For much of their childhood, a mid-August visit to Iowa for the Knoxville Nationals marked the end of summer vacation for Kraig Kinser and his siblings — sister Stevie and brother Kurt.
Once the checked flag waved over sprint car racing’s premier event, the Kinser kids would head home to Bloomington, Ind., for the start of another school year, while their father, sprint car racing legend Steve Kinser, would follow the World of Outlaws to the West Coast.
This year, Kraig Kinser’s 13-year-old son, Kash, is the one whose summer racing adventure will come to an end soon after the Knoxville Nationals, as he’ll switch his focus to school while his father continues chasing checkered flags.
“The Knoxville Nationals weekend in August is always going to be special,” said the now 36-year-old Kraig Kinser. “That’s around the time my son leaves to go back to school, so now I’m feeling it from a dad’s point of view.
“But it’s different now than when I was a kid because the communications side of it has changed so much,” Kinser continued. “Years ago, you set a time and, hopefully, you would get to talk to your parents. Now with cellphones and everything it’s much easier to get in touch with people.”
Born into a racing family, Kraig Kinser knew from an early age that he wanted to be a sprint car driver, but he faced a rather unique obstacle that kept him from launching his career until he was 13.
“My family raced,” he said. “When the weekend came, everyone was out racing. It wasn’t until my grandfather (Hall of Fame sprint car racer Bob Kinser) retired that I started racing anything, because I finally had somebody to go to the race track with me and help me get the car on the track.
“He guided me all the way through mini sprints and a little bit in sprint cars. He gave me a lot of good advice,” Kinser continued about his grandfather. “He always wanted me to be patient. He preached patience. He definitely knew what he was doing. If he felt you did something wrong, he certainly wasn’t afraid to tell you.”
It was eventually decided that Kraig Kinser would join his father on the road with the World of Outlaws and the youngster earned the series’ rookie-of-the-year award as a 19-year-old in 2004.
“The expectations and the pressure were something else, but they weren’t bad when you look at the tradeoff of putting me in quality equipment with people who allowed me to do what they were doing,” Kinser said about racing alongside his father. “It really shortened my learning curve. It had way more pros than cons.”
One year later, Kinser scored what remains the biggest victory of his sprint car career when the topped the 2005 Knoxville Nationals.
“We were quick at Knoxville in the spring race, and we actually won one of the nights there,” Kinser recalled. “We had speed going into the Nationals and we were pretty solid all of the way through it. We blew a motor in the feature on our qualifying night, which was a little problematic, but we put our other motor in that we had quite a few nights on.
“The rain pushed things back, so we ran the scrambles in the morning and ran the feature later at night. It was a long day, but I remember being really relaxed because I knew we had a good car. I knew if we put the laps together, we’d be OK.
“Winning the Knoxville Nationals was special then, but the longer my career goes the more special it becomes because you know how hard it is to win that race,” Kinser continued. “If you love sprint cars, that’s the one race you want to win and to have my name on it is special.”
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