ED RENCK BREAKS C GAS ROADSTER CLASS WORLD RECORD AGAIN

By Teddy Zaxon    Thu, 2020-10-15 19:00

 

Once again, Ed Renck was in world record form at the at the Bonneville (Utah) Salt Flats.

On Oct. 1, at Southern California Timing Association World Finals 2020, Renck set the record again in the C Gas Roadster Class with a speed of 258.257 mph. Renck bettered his previous world record of 255.624 mph that he established Sept. 14, 2019, at the 33rd World of Speed 2019 Long Course event at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

“It’s absolutely cool to set this record again,” said Renck, 78.

Renck, a former NHRA drag racer in Pro Comp and Top Fuel, was piloting a 1928 Ford Roadster-bodied machine. It has a 129-inch wheelbase. The engine is a 361-cubic-inch small-block Chevy SV2.

“It probably has one more record in it,” said Renck. “We will see if we can make it go any faster.”

Renck, who is from Pueblo, Colo., held the C Gas Roadster record in 2016 (236.162 mph) and 2017 (236.99 mph) and regained it back in 2019.

He made his first record run on Sept. 30 and clocked 256.689 mph, and on Oct. 1, he backed it up by clocking in at 259.826 mph. The average of the two runs was 258.257 mph, a new record.

“What was cool about the (259.826 mph pass) was I was going 240.269 mph at the 2¼-mile mark,” Renck said. “Then, I basically went 20 mph faster in 2¾ miles (at the 5-mile mark at 259.826). In both those runs, my exit speed was over 261 mph. On my last run, my exit speed was (261.477 mph).

Renck credited his crew – the same he had in 2019 – of his cousin, Carl Spencer, and brothers, Jeff Kosley and Curtis Kosley for his most recent performance.

“If it wasn’t for Carl and the Kosley brothers, I would not have been able to go out there and do this again,” Renck said. “I’m not going to race anymore this year. I’m trying to figure out if I want to build a bigger engine or a smaller engine and race in a different class.”

Renck was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2017.

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 in 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.”

 

 

 

 

 
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