Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I've recently become very interested in the early days of the WoO and while race results are sketchy from the beginning (1978) to about 1983, I enjoy being able to piece certain bits of information together that are new to me. For example, I never knew that Steve Kinser was injured (not seriously) in a crash in 1981 at Knoxville. It appears like it was the July 22, 1981 race and he missed 3 points races, which allowed Steve and Doug to finish ahead of him in points. I just thought he and Karl had an off year. Her'e's a few excerpts from a couple of articles I found. 

First the race article where the incident happened:

"The red flag was thrown for an accident involving Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Indiana and Con Edwards of Altoona. Kinser violently flipped the Gaerte-Kinser Brothers sprinter in the third turn. The Hoosier was taken for observation at the Knoxville Hospital, but had returned by the conclusion of the feature event."

Then an article including an excerpt of the aftermath:

"This year’s title-bid set back came at Knoxville when he crashed, chipping a bone and tearing ligaments and muscles in his right arm. He was in pain for days and wore his arm, packed in ice, in a sling for over a week. “We were just 20 or 30 points behind Wolfie (Doug Wolfgang) at the time,” recalled Karl. Steve missed three important WoO point races while he healed."

Do any of the old timers have any recollection of this?

Sorry for crashing your post and not answering your question, but I had to point something else out related to your topic.  There has been a lot of bashing of the WoO (especially on Facebook sprint car "fan" sites) about their low car count, lack of full-time travelers, etc.  If you really dig into the early days of the WoO through the late-80's/early-90's you will find a lot of years with FAR LESS drivers that made appearances at every single race track.  If memory serves me, there are a lot of years with single-digit full timers on the tour.  I don't know why everyone whines about the number of travelers now.  Seems to be a nice, solid number IMO.  I have heard the comment "if the Outlaws are doing so well, how come they only have 13 or 14 full-time travelers?"..................13 or 14 full time traveler is phenomenal for a nationwide, dirt racing series.  Morons.   

On your topic, it would not surprise me at all.  It seems like there were a lot of years where very few drivers collected points in every race----especially back then.  

Yea, Johnny Gibson has said this a bunch, the series as its constructed and has been for pretty much it's entire existence is made for 12-14 travellers. Anymore than that and there isn't enough money. 

dsc1600,

Honestly, Sammy had them covered in 1981 in the Nance Speed Equipment house car #1n.

Nance provided an enclosed trailer and a plethora of spare parts. Kinser was still pulling a single car with an old brown truck and open trailer. Wolfie and the Howells had an enclosed trailer as well providing room for many more parts.

Spurlock's Gambler Chassis house car came out in 1980 with Danny Smith in it. Nance probably saw this and stepped up their game the following year.

IMO - having all the spares etc. really changed the face of sprint car racing with chassis' and the manufactured parts rolling off the shelf. 

The standard old-school way of making your own stuff would soon end.

Back to the topic, missing 3 races wouldn't have made a big difference in the 1,200+ point difference for Steve, Karl, and Elrod in the Kinser Bros. #11 that year.

Jeff

This is a great representation of how bad everyone's memory is of the old days of the WoO.  They complain about 12-14 full time travelers now.  How many full time travelers in 1981?  I'm going to guess no more than 5 or 6 guys made it to every race----quite possibly only 2 or 3.  (We already know from the beginning of the thread that Steve didn't race them all)  Anyone have the actual numbers?  

Also, I really wish we had the parity today that we had back in 1981 too.  Look at that----essentially 3 guys with every win.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some old timey sprint car racing.  However, anyone that says sprint car racing is not as good as it was back then, has a terrible memory.  

True that.  Same with NASCAR.

As late as 1991 which was the last year the Big 3 competed regularly (if not full time) on the WoO tour, Steve, Sammy and Doug won 75% of the races that year. It's crazy how good they were, and how people didn't get sick of their dominance. 

Also true

Not only did they not get sick of their dominance, but they pretend it was more competitive back then!!!   They remember huge throngs of full-time travelers.  They remember a day when you inverted the races and the great drivers worked their way through competitive cars and through brute force and superior talent, ran from dead last in the field to a 3-way battle to the checkered flag.  

Here's how it really was back then on most nights. (I'm aware not all nights went like this)  Most races were runaways.  If one of these 3 started deep in the field, they ran through the other cars like they were sitting still-----becasuse as Brad Doty once stated, the rest of the field back then was like a 305 compared to the big 3.  With the exception of a few races where they exchanged slide jobs for long periods of time, most races were over after the cars spread out on the start.  

I have some sad news for all of those still stuck on the 80's and 90's------today's WoO BLOWS THE 80's and 90's AWAY!  And it's really not even close.  Sorry to break it to you.  Yes, Sammy, Steve, and Wolf were great----I'll never argue that.  The reason there isn't a big 3 today is because there is a big 12 - 14.  

I got sick of Wolfgang winning in '85, everytime the Weikert Livestock trailer pulled into a speedway you had to wonder who would finish second. Not always but most often. Got sick of both of Karl's drivers winning, but was glad to see the King win without a wing at the Big E in '90.  Never got sick of Al Hamilton's red 77 winning, I loved that car especially with KK and FFR wheeling it. I'm not 106 but am over half way there.

Very true. I'm not a big fan of the WOO but there is no doubt that today's roster is eons better top to bottom than back then, and the equipment is much more equal too.  

A

Since the post is about S. Kinser, I have an old T-Shirt, very good condition which is autographed by Steve Kinser. 

The Racecar on the shirt is all white and has Nance on the Wing. I believe it is an Arizona Tee.

Anyone have any idea what year that it might be from? I just put it away and have never worn it.

Wife picked it up at a yard sale probably 20 years ago, She said lady having the sale was cleaning house & selling all of her hubbys T's w/o him knowing it.

I was wondering where all my tshirts went??

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

     I bought a classic Steve Kinser sweatshirt on a silent auction at a fundraiser. It's white with probably the same car on it. One day I grabbed a rag from the rag bag and found my sweatshirt in there. It had one sleeve hacked off. My wife swears she doesn't know how it got out of my closet and into the rag bag. We know an old lady that does sewing, so I got another sweatshirt and had her do a sleeve replacement. She does good work. You'd hardly know it wasn't the original sleeve- except that it's blue.