He is 13 years old, is from Orangeville, during the off season he enjoys snowboarding and playing hockey and has been racing since he was 9! That’s right I’m talking about the driver of the 88 combined 4 car, Ryder White. Leading up to this season Ryder had been very dominant with driving his Jr Late Model car at tracks all over Ontario, these tracks include Sunset, Full Throttle, Grand Bend, Flamboro and of course Sauble Speedway. However, for this season Ryder has moved up in classes to race with the combined 4’s at Sauble
Speedway! This past Saturday, June 17 was opening night at Sauble Speedway and was the first time that Ryder took his ministock out on the track with other drivers at Sauble Speedway and he kicked off his first season in the combined 4 class by winning his first heat. Ryder has loved racing for as long as he can remember and his first experience watching a race was at Sauble Speedway.
Ryder has been to victory lane many times, but he explained that his greatest accomplishment so far in his racing career was winning the Jr Late Model championship at Sauble Speedway last year as that was a huge goal of his since he started racing! Ryder is quite young and is used to driving on the track in a much smaller car with kids around his age or younger, so I asked him “What is it like racing against adults? And how do you like driving a bigger car?” he responded with “Honestly, I like it more than the Jr Late model because it is easier to driver, its faster and its more competitive. I’m not really worried about racing against adults because once you’re in the car age is just a number.” And he proved that by already taking his car to victory lane at Sauble Speedway. Ryder brought his number 88 from his Jr late model up with him to his combined 4 car so Iasked him if there is a special meaning behind the number he has chosen and he explained that he chose the
number 88 because he has always liked Dale Earnhardt Jr and it’s been his favorite number ever since he can remember.
I asked Ryder what his goals are for the 2023 season in his new car? He stated that his main goal is to get better at driving his mini stock at all tracks he attends and to bring home a feature win. He then explained that once school is done, they spend most of their summer at a trailer they have at Woodland Park, and he will be at Sauble Speedway every night that the combined 4’s are scheduled. Ryder mentioned that he helps work on the car sometimes, but his dad, grandpa and sister do a lot of the work on the car to make sure it is ready for the upcoming race weekend. Ryder has a large list of sponsors and supporters which include Luscious Bakery, Jack n Jill’s, Putterama, Beach Burger, Dairy Queen Sauble Beach, GT Cycle, Amicis from Shallow Lake, SMC restoration, Georgetown Buick Chevy GMC, NP Roofing, Epic Racewear, Erskines Automotive, Green Tree Automotive, Canadian Tire Orangeville, Bridge North Deli, SRP Race Products who helped build the car and he also mentioned that his Grandma and Papa help as well.
If Ryder could give one piece of advice to someone just started racing it would be to “have patience, hold your line until you are comfortable and then speed up but, most importantly, have fun as that’s what racing is all about.” Ryder has met lots of friends and expressed that there is a ton of help there if you just ask, the racing community is like one big family. Ryder would like that fans of Sauble to know that he appreciates their continued support and can’t wait to see them all out at the race track this summer!
