By Larry Boos
ROSSBURG, OH (May 1) – ‘Home’ as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is ‘a’ one’s place of residence, ‘b’ a familiar or usual setting; congenial environment. While Bloomington, IN satisfies entry ‘a’ for Steve Kinser, Eldora Speedway best describes entry ‘b’, as documented by his statistics on the historic .500-mile clay oval.
Accordingly, when the World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series invades Eldora Speedway for a double-header weekend this Friday and Saturday (May 2 & 3), Steve Kinser will be coming home.
Eldora has been the scene of 202 career A-Feature starts for Kinser over the years with 65% (130) of those starts resulting in a top-5 finish, including an incredible 58 victories. It is a record unmatched in Eldora’s rich 61-year history.
Thirty-five of those Eldora victory lane appearances were registered while competing under the WoO banner. Having started with the WoO tour, the nation’s premier Sprint Car racing series, in its first year of existence (1978), Kinser has captured WoO wins at Eldora in 21 of the past 36 years. Those wins were major ingredients to his unparalleled 20 WoO championship titles, rightfully earning him the moniker ‘King of the Outlaws’.
At the onset of the 2014 season, Kinser revealed that this will be his final year of chasing a WoO crown, so as he competes for title #21, the WoO STP Sprint Car Series tour has been dubbed as a ‘Salute to the King’.
While Kinser’s Eldora homecoming will be filled with well-wishing fans, the guest list includes a host of driver’s hoping to defeat him on his home turf. Among those will be his chief nemesis throughout the illustrious WoO run, Sammy Swindell of Bartlett, TN. Swindell, who has captured three WoO titles, ranks second to Kinser in Eldora Outlaw action with 20 triumphs.
Sitting third in the WoO win history (11 wins) is fellow Hoosier driver Joey Saldana, who comes into the Eldora weekend as the current point leader, with a 14-point margin over defending champion Daryn Pittman.
Kinser returns home to Eldora for the two nights of racing sitting seventh in the 2014 cumulative point race, 172 markers behind Saldana, and with one tour victory to his credit.
Each night of racing on Eldora’s famed high banks will be a double-header of action with the Stock Cars joining the Sprint Cars on Friday and the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds on Saturday.
Event details and ticket information for the WoO weekend, or any of Eldora’s other events, can be found on the track’s website www.EldoraSpeedway.com or can be obtained by calling the speedway office (937) 338-3815 during normal business hours. Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc.