Steve "The King" Kinser (born June 2, 1954) is a former professional

sprint car racing Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, N ...

driver. He has won 20 championships in the

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Lat ...

(WoO) series. Kinser left the World of Outlaws in 2006 to compete with the

National Sprint Tour The National Sprint Tour was a United States sprint car racing league. It formed in 2005 as a rival to the World of Outlaws. The series folded after one season. The series was started by Brownfield Promotions, Inc. of Snohomish, Washington. The ...

series, but returned to the World of Outlaws for the 2007 season.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

named him 25th on their top drivers of all-time in 2008. He was inducted into the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycle ...

in 2017.Steve Kinser
at the

Background

Kinser was a high school

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

. He finished second in state as a junior, and was a state champion wrestler as a senior. Both of his sons also wrestled in high school. His youngest son Kurt, won the Indiana state tournament as a senior as well, capping off the

Bloomington High School South Bloomington High School South (simply referred to as BHSS or South) is a public high school in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Athletics The Panthers compete in the Conference ...

team's excellent season. Kurt wrestled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, competing at the 149 and 157-pound weight classes, and later became a professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

. After Kinser's win on Saturday May 12, 2012 at the

Williams Grove Speedway Williams Grove Speedway is a half-mile automobile dirt racing track located in Mechanicsburg , Pennsylvania, USA. The speedway opened on May 21, 1939, it has been owned by the Hughes family for over 50 years and has hosted many of the most nota ...

, Steve became the oldest driver ever to win a

main event at the age of 57, although this record would be broken in May of 2021 when Dave Blaney won the World Of Outlaws feature race at

Sharon Speedway Sharon Speedway is a 3/8-mile dirt oval race track located in Hartford Township, Ohio and named for the nearby city of Sharon, Pennsylvania. It opened in 1929, making it one of the oldest continuously running dirt ovals in the United States. The ...

at age 58.

World of Outlaws career

He became a World of Outlaws driver in 1978. In 1987, he won 46 features, including 12 in a row, and 24 of the last 26 events. He has won the

Knoxville Nationals The NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals is an annual sprint car event held at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. An Associated Press writer called winning the event "sprint car racing’s premiere title". It is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of ...

a record 12 times, the Gold Cup Race of Champions 12 times, and the Kings Royal at Eldora 7 times. He won twenty WoO championships and 690 "A" features (including full-field preliminary night wins). He was inducted in the

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum is a Hall of Fame and museum for sprint car drivers, owners, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, promoters, sanctioning officials and media members. The museum is located in Knoxville, Iowa, the h ...

in 2005. He has been described as the best sprint racer ever by both columnists and even his rivals. In August 2016, Kinser retired from Sprint Car racing. 11 Steve Kinser 2013

Other racing accomplishments

In 1981, a 26-year-old rookie, Kinser failed to qualify for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

when his month was ended by a practice crash. He returned in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

driving a

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari ( Parma), Italy he create ...

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

, where he qualified 20th and finished 14th after a late race accident in Turn 4. It was his only

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

start. During his many tours of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

racing Sprint cars, Kinser won many feature races and drew large crowds wherever he raced, but on January 4, 1986 he swapped his Sprinter for a VW-powered Midget (called a Speedcar in Australia) and won the 38th

Australian Speedcar Grand Prix The Australian Speedcar Grand Prix is an annual dirt track racing meeting held in Australia for Speedcars. The meeting has traditionally been held in Sydney, but on occasions has been held on tracks in Victoria and in 2000 the race was held at ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

's Liverpool City Raceway. Kinser began touring Australia in 1979, before returning many times during the 1980s and 1990s, generally teaming with his brother Randy in Gambler chassis Sprint cars distinctively sponsored by cigarette companies, including the black and gold of JPS, and the sky blue and white Commodore brand. In 1985/86, Steve Kinser headlined a four driver tour of Australia which included his brother Randy and cousins Mark and Kelly. The JPS sponsored Kinser's virtually cleaned-up on their 1985/86 Australian tour, winning races at the major speedways in the country against Australia's best drivers including multiple Australian Champions Garry Rush, George Tatnell and

Max Dumesny Max Dumesny (born 12 July 1959, in Nullawarre, Victoria) is an Australian professional Sprintcar driver. Dumesny was born and raised in Victoria but has resided in Nelson, New South Wales since the mid-1990s, although his Sprintcar carries t ...

. Kinser has been selected several times to compete in the

International Race of Champions International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, created by Les Richter, Roger Penske and Mike Phelps, promoted as an equivalent of an American motorsports All-Star Game. Despite its name, the IROC was primar ...

, winning a race at

Talladega Superspeedway Talladega Superspeedway, nicknamed “'Dega”, and formerly named Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) from 1969 to 1989, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

. That year he also finished a career best 6th in IROC points. In 1995 Kinser landed a NASCAR Winston Cup Series ride as

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most ...

legend Kenny Bernstein hired Kinser to drive his No. 26 Quaker State Ford, but after the first 7 races of 1995, Kinser was released and replaced by

Hut Stricklin Waymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin Jr. (born June 24, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Stricklin grew up in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after the ...

after posting no wins and no top tens with an average finish of 35.2 and a best finish of 27th at Rockingham along with 3 DNF's and 2 DNQ's.

Family

His family is also involved in racing, as his younger brother Randy Kinser and cousins Kelly Kinser and

Mark Kinser __NOTOC__ Mark Kinser (born May 5, 1964) is a retired American sprint car racing driver. He hails from Oolitic, Indiana. Cousin to Steve Kinser, Mark won the 1996 and 1999 World of Outlaws championship and was runner-up in 1991, 1998, and 200 ...

, who was also a championship winning driver on the World of Outlaws circuit. His son Kraig Kinser races for Steve Kinser Racing in the number 11k

sprint car. Kraig won the 2005

. He has two other children, Stevie and Kurt. His second cousin, once removed Sheldon Kinser competed in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed ...

series and raced in the

six times. Steve is the son of Bob Kinser. Steve's third cousin

Karl Kinser Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

(Mark Kinser's father) was Steve's car owner 1978 to 1994, and was crew chief for Steve and Randy's cars on their frequent tours to Australia in the 1980s. Karl has been the winning car owner and mechanic for 16 World of Outlaws championships and 12

wins. Karl was inducted in the

. Even though Karl is his third cousin, Steve Kinser often joked to reporters that the pair weren't really related.

Motorsports career results

World of Outlaws

* 1978: Champion – 11 wins. * 1979: Champion – 23 wins. * 1980: Champion – 28 wins. * 1981: 3rd in points – 23 wins. * 1982: 2nd in points – 13 wins. * 1983: Champion – 18 wins. * 1984: Champion – 19 wins. * 1985: Champion – 15 wins. * 1986: Champion – 18 wins. * 1987: Champion – 46 wins. * 1988: Champion – 27 wins. * 1990: Champion – 27 wins. * 1991: Champion – 36 wins. * 1992: Champion – 31 wins. * 1993: Champion – 19 wins. * 1994: Champion – 29 wins. * 1995: 9th in points – 18 wins. * 1996: 4th in points – 10 wins. * 1997: 3rd in points – 5 wins. * 1998: Champion – 6 wins. * 1999: 3rd in points – 11 wins. * 2000: Champion – 10 wins. * 2001: 3rd in points – 6 wins. * 2002: Champion – 20 wins. * 2003: Champion – 25 wins. * 2004: Champion 17 wins. * 2005: Champion – 20 wins. * 2006: 2nd in points (NST) – 5 wins. * 2007: 6th in points – 10 wins. * 2008: 3rd in points – 7 wins. * 2009: 4th in points – 2 wins. * 2010: 3rd in points – 9 wins. * 2011: 3rd in points – 9 wins. * 2012: 5th in points – 4 wins. * 2013: 8th in points – 2 wins. * 2014: 8th in points – 1 win. "Last fulltime season" * 2015: 19th in points - 0 wins.

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

American open-wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indy Racing League

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

Official website
*
Indiana State resolution honoring Kinser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinser, Steve 1954 births NASCAR drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers International Race of Champions drivers IndyCar Series drivers Living people National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Bloomington, Indiana Racing drivers from Indiana USAC Silver Crown Series drivers World of Outlaws drivers