We're lucky here in Indiana. We have the best dirt bullring racing scene in the country. We're the envy of so many. It's such a great racing epicenter that young local stars from states like California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alabama and others pack up their belongings and head to the Hoosier State to take their shot at becoming the best of the best in the non-winged sprint car world. And while we have the drivers and the cars of the USAC series touching down here from time to time, it's our local tracks and loyal fans coming out in droves that makes possible an environment that some of these guys can come out here and "race for a living". But those fans would not have been coming out in droves for generations had it not been for the epic clash of the titans, that took place night after night, track after track during the golden age of sprint car racing, at small dirt ovals like Paragon, Haubstadt, Kokomo, Bloomington, Lawrenceburg, etc. There were none of these gladiators that held the shield more valiantly or waged in more legendary battles than did Bobby Kinser. And on hundreds of race nights, once the dust had settled, he would be the victor. If you were commissioned to make a monument that were to be titled "Indiana Sprint Car Racing", it should look exactly like Bob Kinser, standing by the Shields Sprinter after a race, with that cigar hanging out of his mouth. And in all the years that I've spent going to these tracks I've never seen a driver that manhandled a sprint car with as much brute force, as this one did.

I hope history will give him the due that he has coming and make sure the world knows how important he was to the racing scene that Indiana has become.

R.I.P. Bob Kinser

Jerry