Savage Words: Bring Kinser home for the holidays

If you’re looking for a holiday gift for the race fan in your world, you gotta get a copy of Kinser, the new book by award-winning motorsports author Dave Argabright.

If you, or your loved one, has even an inkling of knowledge about sprint car racing, you’ll certainly know the name Steve Kinser. If you, or your loved one, has even an inkling of knowledge about books in the motorsports world, you’ll certainly know the name Dave Argabright.

I’ve known Dave for several years. He’s written a ton – well, about 20 – but that’s a ton in the world of writing books. This one about Kinser? It’s about as good as it gets in the world of motorsports journalism.

Spoiler alert: Steve Kinser was pretty good.

Actually, he was an animal racing a sprint car. I recall my father, a longtime motorsports broadcaster and journalist, saying those very words about Kinser when I was little. He also used words like ferocious, unstoppable, fearless. All of those things are true, and spelled out perfectly in Dave’s book.

There was a softer, quieter side to Kinser. I didn’t know that. Every time I saw him, both inside a racecar and out, he was an animal, ferocious, unstoppable, fearless.

Dave’s book opened my eyes to Steve Kinser, the person. That part was fascinating.

Kinser also made his mark in South Dakota. Of his 963 career wins - 958 in a sprint car - 12 of them came in The Mount Rushmore State. Seven of them came at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon. I only know this information because in the back of Dave’s book is a list of every … single … one of Kinser’s victories with the date, place, and car he was in.

That in itself is pretty impressive. No doubt Dave spent some time doing his research. Writing a book is tough. I’ve written two, and I appreciate very much what went into Kinser.

Kinser made such an impact at Huset’s that on June 14, 2015 – his last year competing with the famed World of Outlaws – Brandon Mayor Larry Beesley walked to the front stretch during intermission and gave Kinser the Key to the City and proclaimed it “Steve Kinser Day” in Brandon.

The foreword of Dave’s book is written by Ken Schrader, the former NASCAR driver who also spent a good amount of time with Kinser while he was racing sprint cars, Silver Crown cars, and midgets. Some of Schrader’s stories about Kinser are also intriguing, with a good touch of humor.

Although Kinser is primarily known as a sprint car driver, he also made headlines in NASCAR and IndyCar. As an IndyCar guy, I was happy to read more about Kinser’s 14th-place finish in the 1997 Indianapolis 500.

Add it all up, and this book is a fabulous insight into sprint car racing’s greatest driver. That’s really not debatable. The Bloomington, Ind., native won 20 World of Outlaws titles and has 723 feature wins in the series. As a point of reference, second in career wins is Sammy Swindell, another giant in the sprint car world. His win total is 394.

On the cover of Dave’s book, the following appears under the title of Kinser: A Racing Career Like No Other.

That sums it up pretty well, and is just the start of 288 pages of pure enjoyment. 

Dave’s written other books. One of my favorites is American Scene, a collection of nearly 100 of his columns and feature stories from 1988 to 1997. I’ve read that one often.

Congratulations, Dave. You’ve had some hits over the years. But Kinser is a home run.

Kinser can be purchased at daveargabright.com.