”
As if Paul White wasn’t busy enough juggling his own work schedule, his and his son’s racing schedules and sports, he also finds time to pit for Corey Lemirande in his off road racing endeavors. But as Levi gets older he’s learning to have more ‘skin in the game’ by maintaining his own karting program. “Levi is starting to washing tires and grease the bearings and clutch and doing more,” Paul admitted. “He’s getting to the age now where he can really get into it.”
Paul is accompanied by his Dad and crew member T.J. as is Levi at Little Buckaroo. His current team marketing partners include Shear Sports of Green Bay & Lemirande Motorsports. Like most teams they are always searching for more marketing partners for both Paul’s street stock and Levi’s kart. You can call Paul at 920 327 0301.