Gold Cup Bonus Coverage 2002
...Steve Kinser won the Gold Cup for a tenth time. It's gets harder with each passing day to imagine anyone ever getting close to the King's sprint car records. 16 World of Outlaws titles (and leading the points right now), 12 Knoxville Nationals, 10 Gold Cups, 8 Eagle Nationals, 5 Calistoga Classics, 4 Kings Royals, 3 National Opens, 2 Big Ones, and an IROC win. The Gold Cup was probably over on Thursday night when Kinser said in his post race race interview that he came to Chico to win. He came with a "better attitude." We've seen this before in the legend of Steve Kinser. Throughout history, Kinser's focus on the changing track conditions, coupled with his intense desire to compete has been the impetus for his success. Repeatedly he states at some point in a winners interview, "I made up my mind". ...And so it is.
He is also a classy champion. Amidst a nice moment for his team, with their first Gold Cup win with Steve as car-owner, Steve hopped from his Maxim and walked all the way to turn four to congratulate, and pay high respect to Tim Kaeding in his runner-up Gold Cup drive. The two, along with talented, Tim Shaffer put on a crowd pleasing display in the 49th annual event.
Relatively speaking, the three-day World of Outlaws format, and payoff with a split field is astounding. For instance, at the Gold Cup Race of Champions, Sean Becker, the rookie sprint car driver earned $1,000 for his 13th place finish in the prelim on Thursday. Bud Kaeding flew into California from Indy to jump into Mike Sala's #19. Bud benefited to the tune of $1,200 for an 11th place run. ...Robbie Farr, the Australian short track specialist was impressive, posting a top-five finish in Brian Healy's #1s. ...Brad Furr, on the heels of his Watsonville WoO win, was strong once again. He roared through the field from ninth to second.
