Owner/crew chief

Indiana-native Kinser is Sprint Car racing's most successful owner/crew chief, having won every big-money race at every major track in the country multiple times, including 12 Knoxville Nationals. Kinser’s cars have won on asphalt and dirt, indoors and outdoors, winged or wingless, in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Even Australia. For many of those achievements, Kinser was not only car owner and chief mechanic, but also designed and built his own chassis and engines. He innovated, and pioneered new materials and performance enhancements, like his slider clutch and hydraulically operated top wing. Overall, Kinser won 17 World of Outlaws Sprint Series titles as a car owner/crew chief — 14 with cousin Steve and three with son Mark. At the height of their success in the 1980s, Steve said of Karl, “That man outworks, outthinks and outperforms anybody in racing. He deserves 85% of the credit when I win a race.” Karl was the second Kinser (after Sheldon) to be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1994.