DATE: Thursday, July 3, 1997                TAG: 9707030951

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, SUN SPORTS EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

15-YEAR-OLD RACER ON THE FAST TRACK TO SUCCESSSCOTT WHITE HAS COMPETED AT THE INDY JR. DRAGSTER OPEN AT INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK

ALTHOUGH HE'S too young for a driver's license, Scott White of Suffolk insists on testing speed limits. Well, at least on the drag strip.

``If you get it out of your system on the drag strip, you're not likely to do it on the road,'' White's dad David said.

Scott White, 15, has been racing for 1 1/2 years and competed at the Indy Jr. Dragster Open at Indianapolis Raceway Park two weekends ago. He advanced to the fifth round of the 9.90 E.T. race.

``It was pretty fun,'' White said. White got into racing the same way many kids get into sports - his parents are interested in the sport.

David White, a mechanic at Gardner Automotive Center, has been racing since he was 16 and regularly took his son to the raceway on the weekends.

``I've always been going to the track and I've always loved it,'' David White said.

Two years ago, when one of White's friends got a race car, White asked his dad to build him one.

Four months and nearly $7,000 later, White received his first car as a Christmas present.

``I couldn't help him much but I helped him with everything he needed me to do,'' White said.

Finally, White became more than an onlooker during his travels to Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie or Maryland National Raceway.

He, too, had become a dragster.

``I'm all for it because it keeps him off the streets,'' David White said.

It's also kept White from participating in other sports. ``I played baseball when I was real young but I didn't like it,'' Scott said.

Since he's limited in racing his car, White spends a lot of time riding his dirt bike during the week.

However, this second hobby is not nearly as thrilling - or expensive.

David White ordered a $4,000 chassis for his son last week.

They will take the engine from the old car and put it into the new one.

Race cars ``can be as expensive as you want them to be or it could be as low as $3,000,'' David White said.

Any expenses accrued through White's hobby could be viewed as an investment.

``After I graduate, I plan to get on with a NHRA team,'' White said.

And do what he does best - put the pedal to the metal. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

Scott White, 15, who has been racing for 1 1/2 years is following in

his father's footsteps. David White, a mechanic, started racing at

16.

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