TULSA, Okla. — Though she’s maintained a quiet presence in recent years, Harli White is still racing.
Granted, she did get a “real job” a few years ago as an accountant and that takes up most of her time these days, but nonetheless, White does her best to strap into a race car somewhat regularly.
One of those endeavors includes an annual trip to the Chili Bowl Nationals at Oklahoma’s SageNet Center, which is pretty much the only place she races a midget.
“I’m not a non-winged driver. I’m not a midget driver. I race winged sprint cars year-round,” White said. “So transitioning from that to this is kind of hard. It’s very difficult to be good whenever you just get a couple laps in practice and then you gotta go race.”
White was 16 years old when she first climbed into a midget car, which was related to her first Chili Bowl appearance in 2012.
Over the last decade or so, she’s taken a turn at the wheel of some of the most familiar cars in the building — including Donnie Ray Crawford’s midget. But the last few years, White has piloted the No. 17h for Shriners Racing and Rick Horn.
“It’s just been a long history of racing all sorts of different cars,” White said. “We’ve had some ups and downs. I guess the best we finished is like the C main on Saturday, way back in 2014 when I was just a young girl.”
The Oklahoma native isn’t old — she’s 28 — but as far as the new generation of midget drivers goes, White considers herself to be the “old lady of the group.” But with age comes experience, and that’s where White has an advantage.
She’s traveled all across the country to race, competed in both 410 and 360 sprint cars, won championships, ventured to Australia for a few years to run winged sprints and has 10 years of Chili Bowl experience.
“It’s been a long career, but something that I love dearly,” White said. “Hopefully I can get back to racing more full time this coming season, so definitely not retiring anytime soon. I’m still racing. I’m just racing far away from Oklahoma where a lot of people don’t see.”
Her plans this season are to run sprint cars across the northwest and south of Oklahoma, in places like Montana and Texas.
“I’m all over. I’ve earned a lot of flyer miles the last couple years,” White said.
While she’s excited to get back into the swing of things in a few months, White is also focused on utilizing her knowledge to make the A main during Friday’s qualifying night at the Chili Bowl.
“The equipment’s here. I’m a veteran driver. I feel like I can get the job done,” White said. “We’re very capable of making the A main on our prelim night. You just have to play a smart game of racing per se and what out for all the chaos that usually happens.”