Steve Kinser Begins New Chapter With Tony Stewart Racing
Saturday, 30 January 2010 - WoO PR

Concord, NC — A new chapter will be written in Steve Kinser’s legendary career, beginning at the 39th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals by University of Northwestern Ohio at Volusia Speedway Park, February 5-7, as he will turn his first laps driving for Tony Stewart Racing on the World of Outlaws tour. The 20-time series champion and the winningest driver in series history will pilot the No. 11 Bass Pro Shops Maxim for the two-time NASCAR champion.

Kinser, who formed his own team in 1995, won six titles and over 200 races in his own equipment. It will be the first time in over 15 years that he has driven for someone else on the World of Outlaws tour.

“I am running for Tony Stewart, but I’ll still a lot of control over it,” shared Kinser. “It does take a little bit of the financial burden away from what I was doing before. It’s going to be nice to run for Tony Stewart Racing and to get a paycheck. Now all I have to do is get out and win some races to make sure that I get a little bigger paycheck.”

Kinser is looking forward to opening the season in the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. He finished fifth in the finale at the half-mile last season after recording sixth-place runs in each of the first two nights of action for the World of Outlaws. He also competed in three events with the All Star Circuit of Champions at Volusia finishing fifth in two of those races and ninth in the other. He has finished in the Top-10 in seven consecutive races during the DIRTcar Nationals dating back to 2008.

“It will be nice to get out of this cold weather and hopefully it will be warm in Florida,” quipped the Hall of Famer when asked about the season opener. “I’m ready to get back racing and am looking forward to getting back in the car and getting back after it.”

Kinser is the only driver currently competing full-time with the World of Outlaws that raced in the series inaugural event at Volusia Speedway Park in the 1981 edition of the DIRTcar Nationals. He finished second in that race. When the series returned to the half-mile 25 years later, he finished second again in the 2005 season opener, before claiming his first World of Outlaws win at the track the following night to add Volusia to the amazing list of tracks that he has won at in his World of Outlaws career.

“You have to go down there and bring a good piece of equipment and have everything running well,” he explained. “Everyone that is down there will have fresh cars, fresh motors and fresh everything, not that everyone doesn’t have good equipment generally through the whole season now. You’ll see a lot of cars from all over the Unites States there and a good car count. It’s a tough place to go to. Sometimes you’ll go down there and do good and get started off well and other times you’ll struggle a little bit. Hopefully we’ll be able to have three good nights in a row and everything looks good.”

In his career with the World of Outlaws at Volusia, Kinser has seven Top-10 finishes with five of those being Top-Fives. He was one of only three drivers of the 40-plus that competed in the 2009 DIRTcar Nationals to finish in the Top-10 in all three World of Outlaws events. He made his debut at the half-mile in 1977 and has four overall wins at the track with two of those being World of Outlaws triumphs.

“It does and it doesn’t,” he said, when asked if the DIRTcar Nationals set a tone for the year. “You never want to get behind, but there has been a lot of times when I have took off pretty slow out of Florida over the years and got behind and then picked it back up. You never like being in that situation.”

After turning in an Ironman-type performance last year driving most of the season with a bulging disc, Kinser had surgery immediately following the World Finals to correct that. The renowned Dr. Terry Trammell performed the operation. With a couple of months to fully heal, Kinser is ready to climb back into the cockpit and open the 2010 campaign.

“Everything is good to go,” he said recently. “I feel better than I have in two or three years. That neck surgery helped a lot.”

While he’ll be driving for Tony Stewart Racing in 2010, Kinser will continue to wear the owner’s hat as his son Kraig will climb behind the wheel of the family owned machine that will carry the No. 11K on it. Kraig claimed the 2004 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award driving for Steve, as well as winning the 2005 Knoxville Nationals. He finished fifth and seventh in World of Outlaws points in those seasons’ driving for his father. Steve’s daughter Stevie will be heavily involved in the team as well, serving as one of the crew members on the road.

“We made a little bit of a swap on race cars,” stated Kinser. “It’s something that Tony Stewart Racing and Steve Kinser Racing decided on. Kraig will drive my car and I’ll drive the car that he drove for Tony (Stewart) last year. We’re trying to make it a win-win situation for Kraig, for myself and for Tony. I think we have a pretty good combination going.”

Kinser, the winningest driver in World of Outlaws history, will be teamed with four-time and defending series champion Donny Schatz at Tony Stewart Racing. The pair has combined to win the last eight World of Outlaws championships and nine of the last ten. During the last decade, they have combined to win 213 A-Feature events with the series.

“I’ve always enjoyed racing with Donny,” said Kinser. “He has always raced me as clean as anyone has out there. Probably if anyone has leaned harder, it was probably me on my side. Donny is a good racer and he will be one those drivers that you have to contend with all year to win races and the championship. He’s one of the cars that has proved over the last three or four years that he is a car to beat.”

The native of Bloomington, Indiana finished fourth in points in 2009 on the strength of 49 Top-10 finishes, with 32 of those being Top-Fives. He won twice including the Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park to become the first driver to win the event that honors Doty and is also promoted by the Hall of Famer. The fourth-place finish marked the 26th time in Kinser’s illustrious career that he has finished fourth or better in points with the World of Outlaws.

“I still the love the sport and still enjoy racing,” said the native of Bloomington, Ind. “I still enjoy the competition. I’ve been doing this so long and I don’t know what will happen in a few years, when I decide to get out of the driving part of it. I hope to be involved in racing somewhat. Right now our thoughts are on this Bass Pro Shops car and winning some races and try to win the championship with it.”

Another stout field of cars is currently being assembled for the 2010 World of Outlaws season and that competition keeps Kinser motivated as he looks to contend for his record 21st series title and add to his staggering 552 career A-Feature wins with the World of Outlaws.

“You have to have a strong car every night when you come through the gate,” he noted. “You have to have a car that is capable of winning races every night and a team. I have to do it myself as well as a driver and do my job and get after it. It’s a combination of everything. It’s not going to be easy. I’ve tried to win the championship for the last couple of years and haven’t done it. We’ll just keep plugging away.”