What's in a number: Schererville’s Mike White changes to 2X in pursuit of title at Grundy Speedway

Mike White has all the moves when he’s chasing around Grundy County Speedway.

He came up short Friday, though, on one answer.

His late model, owned by Ray Wroblewski, had the same familiar black paint scheme. But the number was changed from 14 to 2X.

Of course, it begged the question.

“I don’t know why — they surprised me with it,” White said with a smile. “It’s something that Ray wanted. It has some meaning to him. I showed up at the garage and saw it on there, and now we’re out here racing.”

White set fast-qualifying time and ran second behind Eddie Hoffman in the 30-lap feature.

White, a Schererville resident, is starting his 34th season of late model racing. A three-time Grundy champion, he’s one of three drivers to win late model titles at Grundy, Illiana Speedway and Raceway Park.

That exclusive club includes Ray Young and Dave Weltmeyer.

White, 54, plans to race at Grundy on a regular basis in 2019.

“I’m feeling good,” White said. “We’re out early compared to the last couple of seasons. We rolled out of last year looking pretty good, so we didn’t have much work to do over the winter.

“We are pretty much as we were last season, except for the new tires. I would have liked to have a day to run on them just to tune in. But our first run seemed pretty normal.”

Late models and Mid-American cars are running on Hoosier D800 tires.

As for White’s number change …

“It’s just something different,” Wroblewski said. “I used to read Stock Car Racing back in the 1960s and they covered all of the East Coast modifieds.

“There was this one guy, Eddie Flemke, that was his number. You just had guys you followed back then.”

Chasing dad: Eddie Hoffman is off to a great start in defense of his late model title. Friday’s victory made him 3-for-3.

The Wheaton resident won his fifth career Grundy championship in 2018. His father, Ed, was a six-time titlist. The elder Hoffman died in 2014.

Eddie Hoffman plans to go for the tie in 2019.

“Numbers are good, and you’ve got to have a goal,” Hoffman said. “Maybe before we hang it up we could at least tie him.”

For the bulk of Eddie Hoffman’s career, his father resided in California. He rarely saw his son race.

“He snuck into a race my first or second enduro,” Eddie Hoffman said. “I didn’t even know he was there. He told someone else how proud he was of me. There is nothing better than hearing that from a father.”

Time is now: Mid-American early points leader Aaron Shelton has had no takers in three feature races.

“I’m surprised, but I’m not,” Shelton said. “These guys are heavy hitters and I have respect for every one of them. Patience has helped us do what we have so far. I hope our luck keeps rolling.”

Shelton, a Seneca resident, prevailed in the $1,000-to-win Joliet U Pull It special on May 31.

The fast start is a carryover from a strong finish in 2018.

“Last year, we tried something a little different with the setup,” Shelton said. “Me and Jeff Olson and Marqus Hoover, we all worked hard together to come up with a new game plan.

“The intention was to see how everything panned out at the end of the year, then this year open up strong and try to run for a championship.”

Zach Ortz won the 4-cylinder feature. The Mid-American and street stock features were rained out.