(for the silent film star of the same name, see James Tinkle [1929])
Summary
James Ricky-Bobby Tinkle III (born October 13, 1984) is a retired American race car driver. He is best known for his time in the American Series of Stock Car Racing's mud tour, where he is a 16-time tour winner and holds the all-time records for tour points in a season, career earnings, and career race wins. He is also a member of the ASSCAR Hall of Fame, having been inducted as an honoree in the class of 2021. Tinkle drove the number 3 car for Obey San Andreas Racing for the entirety of his career. His number and paint scheme were simultaneously retired series-wide by ASSCAR in 2020.
Tinkle is an advocate for criminal justice reform, owing to his belief that the conviction of his older brother Ricky on charges of bank robbery and grand larceny was due, in part, to an incompetent defense from his brother's court-appointed attorney. Despite objections from the Tinkle family - who are multigeneration San Andreas natives - Ricky Tinkle was relocated to North Yankton Federal Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison with a strict no-visitor policy where he remains to this day. In a Sports Illustrated magazine profile honoring his 10th mud tour win, James Tinkle said he would like to become a criminal defense attorney once he retires, working to protect other families from the same fate that befell his brother.
In 2022, Tinkle donated most of his ASSCAR winnings to the National Lawyers Guild prior to making comments to loved ones about wanting to "start over somewhere new." Photos posted by Tinkle to his social media accounts since then suggests he currently lives in a mountain cabin somewhere in Flint County, San Andreas, where he has become an avid sport shooter, fisher, and hunter.
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