Here's my basic question:

Does it actually shorten the export time of a clip off the timeline if you have gone ahead and rendered it out (on the FCP 5 timeline)

I have a ton of recently imported clips that I need to make color corrections and other adjustments to which causes, of course, the timeline to indicate I need to render. So I've been rendering. However, what I am not sure of is "is that rendering actually making the time required to export the clip any shorter?" Would I be better off simply exporting from the timeline without rendering?

Thanks!!!!!

The short answer to your question is yes, it takes less time to export if your timeline is fully rendered. I've always made sure I render before I export.