
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995                   TAG: 9504110145
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

KINSER AND BERNSTEIN PART

Steve Kinser's agonizing odyssey into NASCAR stock car racing ended Monday when he and car owner Kenny Bernstein agreed to part ways.

``Steve wasn't fired and he didn't really quit,'' said team publicist Kirk Weeks. ``It was just a case of sitting down and saying, `Where do we stand?' And after missing two races, they decided this was in the best interest of both of them.''

Hut Stricklin, who had been retained to try to help Kinser, was named as his replacement on a race-by-race basis, beginning with the Hanes 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 23.

It was obvious beginning with the season's second race at Rockingham, N.C., that Kinser, the nation's most famous sprint car driver, was overwhelmed by the radical transition of switching from sprint cars on dirt to stock cars on asphalt. And things only got worse when he failed to qualify at Bristol and North Wilkesboro.

``We simply reached a point where it was obvious we just weren't making enough progress,'' Kinser said in a statement released by the team. ``To try to continue on like that wasn't being fair to the team or myself.''

There was no immediate word on Kinser's plans, but no one had replaced him in his sprint car and he apparently can return to his bread-and-butter sport with relative ease if he chooses to.

``Steve and I went into the 1995 season together with all the best intentions of giving him the opportunity to make a tough transition between two entirely different forms of racing,'' Bernstein said in a statement. ``Steve Kinser is a true racing champion and a gentleman besides. Our mutual decision reflects what is best for our own respective interests''

Bernstein said there was no pressure from sponsor Quaker State or other outside interests to dump Kinser. The 14-time World of Outlaws champion had logged 4,500 test miles on the Quaker State Ford, but Bernstein said, ``A lot of what led to this situation lies in the current Winston Cup rules that apply to testing and the limits on tire availability. Obviously, there are reasons that those rules are in place, but it's my opinion that they don't do much to accommodate the special needs of rookie drivers in general.''

Kinser made his mark in stock car racing a year ago this month at Talladega, Ala., when he won the International Race of Champions event there as a rookie. But as he quickly found out, Winston Cup cars are tougher to drive than IROC cars and every other track in the series is tougher to learn than Talladega. Still, the 39-year-old Bloomington, Ind., resident endured his stock car racing ordeal with quiet stoicism.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB