Obituary of Daniel Kinerk

On September 19, 2012, God waved his checkered flag and the race ended for Daniel Martin “Marty” Kinerk. The beloved son, brother, uncle, neighbor and friend was 72 years old. Born on April 19, 1940 and raised in Tucson, Arizona, the second child of Daniel Louis and Anna Marie Kinerk graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School in 1959, served in the Arizona Air National Guard from 1959-1965, and attended the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University for a few years before the auto racing bug bit him. Marty began building his own cars in high school with friends and began racing them shortly thereafter, finishing second in the first race he entered. He started his race career in earnest in 1963, racing roadsters on the dirt tracks of Arizona under the tutelage of future Hall of Famer Roger McCluskey, before switching to super-modified cars and being named 1964 Arizona State Rookie of the Year. A charismatic and fearless driving style resulted in many victories as well as some frightening accidents. In late 1966 Marty traveled to South Africa and raced his Super-Modified hot-rod, winning 62 of 70 races in Johannesburg and Durban over the next two years and consecutive championships before returning stateside full time in 1968. He broke through to racing’s major leagues at a 1968 USAC Stock Car event at Phoenix International Raceway, finishing 13th with a backup engine pulled from the pickup truck used to haul his race car, which replaced the original race engine that had blown in practice hours before the race start. Marty later won the 1968 Late Model Stock Car Championship at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, and raced full time on the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model series in 1969, driving his Frank Townsend–owned Chevrolet Chevelle to three victories, two pole-positions and a 3rd overall finish in the points series. Marty raced two events of what is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup, stock car racing’s highest level, at the 1969 Motor Trend 500 and 1971 Miller High Life 500, finishing 34th in both. His racing career ended in 1972 at Manzanita in a spectacular accident that finished in the parking lot outside the track, cartwheeling to a stop on an unsuspecting Ford Thunderbird, which along with his roll cage allowed him to live his next 40 years. Marty thereafter worked various jobs, mostly in the construction industry until a work accident in 1986, and lived out his years as a gregarious and generous individual to all he came across. Marty was preceded in death by father Daniel, mother Ann, nephew Daniel L. Kinerk II (SCHS Class of 1980) and niece Ann Marie Trujillo, and is survived by his older brother Burton J. Kinerk and his wife Nancy Kinerk, his younger sister Susan Anne Kinerk Trujillo (SCHS Class of 1962) and her husband Alfonso M. Trujillo, as well as several nieces and nephews, including Salpointe Almuni Colleen Kinerk (’82) , Kevin Kinerk (’85), John Kinerk (’87), Bob Trujillo (’89), Erin Trujillo (’92), and current attendees Aidan Fina (2013) and Cameron Fina (2016). The family would like to thank everyone at Hummingbird Manor and Soulistic Hospice for the compassionate care he received in his final years. Saturday September 29, 2012 , 10:00AM at Saint Frances Cabrini Click for Map and Directions