Bill Wendt, who just celebrated his 85th birthday, recently accomplished a nearly decade-long goal when he set a land record at the historic Bonneville Salt Flats. CONTRIBUTED BY DAVID JOHNSTON

Age is just a number. And the need for speed never dies.

Cape Coral resident Bill Wendt, who just celebrated his 85th birthday, recently accomplished a nearly decade-long goal when he set a land record at the historic Bonneville Salt Flats.

Wendt traveled a blistering 144.4 mph in his ’47 Crosley H-Diesel pickup named “Mighty Mouse,” because its very streamline. It’s very, very small. It’s the world’s smallest diesel truck.”

The engine he used to set the record in that classification? A 1.5-liter Renault.

Wendt, the oldest driver in the field of more than 600 at the salts, crushed the previous record of 135 mph.

Wendt said he chopped the top 3 inches, and modified the engine by adding a compound turbo that pushed out 220 horsepower.

“I made it into a Mustang five-speed transmission,” Wendt said of the modifications made. “I highly modified the front rear suspension, and reinforced the frame with a big, stout roll cage in it. There’s lots of strict safety rules.”

Being a seasoned racer, Wendt has traveled well over 200 mph behind the wheel of a vehicle.

In setting this record, he made two runs with his speeds averaged together, having to had qualified to earn a second pass. If the average speed met the threshold, he would be the new record holder. With a first speed of 144.92, and a second of 144.2, he was in fact the new top speed for the H-Diesel pickup classification.

“It’s very prestigious to hold a record there,” Wendt said. “But we were pretty sure we were going to get the record, because we’ve been running good. But the last two years, we got rained out. We knew with what we had in it, it should run that fast, and it did. This is the first time we got to run it real good with that compound turbo.”

The salt flats are a dried salt lake, spanning 23 miles across at an altitude of 7,800 feet, which Wendt said is so big and flat you can see the curvature of the earth.

“When you’re driving on it, it’s like being on a good dirt road,” he said “It’s not like asphalt. It’s actual sea salt.”

Wendt has been racing for 70 years, and has always had a passion for the automotive world.

“I always liked cars,” Wendt said. “Ever since I was a little boy. When I was 5 years old, I told my mom I wanted to build race cars and wanted to drive race cars. And she helped me as best as she could towards that goal.”

Tragically, Wendt’s mother was murdered before she could ever see him race.

“She’s up there watching me race,” he said. “And she saves my life every now and then.”

Wendt grew up in Chicago before moving to Indiana to live with his grandparents. He returned to Illinois for school and opened up a welding business. Wendt eventually relocated to Texas, where he continued welding and developed a successful business there.

All the while, Wendt continued his love of going fast, participating in professional drag racing in Denton, Texas driving funny cars, which he did for 18 years.

“I had a very successful funny car called ‘Smokey Bear,’ that was painted black and white like a Texas police car,” Wendt said. “It was always the most popular car wherever I ran.”

Wendt said his first real competitive race car was a ’52 Studebaker V8, which ran in stock class, with Wendt achieving various records.

When Wendt first moved from Texas to Florida, he took about a year off before picking it back up, building and racing, along with his best friend and sponsor, David Johnston.

“I get to build the cars and drive them,” Wendt said.

The long-time Cape resident is also passionate about his hot rods, including his ’32 Ford he bought 67 years ago.

“It’s had 11 engines, two frames, five rear-ends, three front-ends, five paint jobs, and three wives,” Wendt said.

He also owns a pearl white ’37 Ford Coupe, and his most popular car, which many locals may have seen around town, is his Rat Rod.

“It’s very, very popular,” Wendt said. “I built it about 19 years ago, and I’ve driven it from here to Michigan, and Illinois, and to Texas twice.”

Wendt’s wife, Cookie, was a long-time guidance counselor at Mariner High School and a stand-out runner. Wendt said she’s raced more miles on foot than he has behind the wheel.

He races circle track with “vintage midgets” across the state, on dirt tracks and asphalt.

Wendt says he’s not done modifying, and will continue pushing the limits.

“What we’re going to do is convert that from a Bonneville configuration, to drag racing, and go to the diesel drag races, and do some match races against big Peterbilts and freight liners. It’s going to be fun.”