Steve Kinser
Kinser in the 1980s
Born	Dennis Steven Kinser (1954-06-02)June 2, 1954 (age 71) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
Achievements	20 Time WoO Sprint Champion
NASCARCup Series career
5 races run over 1 year
Best finish	49th (1995)
First race	1995Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last race	1995TranSouth Financial 400 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
IndyCar Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	14th (1996–1997)
First race	1997Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0

Dennis Steven Kinser (born June 2, 1954), nicknamed "the King", is a former professionalsprint car racing driver. He has won 20 championships in theWorld of Outlaws (WoO) series. Kinser left the World of Outlaws in 2006 to compete with theNational Sprint Tour series, but returned to the World of Outlaws for the 2007 season.ESPN named him 25th on their top drivers of all time in 2008.^[1] He was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2017.^[2]

Kinser was a high schoolwrestler. 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 theBloomington High School South team's excellent season. Kurt wrestled atIndiana University, competing at the 149 and 157-pound weight classes, and later became a professionalmixed martial artist.

After Kinser's win on Saturday May 12, 2012 at theWilliams Grove Speedway, Steve became the oldest driver ever to win aWorld of Outlaws main event at the age of 57, although this record would be broken in May 2021 whenDave Blaney won the World Of Outlaws feature race atSharon Speedway at age 58.^[3]

Kinser 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 theKnoxville 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 690 "A" features (including full-field preliminary night wins). He was inducted in theNational Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2005. He has been described as the best sprint racer ever by both columnists and even his rivals.^[4][5] In August 2016, Kinser retired from Sprint Car racing.^[6]

In 1981, a 26-year-old rookie, Kinser failed to qualify for theIndianapolis 500 when his month was ended by a practice crash. He returned in1997 driving aDallara-Oldsmobile, where he qualified 20th and finished 14th after a late race accident in Turn 4. It was his onlyIndy Racing League start.

During his many tours ofAustralia 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 aVW-poweredMidget (called a Speedcar in Australia) and won the 38thAustralian Speedcar Grand Prix atSydney'sLiverpool City Raceway.^[7][8] 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 ofJPS, 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 multipleAustralian Champions Garry Rush, George Tatnell andMax Dumesny.

Kinser has been selected several times to compete in theInternational Race of Champions, winning a race atTalladega Superspeedway in1994. That year he also finished a career best 6th in IROC points.

In 1995, Kinser landed a NASCAR Winston Cup Series ride asdrag racing legendKenny Bernstein hired Kinser to drive hisNo. 26Quaker StateFord,^[9] but after the first 7 races of 1995, Kinser was released and replaced byHut Stricklin after posting no wins and no top tens with an average finish of 35.2 and a best finish of 27th atRockingham along with 3 DNF's and 2 DNQ's.^[10]

Kinser's family is also involved in racing, as his younger brother Randy Kinser and cousins Kelly Kinser andMark Kinser, who was also a championship winning driver on the World of Outlaws circuit. His sonKraig Kinser races for Steve Kinser Racing in the number 11kWorld of Outlaws sprint car. Kraig won the 2005Knoxville Nationals. He has two other children, Stevie and Kurt. His second cousin, once removedSheldon Kinser competed in theCART series and raced in theIndianapolis 500 six times. Steve is the son ofBob Kinser.

Kinser's third cousinKarl Kinser (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 12Knoxville Nationals wins. Karl was inducted in theNational Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Even though Karl is his third cousin, Steve Kinser often joked to reporters that the pair weren't really related.

• 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.

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

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSteve Kinser.

• Official website
• Steve Kinser driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Biography at stevekinser.com
• Indiana State resolution honoring Kinser

• 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
• Daytona 500 drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata