White heads back to NASCAR

It’s been a decade since Derek White last roared around a NASCAR racetrack, but in just a few short weeks he’s going to be back in the driver’s seat.

“I’m pretty f*ckin’ excited,” White said.

White got the news in December that charges against him had been dropped in the United States, about a year after he and Hunter Montour won a landmark case in Quebec courts that granted them a permanent stay of criminal proceedings on charges related to tobacco smuggling.

It has since been appealed and they are awaiting trial.

While there was an active warrant for his arrest in the States, White was unable to cross the border, and he was indefinitely suspended from NASCAR racing since 2016. With the charges against him dismissed, he’s now permitted to enter the country without any restrictions – and race in NASCAR races.

“It’s a big relief,” White said. “Sometimes we just like to go across the border and go to Plattsburgh and just take a ride, and I wasn’t able to do that for years. I can go wherever the hell I want. It’s back to normal, for now, anyways.”

An appeal is still moving through the courts concerning the 2023 decision in Quebec – though White’s lawyers say it could take years for that to reach its conclusion.

In the meantime, White is preparing for race day, which is on May 17 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

“I just want to get back into the series basically, get my feet wet,” White said.

White will be racing trucks for his first few races before easing back into race cars, and he said he’s feeling ready to take on the 150 laps of the mile-long speedway.

“You’ve got, like, 38 trucks out there and you’re doing almost 200 miles an hour. You could slip a piece of paper between the two vehicles,” White said. “It’s f*cking dangerous.”

White said he’s got a need for speed, and he’s motivated by just how dangerous the races can be.

“The safety is really good, but when you’re going that speed, anything can happen,” he said. “You can watch it on TV, they’re doing 10, 20 flips in the air … It’s almost like an airplane, you could take off.”

White has been unable to race in more than just NASCAR races, because many other races take place at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks, including many dirt tracks that he would’ve liked to race.

One place that was never out of bounds though was the Kahnawake Marina, where White has ice raced for as long as he can throughout the winters, despite warmer conditions ending the season earlier in recent years.

“That kept my focus on racing,” he said, adding that the feel of racing studded cars on the ice prepares racers well.

“It’s good because you’re almost turning as if you’re on an asphalt track, so that helped a lot,” he said. “That’s where I kept active in racing, so I should be okay.”

Returning to NASCAR is still a big transition, White said. It’s an adjustment to get in the truck for the first time in years.

“They’ve got all these young kids, like 20, 30 years old, and they’re all skinny, 100 pounds soaking wet,” he said. “I called my guy, and I said, ‘Listen, I’d better have a seat that’s going to fit me, I’m 220 pounds,  I’m six foot.’”

He remembered a race 10 years ago in Phoenix.

“It felt like I was sitting in a baby seat, my head was crunched up, I was stuck in there, I couldn’t drive, I wasn’t comfortable.” he said, adding that he ended up switching trucks with his racing partner.

“We tried it, and it was a lot better.”

White will be a part of the Reaume Brothers Racing team for the race, and will be racing alongside two other racers, including former child star Frankie Muniz, who is known for playing Malcolm in Malcolm in the Middle.

White plans to put stickers on the truck to acknowledge Kahnawake and his family – in particular, he wants to put one on in memory of his brother Brandon White, who passed away in 2020 after a three-year battle with colorectal cancer at age 45.

“I kind of dedicate it to him,” White said.

He wants to continue racing in his brother’s memory and encourage everyone to get screened early for cancer.

“You have to go and get checked, you don’t have to wait until you’re 50, now they’re pushing you to go at 25, 30,” he said. “The key is early detection and catching it before it gets you.”

White plans to keep the momentum going after the North Carolina race and intends to keep things trucking along two weeks later, with a race in Nashville scheduled for the end of May.

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