Roy was born and raised in Victoria and started his career in 1961 as a crew member on his Dad's, the great Jim Haslam's, modified race car. A few years later, partway through the 1965 season, Roy started driving Jalopy Class race cars. Racing in Nanaimo the very next year, the young driver was named Vancouver Island Track Racing Association's Driver of the Year. His career was launched.

In 1967 Roy was Stock Car points champion, and he won the Roy White Memorial, the Billy Foster 100 and the Corby Cup. A year later in 1968, Roy moved up to the Super Stock class and continued to assert himself as a champion driver by winning the July Cup. He finished 3rd in the season point championships. In 1969 he was 5th in points and he and his team also ran in the US. Roy finished 6th in Late Model points in 1970 and that same year he won the Canadian 100 Go-Kart race at Westwood.

Following 1971, where he finished 3rd in Super Stock points, Roy dropped to 11th the next year, but the team won the Best Appearing Crew award for all classes. In 1973 Roy was 2nd in Super Stock points and 3rd in the Popular Driver vote.

Success continued, and in 1974 Roy was 6th in points and won the Carling Challenge Race for Super Stocks. The next year, he won the Carling Opener in the Super Stock class, the Canada 200 and also the Carling Open Series Championship. He repeated this win in 1976.

Roy would continue his amazing win record for the next 20 years. Highlights include:

 - Edmonton International Speedway road course 8000 winner in 1976
 - I.D.C. Championship Open Super Stocks in 1978 as well as being named driver of the year
 - Limited Open SS Track Record Holder in 1979
 - Speedweeks North West Champion (Open Super Stock) in 1980
 - Two-time Boomerang 250 off-road race winner in 1981-82

In 1981 Roy was also the Pepsi Challenge Champion and Canada 200 winner. In 1982 he won the Invitational Race of Champions in Stateline Washington. In 1983 he repeated as Canada 200 winner and was the Canadian Off-Road Magazine Series Champion. In 1985 he won the July Cup and the Canada 200 for the third time. That same year he was Super Stock Points Champion, MISS Points Champion, and he held track records in both open and local Super Stock classes. In 1986 he was the Local Super Stock Points Champion and won both the Corby Cup and the season Championship Race. In 1987 Roy was the Pro Stock Champion and repeated for another astonishing three years. In 1991 he was the winner of the Yakima Speedway Fall Classic.

1993 was a successful season as well, and Roy won three Can/Am Main Events, more than any other racer. He did it again in 1994 with three Main Event wins and two Old Time Racers Association Main Event wins.

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He was born Fred Robert Severson in 1928, but his childhood buddies called him Whitey because of his ash blond hair. His talents for the game were recognized at an early age. On July 14, 1944, Whitey was playing for a juvenile team when he was approached by coach Jack Wood, who asked him to play for the Salmonbellies. Whitey was just 15, one month short of his sixteenth birthday.

"I couldn't get on the floor fast enough," Whitey later recalled. "It was the biggest thrill of my life. We beat the Burrards 22 - 11 and I got one of the goals. I'm sure Walt Lee, the Burrards goal tender just stepped aside and let me score."

Whitey's career was launched and the next year he and his good pal Archie Browning joined the New Westminster Adanacs. The mid-1940s was box Lacrosse without helmets, so it wasn't long before Whitey and equally blond Archie Browning became known as the Gold Dust Twins and the darlings of Royal City fans, particularly when they Ied the Adanacs to the 1947 Mann Cup title.

In 1951 both Archie and Whitey joined the then new Victoria Shamrocks franchise, and that's where he remained until his retirement from the sport. Of his career 1202 points in senior lacrosse, 869 were accumulated while wearing the Shamrock colours. Undoubtedly, his statistics would have been much higher if he had played in today's game, as the rules governing the awarding of assists became less stringent after 1968 when the Inter-City Lacrosse League became the Western Lacrosse Association.

Whitey's accomplishments in his athletic and civic careers are truly impressive.

As a Scoring champion he led the ICLL scoring three times. In 1949 he was co-leader with Jim Anderson and Harry Buchanan, in 1952 he was co-leader with Archie Browning, and in 1953 he was the solo scoring champion. When Whitey retired, he had established a personal record of 1110 points in Western Lacrosse. As a playmaker he led the ICLL in the assist column in 1952, 1953 and 1950.

Some of his records were pioneering as he was the first player in Western senior Lacrosse to play in more than 100 games, the first to reach 500 assists and the first to garner 1000 points. Those impressive statistics were rewarded with success and he participated in six Mann Cup series, winning gold with the Shamrocks in 1955 and 1957. The latter win was particularly sweet as he was player-coach.

As a coach Whitey offered his knowledge of lacrosse wherever it was wanted. He willingly helped at every level from kids through junior and into senior. Further, following his playing career, Whitey took up the whistle and refereed 189 senior games.

His lacrosse accomplishments are legendary and after 80 years of organized box lacrosse in all of Canada, only 10 players have played more than Whitey's 540 games. Also, his career 557 assist total is thirty-first highest while his 1202 point total stands thirty-second.

Whitey has also given back to his community in so many ways. He served as a Saanich alderman from 1972 to 1979 and he was Deputy Chief Severson when he retired from the Victoria Fire Department in 1985.

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