Karl Kinser
SprintCarUnlimited.com continues its list of the Top 25 Crew Chiefs since 1990 with Karl Kinser. The No. 1 crew chief has won every big race in Sprint Car racing, championships, and is considered to be the best crew chief of all time.
Accomplishments: Kinser’s success extends way before the 1990s, but he carried it through the decade. It started with Steve Kinser as his driver from 1990 through 1994. The two racked up 132 World of Outlaws wins, three Knoxville Nationals titles, two National Open championships, and a 1991 Kings Royal crown. They also combined to win four World of Outlaws championships. When Steve Kinser went to NASCAR, Karl brought his son, Mark Kinser, in to take over the driving duties. He responded with over 120 World of Outlaws victories, Knoxville Nationals titles in 1996, 1999, and 2000, National Open triumphs in 1995 and 1999, and a Historical Big One and Gold Cup victory. Karl and Mark Kinser also won five Silver Cup events at Lernerville Speedway and the 1996 and 1999 World of Outlaw championships.
Mark Kinser and Karl Kinser in Victory Lane at the 1996 Knoxville Nationals. (Paul Arch Photo)
Did You Know: It comes as no surprise that Karl Kinser was, at one time, a driver. In the mid-50s, he built a Model-A Roadster and also started racing with his friends and brothers. In 1960, Kinser got married and had two kids in four years. One year later, Kinser and his brothers bought a Sprint Car and hired Larry Miller to be the driver, which started his legendary career as a crew chief.
Why Here: The accomplishments posted by Karl Kinser in his career are legendary. During the 90s and early 2000s, he registered over 250 World of Outlaws wins, six Knoxville Nationals titles, two Kings Royal crowns, four National Open victories, six Silver Cup wins, and six World of Outlaws championships. Along with the stats, Kinser also has impressive crew chief tree. He influenced Scott Gerkin, Justin Adams, Kale Kahne, Willie Kahne, Ricky Warner, Dennis Kohler, and others, which solidifies him as a no brainer for No. 1 on this list. “Karl touched most of your crew chiefs … your top five guys on this list are polluted with those guys,” Kasey Kahne Racing Fixer Justin Adams said. “You could write a book about the guy.”
They said it: “Karl is just an amazing person and has vision. He was a workaholic. When he did something, he did it with everything he could, and it didn’t matter how many hours he had to put into it. That’s what he did with his sprint cars. Karl knew how to create horsepower and had a good eye for chassis, just a little bit of everything. Between Karl and Davey Brown, they were the two best mechanics of my era who came out of sprint cars.” — Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver and legend Steve Kinser.
“My thing with Karl is his work ethic. We always outworked everybody, but he also had a commonsense approach to it and tried to keep it simple at the track. We worked really hard at the shop and tried to get an edge. When we found those edges, it was really tough for people to find it because we weren’t unloaded at the hotels all day long. We raced and worked on tires at the track. When we were at the shop, we had our car tore apart to find an edge. I could just never get over his work ethic, his commonsense, and simple-minded approach to keep things mistake free at the racetrack. It was all about not making mistakes at the racetrack and figuring it out at the shop. I was very grateful for the opportunity to work with Karl.” — Kasey Kahne Racing’s Justin Adams.
READ ABOUT THE OTHER CREW CHIEFS IN THE TOP 25
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