Racing started at an early age for the Renninger men. With Wayne, his first experience was at Dorney Park, at the age of six. Wayne went to watch his uncle at Dorney Park who was the head mechanic on his cousins Wally Smith's #44 coupe. Wally was running in the Sportsman Division at the time.
From that night on Wayne was hooked on racing.
Throughout his adolescence Wayne spoke highly of racing recalling his earliest memories at Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. One memory was a rainy day in 1973 when Wayne finally got into a racecar for the very first time.
Wayne had helped out on his cousins team (Dave Miller) for a few seasons who was running the former Freddy Adams 36 Chevy Sedan (the brown 48). One night after the rain had subsided Wayne took the car out onto the track for a few laps to help dry the track. “What a rush” being strapped in and seeing the fans so close at the bull ring, Wayne said feeling like Star.
Wayne’s first night out was historic too as the throttle got jammed open, resulting in flipped the car upside down. After the team flipped the car right side up Wayne fired the car back up and tried to drive back into the lineup. The official had a different plan for Wayne as they directed him back to the pits shouting “you’re not going anywhere, you’re done for the night."
The next 5 years turned out to be the best and most memorable of Wayne’s career. Heat wins, top 10 finishes, lots of broken parts, always 2nd to the best, but unfortunately no feature wins.
Years later, Wayne decided to move into dirt track racing. This move called for the replacement of his out classed sedan that had been competitive at Dorney.
Wayne bought the former champion’s, Don Loder, car from Art Keiser. This brought out the first taste of methanol and drag tires. Wayne moved on to purchase the former 606 from Francis Hardener. From there his racing career continued with trips to Nazareth, Susquehanna, Big Diamond, Bridgeport, and Reading Small Blocks.
As Wayne moved into the Krits Pinto he reunited with Wally’s (#44) son Boop going to Penn National. Dave Kelly drove this car with the small blocks at Reading. In 1986 Wayne bought his cousins Dave’s pinto, a former Thomas bros modified built for Pocono Raceway.
From 1973 thru 1986 Wayne primarily raced on dirt. Wayne owned his own cars the whole time, racing some of the last races ever at Dorney Park.
In 1981 Wayne purchase a quarter midget for his son Erik at the age of 5 to race at the Lehigh Valley Quarter Midget club. Erik enjoyed a two year run with the club capturing a handful of feature wins. While racing both Wayne’s modified and Erik’s quarter midget new sports like baseball and football began to take Erik’s interest. Costing a lot less then racing, the sports had taken over, for now.
At a time when life priorities had shifted, racing would come to an end for Erik and Wayne.
As racing was over….Dorney, Mahoning, Evergreen, Nazareth, Flemington, Reading, all gone as Wayne had know them as time passed.
It would be 17 years before Wayne would get into a racecar again. In 1999 Wayne was entering into his 50’s and he purchased a 1997 Bicknell from Mike Kelly. This brought Wayne’s racing passion back to life; however, things had changed radically over the time spent away from racing. Starting in the back, not qualifying, crashing took a toll on his spirit.
Determined not to let go of racing Wayne said "my sons will drive my car".
Chad (Waynes youngest son) was the first to get in the car at Grandview, feeling what strapping into a dirt modified was all about. Chad was able to get around the track very well and kept it together. During one of the heat races the leaders were dicing by and managed to send Chad into the infield and closed out his first night.
Next it would be Erik’s turn to strap in. Erik turned to his younger brother Chad for
advice on getting through the first day. Chad was essential for getting Erik mentally prepared for the upcoming day. Near the end of the racing season in 2000 Erik would finally get his first experience in the dirt modified. Erik jumped at the chance to buckle up and see what racing was all about at the modified level. Erik and Wayne went to Susquehanna for their first run together as grown men.
The first day brought many lessons, starting the car, practicing getting the car into 2nd gear, getting a feel for the steering and braking.
Erik’s first green flag turned out to be one of the biggest rushes of his life, surpassing all other moments in sports (wrestling and rugby) played over the years. After, his first heat Erik had returned to the pits to report that the steering wheel may have been a little close to the dashboard, and his bloody knuckles supported this. Erik qualified for the feature.
In the feature Wayne told Erik to just take the green and we would work together later to get the car better set up for you. Erik took the green and kept saying “one more lap” “one more lap” in his head. Unfortunately, Erik only completed three laps in the feature when the engine quit, thus bringing the night to an early close.
A number of years would pass until the Renninger men got their second shot. Erik was working in NYC and Wayne was looking for ways to get the engine back together on a very low budget.
Erik and Wayne tried to get a new engine for their re-introduction in to the racing arena, and were successful near the end of the 2007 racing season.
Erik, was thrown into the fire early by racing a number of heavy competitors in the modified division at Grandview and Big Diamond. With an older (1997) car and little knowledge of the technology of racing frustration set in for the team.
Fortunately as history repeats itself Erik did get bit by the “Bug” just as his father had.
One defining moment was at an open competition night at Grandview Speedway in 2007. Erik was running in the consolation race and the leaders were approaching fast on his tail. Erik knew that one of the worst things you can do is to be a lapped car and make contact with a leader. Erik raced as close to the infield as possible when a leading car launched itself off Erik’s back wheel and into the wall.
Erik was instructed by the official to turn off his car as it was a red flag. As Erik glumly turned off his car, he was fully introduced into the sport of racing, through the official’s verbal lecture and the masses of booing fans.
On top of hearing his name being yelled out loud with comments about getting off the track and being called a “bum” (two of the cleanest comments), Erik’s sprits about continuing were defiantly in question.
This was not easy for Erik to shake off and it showed on the restart as Erik was caught by the leaders in no time. Erik pulled into the pits and asked Wayne if he had to fight that night (Erik always hearing the story’s of guys fighting in the pits). Thankfully an official came charging over to the car who was in the turn of the accident and said “hey kid, don’t beat yourself up it wasn't’t your fault, you were as close to the rail as possible”. A much needed simple gesture secured Erik’s racing career.
Wayne wasted no time and made Erik get back in the car to sit on the track as the provisional in the feature. From this day on Renninger Racing became bigger, the Renninger’s became students of the sport taking on every piece of information and experience as learning opportunities to improve, The Renninger men declared 2008 as their official Rookie year.
The Renninger Racing Team bought a 2005 Bicknell in an attempt to find the right track to run on. This brought the team to the Rookie class at Bridgeport Speedway in NJ, where they could start from the beginning to learn the fundamentals of the new technology of racing. In this time Erik moved to central Jersey where he hopes to build his future racing team with the addition of his new 4 car garage and close proximity to racetracks such as Bridgeport, New Egypt, Big Diamond and Yes Grandview…(I will be back he says)
The torch has been passed as Wayne would say and he is looking forward to wrenching Erik to an exciting successful career.
The path is long and unknown but as Randy Kane would say "Renninger knows where he's headed".
In 2009 Erik would contiune at Bridgeport speedway in the Crate 1 division, still learning Eriks best finish of the year was 6th place in a feature.
As time when on during the year Erik began to make a number of contacts within racing and started expanding his knowledge and equipment.
2010 would be a transitional year with moving to New Egypt Speedway after an ordeal the team went through with the Crate 1 engine at Bridgeport.
Starting out in the Crate 1 division at New Egypt never really got off the ground. The team did finish well in the heats and got a top 10 in a feature but the crate engine would finally give and lead to the 358 Sportsman engine to finish out the season, the engine the team had originally started with 5 years ago.
Under powered Erik was not able to qualify, but got plenty of seat time with the sportsman division and had an opportunity to upgrade equipment during the rest of the season.
In the off season Renninger Racing teamed up with Atlantic Crankshaft to build a sportsman engine and continued to upgrade equipment. In 2011 the team will be in the Sportsman division at New Egypt speedway and run additional shows at Big Diamond, Grandview, and Bridgeport.
Out of the Gates in 2012 was a big change in power, the engine was crisp and mean. The first race of the season we were passing cars and headed to the top 10 in the feature when an issue with the steering happened.
Erik ended up heading straight into the wall in turn 1 with no steering and tore up the front end on day one. We ended up going to the back up car for the second race and had to take a week off.
At this time we looked for more crew help and teamed up with Tom and Carmella Ditmars who were instrumental in getting the back up car ready and on the track. With their help we were also able to keep up with the this years schedule.
Erik had a busy schedule this year with the birth of his son Jake and could not have made the full season without the help of Tom and Carmella.
The rest of the season had a number of ups and downs, qualifying through the heats with an 11th place in the feature being the best results at New Egypt.
This being our 4th year and first year in the sportsman class was a trying time. We were good enough to qualify and good enough to get into trouble, and trouble took some toll on the equipment this year.
We did well in the consolations with a couple of 2nd place finishes, but seemed to be a magnet for spining cars and spining ourselves in the features.
Throughout the season we continually imoproved our setup, sometimes taking a few steps back to go a few forward. Every race we continue to learn something new and most of the work now needs to be focused on Eriks driving.
Near the end of the year we ran a Big Block show at Bridgeport and pulled off a 2nd in the Heat with no laps of practice on their 1/4 mile and also attened a Thunder on the HIll show at grandview with the car dialed in.
Our finishes did not fully show the progress we made over the year but confidence is high for 2012. There were many higlight moments during the year but also as many not so great moments.
In January of 2012 Grandview Speedway announced they will be running the sportsman division, opening the door for us to get back to Grandview. Look for us in 2012 at Grandview Speedway.
