Leon Archer – Griffin, GA – Born Dec. 27, 1939, where he still lives with his wife Sandra and son Mickey. He ran his first race at Zebulon Speedway in 1967, won for the first time at Newman Speedway in 1968 and before he retired in the mid-1980s won more than 250 feature events in his dirt Late Model cars. He was the first champion of the National Dirt Racing Association in 1979, and his car No. 222 remains one of the iconic car numbers in stock car racing. Archer won races at numerous tracks across America including Senoia Raceway, West Atlanta Raceway, Dixie Speedway, Rome Speedway, East Alabama Motor Speedway, Anderson (SC) Speedway, Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, N.C., Lavonia Speedway, Hartwell Speedway, Thunderbowl Speedway in Valdosta, Swainsboro Raceway, 441 Speedway in Dublin, LaGrange Speedway, Concord Motor Speedway, Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., Atomic Speedway in Knoxville, Newport Speedway, Smoky Mountain Raceway, Hagerstown (MD) Speedway, Myrtle Beach (SC) Speedway. He also won numerous poles and set a number of track records over the years. While he got the majority of his victories in cars he owned and prepared himself, he also found victory lane in cars owned by others including Barry Wright, Billy Thomas, Fred Johnson, Darrell Monk and Denny Ross. For nearly all of his career, Archer was a full-time racer, and spent countless hours working on his cars and developing innovative chassis set-ups at a time when there was little technology to be purchased.