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FEATURE INTERVIEW:

Griffin McGrath – Legends.Direct President:

This week’s guest is Griffin McGrath, President of Legends Direct in Cedar Rapids, IA. Legends Direct has become one of the largest (if not the largest) Legends car dealerships in the United States, despite the fact that the sanctioning body (INEX) and race car manufacturing (U.S Legends Car International) all are based where they originated ; Charlotte, NC.

Griffin comes from a well established automotive dealership family and grew up fully in the family business. Using that background he has transformed Legends Direct into a full fledged dealership offering all the services one would expect; new cars, used cars, service, parts, and expertise. Their in houses team DOES race as well to maintain competition and good R&D, and they are often trackside at Midwest events offering service and parts to any who need it.

This season my son Dallas has the “first official” Legends Direct Development Driver, a program we created together. The goal; to create a modern day version of Days of Thunder where the team and coach help shape a young talent with the art of race-craft (i.e. Harry Hogg and Cole Trickle). His personal coach will be Jackson Lewis, the 2024 Legend Car Pro Dirt National Champion! This interview covers all of the details, inside and out.

Growing Up: From Dealerships to Racing

Griffin grew up in a car dealership family and while he was not specifically told it he still felt an obligation to follow in that path. It was never a question in his mind as to where he would work, but only what he would specifically be doing. He enjoyed and excelled in high school sports (football particularly), but it was a birthday father-son trip to the NASCAR Brickyard 500 in Indianapolis that gave him the itch to find out more. A couple trips to other local tracks cemented the idea and racing was the new path in life. At his dads suggestion he got a used roller chassis, rebuilt it to the best of his ability and then started practicing regularly. When racing season started he was pretty much prepared and had a blast. Griffin gravitated towards older racers that were doing well and he picked their brains on racing advice and how to go faster. He raced in different classes with a couple seasons in the ARCA racing series all while still working at the dealership in the service department.

After college he moved full time into the dealership life, working on the service side. Eventually though things became personally painful, and his life when directions he never could have predicted. He eventually entered into a 9 month rehabilitation program for alcohol abuse and he said that was one of the best things he could have done. He finally realized that even though he grew up around the dealership, it really was not the place he should be.

After pursuing education to become a therapist/counselor, he started looking for another opportunity and then met all of the right people to start a performance dealership specializing in Legends race cars. He was able to utilize an unused dealership building to warehouse the inventory and began growing his new business. Griffin admits he really wants to grow it into the largest business of its kind and through the internet he was able to advertise and reach customers from coast to coast. Legends.Direct has grown since then and has opened other warehouses in other states. They offer services no other warehouse can and is extremely customer focused to devlop lasting relationships with it’s clients.

Dallas Kibbe: 2025 Legends Direct Development Driver

When my son wanted to move to the next level in racing, in 2024 we looked to Legends racing as a developmental step for dirt and asphalt circle track racing, knowing that road course racing could be a future possibility.  Dallas competed in about a dozen races in 2024 and eventually found he enjoyed asphalt racing just as much as dirt, possibly even more-so!

For the 2025 season we decided it was time to run a much larger scheduyle and go all chips in. Working with Legends.Direct we were able to create the driver development training program needed to find out how to go faster, primarily through one-on-one coaching. Racing is a fickle sport, and most people learn by doing. Our goal was to find a coach to accelerate the process a teach both the driving line and approach as well as the car setup side of the process for a more direct next step. How to properly set up the car within the rules is as much of a learning curve as driving and to understand how those changes affect the handling of the car is huge. Small changes can make big differences on the track and helps making winning easier. It is thanks to Griffin and his team at Legends.Direct that we were able to get up and racing faster and easier than trying to learn by trial and tribulation.

For 2025 Dallas will run NUMEROUS races throughout the summer, and we’re building the foundation with this program. He’s as excited as ever! We’ll post updates here through the season as well.

If you would like to learn more visit Legends.direct and see how they can help. You can also follow them on Facebook.com/legends.direct. If you would like to see what racing shenanigans that Griffin is getting into you can follow him on Instagram.com/g_mcgrath64. Legends.Direct phone number is 319-226-3900 and you can call anytime.

Thanks Griffin!

Rob Kibbe

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This interview sponsored by our pals at National Parts Depot – your premier source for muscle car restoration parts!