O.K. One Stop Service has been involved as a motorsports sponsor since the late 1960's. The high performance shop in Hospers, Iowa has sponsored numerous stock cars, demolition derby cars, and figure eight cars over the years. When John Klynsma decided to get behind the wheel, in the early 1990's the company's involvement in racing escalated. The car John drives is sponsored primarily by O.K. One Stop.
The racing bug bit John early; he began his racing career before reaching his teens. His Saturday nights were spent racing go-karts on the go-kart dirt track at the Sioux County Fairgrounds, in Sioux Center, Iowa. John ran well in that class in a cart maintained by his brother-in-law Perry Foreman. After a summer of go-kart racing his racing career was put on hold for a few years. He resumed his racing career in 1989, making a limited number of appearances in a hobby stock at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, and Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minnesota, over the next two seasons.
After purchasing a used car in the spring of 1991 John decided to get serious about his racing. He became a weekly competitor in the class then known as the Bomber class at Park Jefferson International Speedway in Jefferson, South Dakota. He finished the 1991 Park Jefferson season fifth in the final point standings and winning the award for the Best Appearing Pit Crew. The highlight of that season was a feature win on season championship night at Rapid Speedway; it was his first appearance at the track that season! The 1991 season was marred by the loss of long-time family friend and former employee of O.K. One Stop, Larry Vant Hof. Larry was killed in a motorcycle accident that summer. John had gained much of his love for racing from Larry, and learned a lot about car setup while pitting with Larry and Ed De Leeuw, who was a competitor in the Modified division at Park Jefferson.
Over the off-season John and his crew built a new car to campaign for the Charger division championship. That 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle would be campaigned full-time at Park Jefferson for the next three seasons. John finished the 1992 and 1993 seasons, just as he had the 1991 season, fifth in the final Charger point standings. He and his crew captured the 1993 Sportsmanship Award and compiled three feature wins, including wins on Busch All-Star Tour, Season Championship, and Mid-Season Championship nights.
After competing full-time for four consecutive seasons, John and his family made the decision to scale back his racing. During the 1995 and 1996 seasons John raced about 15 nights in the Charger class at Park Jefferson. During his Charger career John raced door-to-door with many drivers who are now familiar names in higher classes at Park Jefferson and other area tracks. Those drivers include: Mike and Jay Noteboom, Ray Sveegen, Lowell Roeber, Greg Peck, Jim Merchant, John Ames, John Fuller, Mike Grevengoed, Tom Kribell, John Heins, and many others. John had a lot of help on his crew during those Charger seasons, including his brother Don Klynsma, cousins Dale Woudstra and Ben Muilenburg, brother-in-law Alan De Jong, and friends Marty Erickson and the late Pat Schorg who was killed in a tragic accident in 2000. John made appearances at numerous tracks in the area during those seasons. In addition to Park Jefferson and Rapid Speedways, John also made appearances at the tracks in Alta and Webster City, Iowa, and Jackson and Worthington, Minnesota.
In 1997, John raced for the first time in Mid-July making the jump to the NASCAR Modified division at Park Jefferson. The car he campaigned was an early nineties Wissota chassis which had been updated to include a Grand National rear-end. He raced about five more times that season. In 1998 and 1999, John continued to race casually, but more frequently, skipping a few nights each season to spend time with his family. Although not racing every week, John and his team managed to learn a lot and notched numerous top-five finishes and finished the 1999 season 14th in the Park Jefferson point standings. For the 1999 season John was recognized as the Most Improved Driver in the Modified division, having increased his points finish from 21st in 1998 to 14th. John finished the 2000 season at Park Jefferson 6th in the season standings, and 2nd at Sioux Speedway. One of the first highlights of John's modified career included capturing the inaugural Sioux Speedway Modified Division points championship in Sioux Center, Iowa in 1999. Highlights of the 2000 season were securing his first modified win during the 2000 O'Reilly All Star Series night at PJ, and following that up with back-to-back feature wins at the O.K. One Stop Sioux Speedway Nationals the following week. At the 2000 Park Jefferson Speedway awards banquet, the O.K. One Stop Racing team was recognized as the Best Appearing Pit Crew in the modified division. John has campaigned his modified at the tracks in Sioux Center, Denison, Webster City, Knoxville, Spencer, Rock Rapids, Alta, Iowa, and Slayton, Jackson, Spring Valley, and Fairmont, Minnesota. His current crew still includes his brother Don Klynsma, who has pitted with him since 1991. Also on his current pit crew are Bill Rolfes, Larry Davis, Chad Jasper & Clint Jasper. During his first six modified seasons, Kevin Lamfers, Rick Van Hill, & Josh Dykstra also worked on the pit crew. John drove a Late Model owned by Al Ritts at Park Jefferson about 4-5 times during the 2000 season. John also competed in Al's familiar blue #57 Harris modified at Alta and Webster City during the 2000 season.
During the 2001 season the team made appearances at several tracks competing on an irregular basis and experiencing limited success. But the 2002 season brought a return to Park Jefferson Speedway to run for the modified division title. Although not experiencing great success in 2001 it soon became clear at the start of the 2002 season that the team had matured during during 2001. John was among the point leaders all season long, taking a firm hold of 2nd place in the point standings with back to back victories in June. The team held onto that 2nd place position until late July when a string of bad luck dropped John to 5th in the points. A late season rally including 5 straight top-7 finishes which included a 3rd win and two runner up finishes vaulted John back up to 3rd in the season ending standings. The 2002 season was the best yet for the team as John tied for the most feature wins in the class with 3. The team was honored with the 2002 Best Appearing Crew award for the modified division at the 2003 awards banquet.
The 2003 season was another stepping stone in the teams growth. The team would set out in a new chassis at the beginning of the season, and as with our 2000 Harris chassis this thing was fast right out of the box. John took the point lead on the 2nd night of the season and traded the point lead with Jason Edwardson before holding onto the point lead throughout the summer. A great summer stretch including John's third career set of back-to-back wins in June allowed John to build up a 44 point lead over 2nd place Edwardson. But again a stretch of bad luck in August caused us to lose the point lead to Edwardson with just 4 weeks remaining, two August feature wins enabled us to move into a tie with Edwardson with just 2 races remaining. John would come up just short of his first Park Jefferson points title finishing 2nd to Edwardson by just 6 points. It was again a banner year as John would claim 4 feature wins over a 20% winning percentage. The new 2003 paint scheme was again recognized as a great looking car as we again won the award for the best appearing modified at the Southern Hills Mall Car Show.
The team's primary sponsor is obviously, O.K. One Stop Service and it's affilliated company O.K. One Stop and Wash. Other company's offering support to the team are the KPTH Fox 44, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Mark Roos ph. 712-233-4236), Chit Chat Cafe, PTM Race Engines, Harris Auto Racing, Northland Motor Oil, Guys-n-Gals, and AutoGrafx Detailing..
Since their first season in 1991, the O.K. One Stop Racing team has made an effort to help other teams when they need a hand, whether by helping to change a flat tire or lending the elusive part that every team finds themselves searching for from time to time.
John has received substantial support from his family and friends during his racing career. On any given race night it is not uncommon to find thirty or more race fans at the track to cheer John on. Although he receives support from all of his family members, John's most avid fans are his son Justin, sister Roxie, and parents Norman and Dorothy.
John lives in Hospers, Iowa with his wife Val and four children Justin, Lindsey, Amber, and MaKendra. He works at O.K. One Stop Service with his parents and brother, Ed, as a tire and accessories salesman. He also dedicates much of his time to another affiliated company, B & K Tire Company which wholesales Multi-Mile and Cooper tires throughout Northwest Iowa. O.K. One Stop is a high-performance center, featuring performance parts and after-market accessories for street, drag, and stock cars. O.K. One Stop is a dealer for Hoosier and McCreary Racing Tires and American Racing. You can contact John for all your auto needs at (712) 752-8121 or toll-free at 1-800-657-8050.