Georgia Hall of Famer Sells dies
Leon Sells, the legendary Lawrenceville, Ga., native and dirt racer nicknamed "Slick" who was a 2015 inductee into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, died Thursday afternoon under hospice care. He was 84.
The winner of the first-ever race at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway was a standout competitor at tracks across the Southeast from 1953-88, scoring hundreds of victories, including a dramatic 1976 triumph in his return to Rome (Ga.) Speedway after a 16-month injury layoff following throttle-hanging, wall-crunching crash at the same track two seasons earlier.
His career started at Canton (Ga.) Speedway when he replaced Curley Allison, who failed to show up for the race, and Sells went on to success at Georgia tracks including Lakewood, Peach Bowl, West Atlanta, Senoia, Toccoa, Jefco, Middle Georgia, Rome and Dixie.
The driver of the familiar blue No. 77 racing out of Mableton, Ga., captured major Dixie victories in the 1979 Spring 100 and 1983 Coca-Cola 200. He won the 1967 North Carolina State Late Model 100 at Starlite Speedway in Monroe, N.C., and the 1983 SARC/PRC 100 at Senoia.
He was also a member of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. Arrangements were incomplete.
