My Biz: Legends Direct finds its racing niche

CEDAR RAPIDS — A local business is a big player in certain small circles.

“We sell the most cars of anybody in the United States,” said Kevin Korsmo. “We have the largest inventory.”

However, you’re not going to load your road-tripping family in a car from Legends Direct. The 4-year-old company’s name refers to its specialty, the diminutive but rapid Legends class of auto racing that’s a staple of local racetracks across the country and beyond.

Korsmo, 60, has been Legends Direct’s operations manager since his friend and fellow racer Griffin McGrath started the company in 2020. The 9,500-square-foot shop and warehouse is attached to McGrath’s home north of Cedar Rapids.

“This was Griffin’s brainchild,” Korsmo said. “This was his idea years before he built it. There’s 24 acres here, so we’ve got a lot of room to expand.”

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About the cars

After years of racing full-sized stock cars, Korsmo was looking for a less expensive racecar.

“I’ve been racing 38 years,” he said. “I’ve raced in every class at Hawkeye Downs,” where he’s now on the board of directors.

Korsmo bought his first Legends car and supplies from Warren Ropp of Kalona, who was preparing for retirement. McGrath bought Ropp’s inventory to launch Legends Direct.

“It’s just a fun car,” Korsmo said. “This is a spec class. That means all the rules are the same for everybody. I know I have the same package. I’m running the same tires, everything. I love the idea that I wasn’t going to be out-dollared.”

The quest for a relatively low-cost way to get into competitive racing fueled the development of Legends cars in the early 1990s.

Designers settled on a 73-inch chassis with a modified motorcycle powertrain.

Legends rules — the car’s exact specifications are mandated, hence “spec class” — mandate 1,200-cc Yamaha motor sealed to prevent expensive modifications.

The car sports a fiberglass body, a five-eighths-scale replica of a 1930s coupe or sedan. For all its small size, it’s a real racecar, with a roll cage, fire suppression system and a fully adjustable chassis that can be tuned to its driver’s preferences.

“Once you make the initial purchase, the cost of maintaining and racing is minimal,” Korsmo said. “You don’t need a huge trailer or a huge shop.”

With clean, late-model Legends cars selling for about $16,000, Korsmo and his colleagues — all five Legends Direct employees also race — find themselves competing against drivers as young as 10.

“It’s a great teaching car,” Korsmo said. “It’s the hardest car I’ve driven, by far, and I’ve driven every division out there. Because of the weight-to-horsepower ratio, once you come out of one of these cars, your car control is going to be very good.”

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‘Very exciting’

A Legends car can lap Hawkeye Downs’ quarter-mile oval in 14 seconds flat, according to Korsmo.

“It’s very exciting racing,” he said. “These cars are very fast.”

Legends Direct staff fan out every week to tracks in Iowa and Wisconsin, supplemented by four “sub-dealers.”

“They are racers as well,” Korsmo said. “We try to make sure that all of our tracks in Iowa and Wisconsin have parts at the track. That way you don’t have to spend a lot of money hauling a lot of spares in your trailer. It’s an important part of the business.”

True to Legends’ roots as an entry-level racecar, half of Legends Direct sales are to novice competitors, Korsmo estimates.

“We do a lot of setup because people have never done it before, and they want it to be race-ready,” Korsmo said. “We have five people in the shop full-time. A lot of Legends dealers have some (other business) on the side. This is all we do full-time.”

Legends Direct staff heads south after the April-September Midwest racing season.

“Then we’ll travel,” Korsmo said. “They’ll have national events, and they’ll travel to North Carolina, Florida. But it all depends how busy we are. Our customers have got to come first.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.

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