Randy Texter celebrates winning the Harley-Davidson 883 Twin Sports Championship at Daytona in 1990. His father “Tex” stands next to him in the white Randy Texter t-shirt. (Courtesy Daytona International Speedway)

Randy Texter, the 1990 AMA U.S. Twin Sports Champion, died on Monday from heart failure. He was 48.

Texter battled respiratory issues for the last couple of years. He had heart surgery last year and according to friends was slated to receive a heart and lung transplant.

Texter ran the family-owned Lancaster Harley-Davidson dealership in Willow Street, Pennsylvania. The dealership was founded in 1951 by Randy’s father and mother Ray “Tex” and Betty Texter. It had long been a sponsor of racers. The dealership currently sponsors Chris Carr and Nichole Cheza as well as Randy’s son Cory and daughter Shayna in AMA Grand National competition.

Randy Texter was born on June 14, 1962 in Lancaster. He worked his way up to the professional ranks in the AMA Grand Nationals by the early 1980s. Texter scored his first Grand National points in 1984 when he finished 12th at the Louisville (Ky.) Half-Mile. He qualified for Grand Nationals occasionally all throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. His best result in that series came at the Indy Mile in 1986 when he earned a top-10 finish. He raced most of his career with national number 65.

Randy Texter circa 1989.

Texter found even more success road racing in the Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster Series (called the U.S. Twin Sports Series when it was launched in 1989). Texter won the 1990 U.S. Twin Sports title by scoring the victory in the winner-take-all series finale at Daytona International Speedway in October of that year. Texter continued road racing the 883 series throughout much of the 1990s. He was consistently one of the top riders in the series scoring seven-career podiums on the 883s.

He raced the 883s in flat track as well when the series was a support race for the AMA Grand Nationals. Texter scored a slew of flat track top-10s aboard his 883, but appropriately enough his best result in the 883 flat track series came on a paved Half-Mile in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in May of 1997 where he scored runner-up to Davey Camlin.

Texter raced in the Daytona 200 six times. He scored a career-best 16^th in the March Classic in 1989.

By the late 1990s Texter scaled back his racing efforts to focus on running the family’s dealership and eventually work with his son and daughter helping them in their burgeoning racing careers.

Randy Texter en route to his best AMA Grand National finish of 10th at the Indy Mile in 1986. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Texter was a constant presence at AMA Grand National races until health problems forced him to miss some races. Even when he was obviously very sick he would often come to the races to watch Cory and Shayna compete.

“I’ve known Randy for a long time and he was always ready to help anyone get to the racetrack,” said former AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr, who has been sponsored by Texter’s dealership for eight years. “There was never a more generous person in the flat track community. He helped a lot of people over the years on a local and national level.”

Funeral arrangements are being made. I will update this post when more information is available.

Godspeed Randy.

Additional posts featuring Randy can be found here.

(Update: From Cory Texter’s facebook page)

Come celebrate the life of a champion with us. Viewing 1-4pm & 6-9pm this Thursday and the service will be 11am Friday at Charles F Snyder Funeral Home in Litiz, PA. All cars and bikes welcome, let’s make the town bleed orange and black. I miss you Dad. Your my everything.