Dale Singleton – Dalton, GA – deceased – Known as “The Flying Pig Farmer,” Singleton was a privateer motorcycle racer who scored two of the biggest “David vs. Goliath” victories in the history of motorcycle racing.  As an independent AMA motorcycle racer, he twice beat the factory teams to win the Daytona 200 (1979 & 1981).  His first competition was a hill climbing event in Cleveland, TN where he finished 5th.  In 1972, Singleton won an AMA amateur championship title.  In 1973, he graduated high school and won the AMA District 9 Dirt Track Championship and won his first road race at Daytona in the 100cc Amateur Event.  In 1974 he came a novice professional and won his second amateur race at Daytona on a newly sponsored 250cc bike.  Also in 1974, he won at Loudon, N.H., and finished as the second highest nationally ranked novice.  Singleton’s Junior Expert season began in 1975 with an aggressive drive from the rear to the front at Daytona only to run out of fuel just yards from the checkered flag.  After that, he swept the Laguna Seca Circuit.  He moved to Expert in 1976, winning his first podium in 1977 at Sonoma, CA.  In 1978, Singleton won his first Grand National Road Racing Championship and was invited to compete in the International Cup of the Nations.  His first Daytona 200 win in 1979 is well remembered by his introduction of Elmer the Pig, his mascot, that lead to a reputation to a nickname “The Flying Pig Farmer.”

Singleton won at Pocono in 1980 and went on to be awarded the AMA National Road Racing Championship in 1981.

In 1983, Singleton announced his intentions to move into stock car racing.  His hope was to be the first to win the Daytona 200 and the Daytona 500.  On September 1st, 1985, Dale and 3 others were killed when their single-engine aircraft lost power and crashed as they were returning from the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.