Rex White - page 2

In 1961 Rex White was going for his second Grand National Championship
in a row when fellow Chevrolet driver Ned Jarrett nosed him out by 830
points, That was the closest points race of the early sixties.

Richard Petty won 200 races. He won his first by beating Rex at Charlotte
on February 28, 1960.

Rex was the only Chevrolet driver to win on a Super-speedway with the
409 V8. The 409 and 348 were designed to be a truck engines. The “W” block as it was called won
two Grand National championships one as a 348 V8 in ’60 and the other as
a 409 in ’61. the RAT 396/427 motor, which started out as a pure racing
engine never won a NASCAR Championship and became a truck engine.
Go figure.

• Rex and Louis performed the first tests for Chevrolet on the 427 Cu in
  Mystery Motor.
        By - Harold Doherty

Rex and Louis at Mesa AZ. GM proving grounds 1963. Testing the new “Mystery Motor” One month later GM was out of racing for almost 10 years FORD was given a Mystery Motor to evaluate since NASCAR had allowed it to be used when it was not going to be put in production for ’63. When FORD attempted to obtain replacement head gaskets in Detroit and none were available they raised a big fuss. Somehow the GM brass got wind of what its Chevrolet division was doing with a new engine they know almost nothing about. The s--- hit the fan. The BM brass pointed to the ’57 AMA ban and down came the hammer to end any factory backing from GM this time for 10 years