Glory days. Look at the crowd. Good stuff, Panama.

Here is some information about Steve you might not remember. Steve ran a sprint car for Bob Thompson for 2 years before Karl Kinser and he was 21 that summer.Orange and black number 53.I know he won Bloomington Championship and ran Pargon, Kokomo,Haubstat and Lawrencebug. Non wing and he was awesome.Destroyed the first one at Champange at the end of the season on the 1/2 mile and destroyed the second one at Springfield on the mile the second year at the end of the season.I believe it was 75 and 76.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS

I remember that 53. He also had probably one of his hardest hits at Kokomo in the 11 nonwing . Over the turn three wall. Landed right in front of us. Had a big egg on his forehead and concussion. He never came back on a regular Sunday show after that I believe. They don't call him the King for nothing. I'll never forget the time Steve and his dad both raced together at Kokomo in the 11's. Awesome!

Steve raced USAC sprints for a short while in the 1970s, about 1977. He won 11 World of Outlaw features in 1978, including his first at Eldora in May or June. If memory serves me correctly, Steve ran at Bloomington one night under an assumed name and caught a three-race suspension from USAC. A photographer who knew both Steve and the driver he was impersonating shot photos and sent them to a racing paper, where they were published. (NO IT WASN'T ME.)
It was about that time Dick Gaines got hurt and, as they say, the rest is history. While working in Princeton, Ind., in 1979 and the early '80s, I saw Steve race on several occasions at Haubstadt on Sunday nights without a wing. He also ran USAC in the early 1980s, without a wing.

Jim Morrison

It was Paragon and he ran under the name Mark Todd.It was his first feature win at Paragon and he came back to racing local.Bob Thompson took care of the USAC car also,It was 69 and owned by Elmer Smith I believe.

I don't remember seeing him win here , but I did see him run non-wing sprint car and Turkey night in a midget at Ascot in the 80's

So basically, YES, Steve Kinser is the best and will always be the best damn sprint car driver (no matter whats on top of it or not) to ever walk this planet!!!

amen !!

Elmer Smith from Martinsville? Bobby Smith's Dad? Wow I had no idea.

Vukie's recollection of the Gary Scott tragedy brings up for me, a real irony. I was at Knoxville the very next Saturday night program after Gary died -- Bob Trostle - who had great influence at that time - had told Ralph Capitani that if the wings didn't come on, he for one would not come back. So when that Saturday rolled around and the wing cars came out for hot laps - several long time fans just got up and left in disgust. Now, while the worm is turning just a bit, if it isn't winged sprint cars at Knoxville on Saturday night the regular crowd isn't all that interested.