Former NHRA drag racer Ed Renck had many accomplishments while competing down the quarter-mile.

Now, Renck is making a name for himself in another branch of motorsports.

On Aug. 17, at “Bonneville Speed Week” Renck set a new record in the C Gas Roadster Class at 236.162 mph.

“It was like winning an NHRA national event because of the prestige of it,” said Renck, 74 about the record. “The C Gas Class is probably one of the most competitive classes out there, along with the B Gas Roadsters. C Gas is a really tough class to try and go fast in.”

Renck broke Dan Aleshire’s C Gas Roadster Class record of 231.2 mph. Renck established the new record with the average speed of his two runs on Aug. 17 at the Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah.

Renck, who calls Pueblo, Colo., home, had been trying to break that record since 2000 when he first started racing at the Salt Flats. He was originally campaigning a 1932 Roadster with a Plymouth body at the Salt Flats and he made 15 runs in that car, but could never eclipse the 230-mph barrier.

The car Renck set the record in is a 1929 Ford Roadster that is equipped with a Model A body. The horsepower is provided by a 358-cubic engine small block Chevy Engine. The present roadster Renck is driving was built three years ago.

“It was definitely pretty exciting to set that record,” Renck said. “It’s not easy because you have to qualify to set the record and then they go and check whatever they need to on the car and then you have to come back at 6 in the morning and they give you an hour to get your car ready and get it started. Then they parade you down so you can’t do anything abnormal to the car. Then you have to back up the run, and the hard thing about it is if you spin out or do any shenanigans or your engine quits or anything else, you have to go back and re-qualify again. That makes you have to run two runs all of the time. The deal on those (record) runs was I qualified at the 4-mile mark and you have another whole mile to pick up speed, but I spun the car out because the car was out of alignment. But, it qualified for the record, so when I came back the next day I had to qualify in the 4-mile section of the course. It didn’t matter if I went to the 5-mile mark, it wasn’t going to change anything because you have to qualify in the same section that you qualified in with your qualifying time and mine was to the 4-mile section. The car, if I go to the 5-mile section, I’m going to go well over 240 mph. I want to get the record up to 242 to 243, so it makes it a little harder for someone to break the record.”

Although Renck was in the spotlight as the driver he was quick to credit his crew of Bobby Hull, Joe Bottini, Daryl Roberts, Doug Bratton, Duane Archuleta, Jesse Serna and Chris Thompson for making his record performance possible. Renck’s primary sponsors are Safety Kleen, Schaeffer Oil Products and Dennison & Liddell Racing Engines.

Not only did Renck get the notoriety of establishing a new record, he also became a life member of Bonneville’s 200 mph club and was given the coveted members-only red hat to wear.

“You have to break a record over 200 mph to get in the club, and that’s a cool club to be in,” Renck said. “It’s definitely a pretty prestigious club. They had a big banquet (at the Wendover Nugget Hotel and Casino), and I met Craig Breedlove at the banquet and there are just a lot of people who come to that banquet, it’s a really cool deal.”

Renck said he plans on going back to the Bonneville Salt Flats Sept. 27-30 to compete during the World Finals.

Prior to trying his hand at the Salt Flats, Renck had an impressive drag racing resume, winning over 45 races all over the country from 1967-83. He won NHRA’s Division V Top Fuel Championship in 1970 and was second in Division V in the same class in 1972 and 1978.

Additionally, Renck qualified No. 1 at NHRA’s 1972 World Finals at Ontario, Calif., in Top Fuel.

By 1976, he changed classes to Pro Comp and captured the Division V Championship and was named Division V “Driver of the Year.” Renck, who was an industrial arts teacher at Pueblo (Colo.) High School from 1965-1997, also was instrumental in introducing renowned NHRA world championship crew chief Lee Beard to the sport of drag racing.