Going 200-plus miles per hour puts you into a very special club, and there’s plenty of people who would like to be members, but it’s no easy feat. It is only accomplished through the right car, hard work, and intense mental focus.

One such individual is Derek Venable, who recently joined that 200-mile-mph club in his 2013 Ford Mustang GT500 on the Texas Mile.

We spoke with Van Collier of Revan Racing, who had a hand in building the car and coaching Venable to his 217 mph run, to get the full story. “I met Derek at the Texas Mile back in October of 2012, about 20 minutes before I ran my own car (a Grabber Orange Super Snake) to the 220.8 mph mark. He was running a car that was pretty much stock, and having a good time, but talked to me about making it go faster.”

“So over the next two years, we worked together to build up the car and work on fine tuning his driving skills. We brought in L & M Engineering to build out the powerplant, and added a Kenny Bell 3.6 supercharger system. Then Revan Racing did the suspension, and the fuel system (the car runs on E85). However, one of the most important keys to this success was the tuning done to the engine by Lund Racing.”

“We also spent a considerable amount of time working on his launch technique. Derek was doing a lot of things right for normal drag racing, but there is a difference between getting a car up to speed for drag racing and driving the Texas Mile. For one thing, it’s not like a regular drag strip where you have a prepared surface for launches.”

“You have half-a-mile to get most of your speed built up and then there’s about a 35- to maybe 50-mph gain achievable before you hit the trap. And if you are not right on the money with your 4 to 5 up-shift, you will blow it. That critical shift, if not done perfectly, can cost you valuable speed increases in that last stretch before the end.”

The work done to the car, and the coaching from Collier appears to have done the trick, as can be witnessed in the video above. Venable progressively, through a number of runs, works his way steadily up to the 217 mph mark. His joyous reaction tells the whole story.