Brownstown Bullring
Grandkids push Korte back into competition
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Randy Korte and family in victory lane. (Hot Mess Express Media)
BROWNSTOWN, Ill. (June 9) — In assisting Mike Harrison with the Steve Lampley Motorsports team for Tuesday’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals opener at the Brownstown Bullring, Randy Korte was all business in his consulting role.
But a mention of Korte’s return to the drivers’ seat — and his first victory in 12 years — draws a big smile from the Highland, Ill., resident. Not so much because Korte captured a checkered flag at I-55 Federated Raceway Park, but because who joined him in victory lane at the Pevely, Mo., oval.
“It's all about my grandkids,” the 61-year-old Korte said in recounting the special night.
The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer retired after the 2014 season, in part because of his years-long struggles with multiple myeloma. He took off his helmet after a 30-year career with hundreds of victories, including multiple five-figure victories and national touring triumphs. He was also a two-time DIRTcar weekly champion and Summer Nationals runner-up in 2009.
He was content, and still competitive, in launching Randy Korte Consulting, assisting drivers including Harrison, Tanner English and former Tennessee racer Dane Dacus with a successful business.
His four grandkids, two apiece from sons Dustin and Dale, had only heard stories of Korte wheeling a race car.
“My sons probably helped that whole situation by pushing it, by saying, ‘Hey, you need to get Papa to race again,’ ” Korte said. “They never got to watch me race because I quit in 2014, so they were all babies. Well, most of them weren't even born, so the only one that was born was my grandson (Carson), and he was a baby.”
Korte came out of retirement for a special weekend last year, then decided to continue racing occasionally in 2026 when a 2022 Rocket Chassis fell in his lap.
“The car that I'm running is actually Dane's old car, and Dane just let me have it,” said Korte, who then got a powerplant from a former Southern All Star champion. “Billy Franklin, I talked to him over the winter, he does a ton for me and we're good friends and he had 12-year-old motor, Clements motor, sitting there and I said, ‘You ever gonna do anything with that thing?’ He said, ‘No, take it and run it.’ So I took it and here we are.
“So it’s just all kind of a free deal and Steve (Lampley) helps me, I can use any of this stuff to go to the racetrack and race.”
While Korte is getting a kick out of returning to the race car, he’s not tempted to join a Summer Nationals race (even though the car was in the transporter that carried Harrison’s car to the Fayette County Fairgrounds). Korte, a 13-time Summer Nationals winner, is content to run a few weekly shows.
“I wouldn't run with these (Summer Nationals) guys. I mean, I'm smart enough to know I don't need to be doing that kind of (stuff) you know? I mean, say I had a little bit better motor, I might do it, but there's no way I could compete with them guys with that motor,” he said. “I mean, the local level? Yeah, that's fine. But there's no slouches at Pevely on a weekly show. I mean Daryn (Klein) and (Blaze) Burwell and all them, I mean there's some good cars down there.”
Korte is impressed with the quality of the modern cars. He’s also, after a dozen years as a racing consultant, in tune with making his car better.
“I feel like the cars are way better than when I drove. Like I told the (I-55 announcer), I said, listen, I said, the biggest difference is now instead of me just going out on the racetrack with what I got and changing my line or doing something different on the racetrack, I know what to do to fix a race car and make it better for me. And that's why I think I was so good the other night. I could just (get) dialed in,” he said. "I ran one night earlier and ran really good, ran third, and then I made some adjustments for this following week and it was just unreal good.
“There’s so much stuff that's changed. You can adjust on the car so much better than you could back then. And the cars are better, hands down better.”
Korte said that “I feel like I could, if I wanted to get back in there and do it and race with these guys. I need to work out a little bit, but I think I could do it. After the other night, I really know I could do it because I mean we were 1 foot off the wall and I ran the whole race like that.
“I feel like it wouldn’t be no issue doing it, but listen, that’s not what I’m in it for. I want to help all these guys I help, and this deal (with Steve Lampley Motorsports) means everything to me, I want it to do well. So I'm just playing around and having fun.”
And having fun with his granddaughters, who were delighted with his I-55 victory.
“That's all I’m doing it for,” he said. “Because they wanted me to do it. They asked me to do it and I’m like, ‘OK, we'll try it and see how it goes,' you know, and I didn't put no pressure on myself. It was what it was. It was so fun. It was the neatest thing ever.
“I just had so much fun with them and they had so much fun and to me that's all that matters. That's all it’s about any more. With all the crap I've been through with my medical stuff and everything, I just, I wanna have fun with the rest of it, you know, my life, just have fun and do what I wanna do. Luckily I got good people like Steve and everybody that lets me do that.”
Korte pointed out his granddaughters weren't just spectators (his grandson, 14-year-old Carson, was at a running meet in Georgia). Cicilia (11), Piersyn (5) and Halstyn (4) positioned wheel chocks, vacuumed the hauler, unloaded the pit box, rolled tires around the pits and of course wiped down the race car. A Facebook reel encapsulates the night and it’s an emotional view for Korte.
Dustin Korte, 37, the father of Carson and Cicilia, called it “one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Watching all the kids work on the car with him, he hasn’t got to see that in a long time since me and Dale when we were young. That’s their first time seeing their Papa win except Carson, but he was very young and probably doesn’t remember. He missed Carson being there as he is the first grandchild, but my wife Amanda FaceTimed him in victory lane and he got to tell (Papa) congratulations and the smile on his face was priceless. I know he enjoyed it with most of his family there. Hopefully there’s many more to come.”
In the Facebook reel, “it shows the littlest one sitting on my lap driving in the racetrack with me and then they helped me unload, they helped me do everything,” Korte said. “But my oldest granddaughter thought she was gonna (provide stick signals). She didn’t know anything about sticking, so she was using the sticks, telling me where I needed to be and what I needed to do.
“That’s what it’s all about for me,” Korte said. “Just watch that reel. You’ll see.”
