Fireball Roberts Voted into Hall of Fame
 

Flock of 'Birds (and one Eagle)
1959:  Jack Smith in the flat-tailed '59 Chevy at the new Daytona International Speedway in the first Firecracker 250, running with Joe Weatherly's Ford T-bird convertible (12). #59 Tiger Tom Pistone and #37, Peruvian driver Eduardo Dibos; Our front of this picture was #3 Fireball Roberts who won in a Jim Stephens sponsored and Smokey Yunick prepared '59 Pontiac with an average speed of 144.997 mph and a 57 second margin, about a third of a lap before a crowd of 12,900; Weatherly ran second, Johnny Allen (ironically in a number 22 which fireball would later make famous), Jack Smith (47) 4th, and Eduardo Dibos (37) was fifth. Below is winning #3;

SUPERSPEEDWAY MASTER . . . . . . . . . . .

1959- (Pic Above at the Stephens Pontiac Dealership on Volusia Ave. in Daytona Beach) -- Joined up with Smokey Yunick and the "Best Damn Garage in Town" Fireball and began to race Pontiac, creating an incredible mastery of the superspeedways.
1962- Roberts started the season off on the right foot with the pedal to the metal when he won the Daytona 500 pole, the 100 mile qualifier (then125, now 150 in 2005) and dominated the race in a Smokey Yunick prepared 1962 black and gold Catalina. He returned to win  back to back Daytona races with the Firecracker 400. Also an accomplished road racer, he finished 2nd at the LeMans 24 hour race in France, won 5 out of 20 convertible races, 5 poles and $66,152, an incredible amount in those days.
1963- Started out the '63 season in a Banjo Mathews car and then Jacques Passino lured Fireball away to the Holman & Moody Ford race team, where Fireball raced a metallic lavender Galaxies to four wins in, including his second Southern 500 victory. One race victory that always alluded him was the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway because of his hard charging "balls-to-the-wall" style of driving (which is what Smokey loved about him). "I’m going to run the hell out of ‘em every lap," Roberts said. "I’ve never won a race stroking." He had a runner-up 600 finish in 1961 and was mentally poised and focused to do well in the 1964 600 race. Little did we know that the Daytona Beach resident with the quiet intensity and mesmerizing broad smile and was about to climb into his race car for the very last time.

1960:  NASCAR pioneer Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts hugs Miss Georgia, Sandra Talley from Homerville, Ga.,  following his win on July 31, 1960 in the first NASCAR race at the brand new Atlanta International Raceway, the Dixie 300. The following year, the race date was moved to March.

RETIREMENT . . . . . . . . . .

Retirement was rumored for the end of the '64 season and later confirmed that he would semi-retire and then leave racing at the end of '65 because he felt at age 35 he was at the top of his game. His competitive drive only allowed him to be at his best. He would become one of highest paid sports personalities as a spokesperson for the Falstaff Beer Company.  Fireball was assured of being able to stay around racing and some baseball events, as well some Indy participation and road racing.  He would only race in selected events the next year, such as the Daytona 500, the World 600, and the Firecracker 400 and Southern 500's where he was the defending champion. It would certainly have given him time to pursue his passion of flying his plane and riding his motorcycle.

THE FINAL LAPS . . . . . . . . . . .

During the 1964 May 24th World 600, Roberts was upbeat as he did his usual joking and kidding with all the drivers. With a uncharacteristic mediocre qualifying position in 11th place, Robert's plan was to lay back and let the cars spread out and then make a charge to the front, knowing it was a long race. True to his style, he was most comfortable out front. On lap number 7, something went terribly wrong. Ned Jarrett's and Junior Johnson's cars collided between turns one and two and began spinning. Roberts spun off turn two trying to avoid the accident and his Lavender colored Holman-Moody # 22 Ford slammed backwards into an opening on the inside retaining wall, exploded, flipped over and burst into flames. There were no fuel cells or fire retardant suits in those racing days and they only had a fire resistant solution they could dip their driving uniforms into. It was thought Fireball was allergic to the chemicals in the solution, but he very privately suffered from an asthmatic condition and the chemicals affected his breathing. Jarrett's car spun to a stop near Fireball's car that was engulfed in flames. Jarrett rushed to and pulled Roberts from his car as Fireball was screaming, "My God, Ned, help me! I'm on fire!" With just a tee shirt for protection Roberts received second and third degree burns over 80 percent of his body. He was airlifted to Charlotte Memorial Hospital in extremely critical condition. Good friends Jarrett & Johnson were most shaken by the incident and it's said to have hastened the end to their driving careers a short time later.

THE ORDEAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Glenn miraculously made it through the first few days. Then he made it a week, then a couple more. It looked like the crew cut, athletic, always smiling driver was going to beat all odds and pull through this horrifying ordeal. It was only his athletic regime of staying in shape that helped him sustain. But 36 days later, on Tuesday, June 30th, Glenn began to fade fast. He contracted pneumonia, sepsis (blood poisoning), and a fever shot his body temperature up to 104 degrees and he slipped into a coma Wednesday night. Then, just 12 hours after things started turning bad, at 7:13am in room 3305 at Charlotte Memorial Hospital on Thursday, July 2, 1964, Glenn Fireball Roberts’ six week struggle for life came to an end. The checkered flag dropped over this fun loving, practical joker at the young age of 35 years old. He was buried July 5th, 1964, at a funeral service that saw over a thousand attend, in an above ground mausoleum in Bellevue Memorial Gardens (now Daytona Memorial Park) in his adopted hometown of Daytona Beach.

             

1964 World 600 . . .  Tragedy (a true account from a fan....)
On May 24, 1964 the World 600 was held, and once again, I was with my Dad and his friends in the Ford Grandstand on the front straight to watch the race. An accident occurred half way through lap eight on the back stretch. We weren’t quite sure what had happened, as we were without a radio to listen to the race broadcast; but we soon knew some bad was happening. A large cloud of black smoke began to rise from the back straight.

This photo was taken from a slightly lower angle than my viewpoint in the Ford Grandstand
on the front straight at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.   The black smoke is fuel burning.

The accident included Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson and Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts.

Roberts’ car had struck the inside guardrail rear-end first and the stock gas tank, still full of fuel, was split open and the contents burst into fire.   Jarrett’s car had also hit the inside wall with his cars’ smashed gas tank spilling gas which caught on fire as well. Jarrett pulled Roberts from the burning car. Roberts driving suit, specially tailored to fit, had not been chemically treated and Roberts suffered burns over 80% of his body.

Roberts’s car had landed upside down and the burning gas pooled in the roof of the car. Roberts amazed the doctors by surviving the first 48 hours after the accident, and he somehow survived, even appearing to begin recovery, until succumbing to his burns on July 2, 1964 at age 35.

The death of Joe Weatherly had still been on the drivers’ minds before the start of the race. Roberts had mentioned to Jarrett before the start of the ‘600’ that he was thinking of retiring at the end of 1964.

Roberts in fact had recently been divorced but had wanted to wait to get re-married until he and his fiancé could have a ‘proper’ wedding. Roberts’ fiancé visited him every day while he was in the hospital. When Roberts died she was legally entitled to nothing from his estate, and she never married.

Jarrett went on to win the season championship in 1964 and retired while still champion in mid-1965. Johnson basically retired after the 1965 season, but competed in seven short-track races late in 1966.

A Fireball Fan Forever