Steve Kinser | |||||||
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Kinser in the 1980s
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Born |
Bloomington, Indiana |
June 2, 1954 ||||||
Achievements | 20 Time WoO Sprint Champion | ||||||
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
5 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 49th (1995) | ||||||
First race | 1995 Daytona 500 (Daytona) | ||||||
Last race | 1995 TranSouth Financial 400 (Darlington) | ||||||
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IndyCar Series career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 44th (1996–1997) | ||||||
First race | 1997 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis | ||||||
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Steve "The King" Kinser (born June 2, 1954, Bloomington, Indiana), is a professional sprint car racing driver. He has won 20 championships in the World of Outlaws (WoO) series, and currently drives the #11 Bass Pro Shops car. Kinser left the World of Outlaws in 2006 to compete with the National Sprint Tour series, but returned to the World of Outlaws for the 2007 season. ESPN named him the 25th on their top drivers of all-time in 2008. On January 26, 2017 Kinser was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
Kinser was a high school wrestler. He finished second in state as a junior, and won state as a senior. Both of his sons wrestled in high school, the youngest Kurt also won state as a senior, capping off the Bloomington High School South team's excellent season. Kurt wrestled at Indiana University, competing at the 149 and 157-pound weight classes, and later became a professional mixed martial artist. With his win on Saturday May 12, 2012 at the Williams Grove Speedway, Steve became the oldest driver ever to win a World of Outlaws main event at the age of 57.
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 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 577 "A" features. He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2005. He has been described as the best sprint racer ever by both columnists and even his rivals. As of August 2016, Kinser is done racing.
In 1981, a 26-year-old rookie, Kinser failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 when his month was ended by a practice crash. He returned in 1997, qualified 20th, and finished 14th as a 42-year-old rookie in a Dallara-Oldsmobile. It was his only Indy Racing League start.