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".