Lee Beard, an NHRA world championship crew chief and team manager, can now add another line to his ever-impressive resume.

Beard, a native of Pueblo, Colo., will be inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame Oct. 12. The ceremony will take place at the Vehicle Vault in Parker, Colo.

Also being inducted in the 2016 Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame are Chris “Spiffy” Leaf, Clarence Krieger, Darrell Smith, Davey Durelle, Don Hackenberg, Harold “HJ” Evans, Jerry Robertson, Odie Robertson, and Scott Backman.

Beard, a graduate of Pueblo (Colo.) Central High School, was introduced to the sport of drag racing from his former industrial arts teacher at Central, Ed Renck.

Renck won 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.
Using that tutelage as a springboard, Beard went on to carve his own path in NHRA as a crew chief and he became one of the best in the business. During his decorated career he has amassed 55 NHRA national event wins with 12 different drivers in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Beard tuned the late Gary Ormsby to a Top Fuel title in 1989.
Beard guided his 13th different driver to a win when he tuned Larry Dixon to a Top Fuel victory this past June at the City of Ipswich Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway in Australia, the final stop on the inaugural Thunder 400 tour.

In 1992, Beard won a world championship as team manager when Cruz Pedregon captured the nitro Funny Car title while driving for Larry Minor. He also was the team manager at Don Schumacher Racing when Tony Schumacher was the Top Fuel champ in 2009.

Beard retired as a crew chief on Oct. 6, 2013, following a short stint guiding Steve Torrence’s Top Fuel team. His last win as an NHRA crew chief came with Torrence at Bristol, Tenn., in 2013.

In 2014, Beard and his firm Lee Beard Racing Inc. was used as an outside consulting firm for the NHRA.

Beard did come out of retirement this year, first at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., in August assisting Cruz Pedregon in getting his troubled Snap-On Tools Funny Car back on the right track. Then, he served as a consultant for Bruce Litton on the Top Fuel dragster Litton drove at the U.S. Nationals earlier this month in Indianapolis.