| Fireball Roberts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Grave marker | |||||||
| Born | Edward Glenn Roberts Jr. (1929-01-20)January 20, 1929 Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | July 2, 1964(1964-07-02) (aged 35) Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. | ||||||
| Cause of death | Complications due to racing crash on May 24, 1964, during the1964 World 600 | ||||||
| Achievements | Daytona 500 pole winner1961,1962,1963 1962 Daytona 500winner 1958,1963Southern 500winner | ||||||
| Awards | 1957Grand National SeriesMost Popular Driver Named one ofNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1990) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995) Florida Sports Hall of Fame NASCAR Hall of Fame (2014) Named one ofNASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023) | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 206 races run over 15 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 2nd (1950) | ||||||
| First race | 1950 (Daytona Beach) | ||||||
| Last race | 1964 World 600 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| First win | 1950 (Hillsboro) | ||||||
| Last win | 1964 (Augusta) | ||||||
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| Statistics up to date as of February 23, 2013. | |||||||
Edward Glenn "Fireball"Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929 – July 2, 1964) was an Americanstock car racer.
Roberts was born inDaytona Beach, Florida, and raised inApopka, Florida, where he was interested in both auto racing andbaseball. He was apitcher for the Zellwood Mud Hens, anAmerican Legion baseball team, where he earned the nickname "Fireball" because of hisfastball.[1] He enlisted with theUnited States Army Air Corps in 1945, but was discharged after basic training because of hisasthma.
He attended theUniversity of Florida and raced on dirt tracks on weekends. In 1947, at the age of 18, he raced on theDaytona Beach Road Course at Daytona for the first time. He won a 150-mile race at Daytona Beach the following year. Roberts also competed in local stock andmodified races at Florida tracks, such asSeminole Speedway.
"Fireball" Roberts continued to amass victories on the circuit, despite the changes in NASCAR, as it moved away from shorter dirt tracks to superspeedways in the 1950s and 1960s. Roberts won his firstSouthern 500 in 1958, driving a Chevrolet prepared byPaul McDuffie. In his 206 career NASCAR Grand National races, he won 33 times and had 32 poles. He finished in the top five 45% of the time, and in the top 10 59% of the time. He won both the Daytona 500 and Firecracker 250 events in 1962,[2] driving a black and gold 1962 Pontiac built by car-builder legendSmokey Yunick. He also designedAugusta International Raceway, where he would last win.
Between 1962 and 1964, Roberts competed in multiple majorsports-car races, including a class win at the1962 24 Hours of Le Mans driving aFerrari 250 GTO entered byNorth American Racing Team.
In 1961, Roberts, temporary president of the Federation of Professional Athletes (FPA), was in dispute with NASCAR president,Bill France, over the Teamsters' Union affiliate – the FPA – whichCurtis Turner and he had helped organize, and which France was trying to disband.[3] Unlike the banned Curtis Turner andTim Flock, Roberts soon returned to the NASCAR fold.
On May 24, 1964, at theWorld 600 inCharlotte, Roberts had qualified in 11th position and started in the middle of the pack. On lap seven,Ned Jarrett andJunior Johnson collided and spun out, and Roberts crashed trying to avoid them. Roberts'Ford slammed backward into the inside retaining wall, flipped over, and burst into flames. Witnesses at the track claimed they heard Roberts screaming, "Ned, help me", from inside his burning car after the wreck. Jarrett rushed to save Roberts as his car was engulfed by the flames. Roberts suffered second- and third-degreeburns over 80% of his body and was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. Although Roberts was thought to have had an allergic reaction to flame-retardant chemicals, he was secretly an asthmatic, and the chemicals affected his breathing.[4][5]
Roberts was able to survive for several weeks, appearing as if he might pull through, but he took a turn for the worse on June 30. He contractedpneumonia andsepsis and had slipped into acoma by the next day. Roberts died from his burns on July 2.[1]
Roberts' death, as well as the deaths ofEddie Sachs andDave MacDonald at theIndianapolis 500, six days after Roberts' crash, led to an increase in research onfire-retardant uniforms. It also led to the development of the Firestone RaceSafe fuel cell. Modern race cars use a foam-filledfuel cell to prevent fuel spillage of the magnitude of Roberts' car. Also, fully fire-retardantcoveralls were phased in, leading to mandatoryNomex racing suits. Roberts had lost his close friend,Joe Weatherly, in January 1964 at the MotorTrend 500, at Riverside, California.
Many sources reported that Roberts was planning to retire, since he had taken a public-relations position at theFalstaff Brewing Company and that the race in which he was killed was to be one of the final races of his career.[6]
Despite having his career cut short and having never won aGrand National title, Roberts was named one ofNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers. Other career accolades he won include induction into theInternational Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, and theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America[7] in 1995. In 2000, the city ofConcord, North Carolina, named a street nearCharlotte Motor Speedway in his honor.
After Roberts' death, NASCAR mandated that all drivers wear flame-retardant coveralls while on track. They also instituted the five-point safety harness, and the special, contoured driver's seat, as requirements for all NASCAR vehicles.
The "Fireball Run", named for Roberts, was started in 2007. Thisstreaming TV "adventurally" series, headquartered at Universal Studios in Florida, covers 40 teams as they compete in an eight-day, 2000-mile race and life-sized trivia game to raise money for missing and exploited children organizations. The Fireball Run is credited with assisting in the recovery of 38 missing children.[citation needed]
In 2013, Roberts was nominated for induction in theNASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he was included in the 2014 induction ceremony.[8]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Jim Stephens | Pontiac | 46 | 45 |
| 1960 | John Hines | Pontiac | 3 | 57 |
| 1961 | Smokey Yunick | Pontiac | 1 | 20* |
| 1962 | Jim Stephens | Pontiac | 1 | 1* |
| 1963 | Banjo Matthews | Pontiac | 1 | 21 |
| 1964 | Holman-Moody | Ford | 15 | 37 |
| Year | Team | Co-Driver | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 |  North American Racing Team | Bob Grossman | Ferrari 250 GTO | E 3.0 | 297 | 6th | 1st |
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Daytona 500 Winner 1962 | Succeeded by |