Fireball Roberts

Fireball Roberts
Grave marker
Born	Edward Glenn Roberts Jr. (1929-01-20)January 20, 1929 Tavares, Florida, US
Died	July 2, 1964(1964-07-02) (aged 35) Charlotte, North Carolina, US
Cause of death	Complications due to racing crash on May 24, 1964, during the 1964 World 600
Achievements	Daytona 500 pole winner 1961, 1962, 1963 1962 Daytona 500 winner 1958, 1963 Southern 500 winner
Awards	1957 Grand National Series Most Popular Driver Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee (1990) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995) Florida Sports Hall of Fame inductee NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee (2014)
NASCAR Cup 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)
Wins Top tens Poles 33 122 32
Statistics current as of February 23, 2013.

Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929 – July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer.

Background[]

Roberts was born in Tavares, Florida, and raised in Apopka, Florida, where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball. He was a pitcher for the Zellwood Mud Hens, an American Legion baseball team, where he earned the nickname, "Fireball" because of his fastball. He enlisted with the United States Army Air Corps in 1945, but was discharged after basic training because of his asthma.

Racing career[]

He attended the University of Florida and raced on dirt tracks on weekends. In 1947, at the age of eighteen, he raced on the Daytona 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 and modified races at Florida tracks such as Seminole 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. In his 206 career NASCAR Grand National races, he won 33 times and had 32 poles. He finished in the top-five 45 percent of the time, and in the top-ten 59 percent of the time. He won both the Daytona 500 and Firecracker 250 events in 1962,^[1] driving a black and gold 1962 Pontiac built by car builder legend, Smokey Yunick. He also designed Augusta International Raceway, where he would last win.

Between 1962 and 1964, Roberts competed in multiple major sports car races, including a class win at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ferrari 250 GTO entered by North American Racing Team.

Labor union[]

In 1961, Roberts, temporary president of the Federation of Professional Athletes, was in dispute with NASCAR president, Bill France, over the Teamsters' Union affiliate – the FPA – which he and Curtis Turner had helped organize and which France was trying to disband.^[2] Unlike the banned Curtis Turner and Tim Flock, Roberts soon returned to the NASCAR fold.

Death[]

On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts had qualified in the eleventh position and started in the middle of the pack. On lap seven, Ned Jarrett and Junior 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-degree burns over eighty percent of his body and was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. Although it was thought that Roberts had an allergic reaction to flame-retardant chemicals, he was secretly an asthmatic, and the chemicals affected his breathing.^[3][4]

Roberts was able to survive for several weeks, and it appeared he might pull through, but he took a turn for the worse on June 30, 1964. He contracted pneumonia and sepsis and had slipped into a coma by the next day. Roberts died from his burns on July 2, 1964.

Roberts' death, as well as the deaths of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald at the Indianapolis 500, six days after Roberts' crash, led to an increase in research on fire-retardant uniforms. It also led to the development of the Firestone RaceSafe fuel cell. Modern race cars use a foam-filled fuel cell to prevent fuel spillage of the magnitude of Roberts car. Also, fully fire-retardant coveralls would be phased in, leading to mandatory Nomex racing suits. Roberts had lost his close friend, Joe Weatherly, in January 1964 at the Motor Trend 500, at Riverside, California.

Many sources reported that Roberts was planning to retire, since he had taken a public relations position at the Falstaff Brewing Company, and that the race in which he was killed was to be one of the final races of his career.^[5]

Legacy[]

Despite having his career cut short and having never won a Grand National title, Roberts was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers. Other career accolades he won include induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America^[6] in 1995. In 2000, the city of Concord, North Carolina, named a street near Charlotte 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 drivers seat, as requirements for all NASCAR vehicles.

The "Fireball Run", named for Roberts, was started in 2007. This streaming TV "adventurally" series, headquartered at Universal Studios in Florida, covers 40 teams as they compete in an 8-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 the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he was included in the 2014 induction ceremony.^[7]

Motorsports career results[]

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

Grand National Series[]

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62	NGNC	Pts	Ref
1950		11	Hudson	DAB 33	CLT																																																													2nd	1848.5	[8]
		51	Ford			LAN 15	MAR	CAN		DSP	MCF	CLT
		71	Olds										HBO 1	DSP
		11													HAM 2					MAR 6	WIN	HBO 21
		82														DAR 2	LAN 3	NWS 16
1951		85	Plymouth	DAB 45																																																														12th	930	[9]
		11	Olds		CLT 8	NMO 19		HBO 14	ASF	NWS 38	MAR 32	CAN	24	CLB	DSP				HEI	AWS	MCF		MSF			ABS
			Ford																								DAR 5	CLB 2		LAN	CLT	DSP		HBO	TPN		MAR	OAK	NWS	HMS		ATL		NMO
1952				PBS	DAB 52	24	NWS	MAR	CLB 21	ATL		LAN	DAR 8	DSP	CAN			HBO	CLT	MSF						MCF	AWS	DAR 49		LAN	DSP	16	HBO	MAR	NWS																															59th	-	[10]
	Bill Snowden	16	Hudson																																	ATL 18	PBS
1953		11	Ford	PBS	DAB		NWS	CLT	RCH		LAN	CLB	HCY	MAR		RSP 39		FFS	LAN	TCS		MCF	PIF		ATL			DAV	HBO	AWS		HCY																																		132nd	84	[11]
			Olds																														DAR 45		LAN	BLF		NWS	MAR	ATL
1954		25		PBS	DAB 8	JSP	ATL 22		OAK	NWS	HBO		LAN		MAR	SHA	20	CLT		CLB 13	LND	HCY	MCF	WGS	PIF	AWS	SFS			OAK				DAR 7			LAN	MAS	MAR	NWS																										22nd	1648	[12]
1955	Bob Fish	M-1	Buick	TCS	PBS	JSP	DAB 48		CLB	HBO	NWS	MGY	LAN	CLT	HCY	ASF		MAR	RCH	NCF	FOR		MCF	FON			PIF	CLB	AWS			NYF			FOR	MAS	RSP	DAR 66	MGY	LAN	RSP	GPS	MAS	CLB	MAR	LVP	NWS	HBO																		201st	-	[13]
1956	DePaolo Engineering	22	Ford	HCY	CLT		PBS	ASF	DAB 59	PBS 5		ATL	NWS 25	LAN 31	RCH 18		CON	GPS	HCY	HBO 4	MAR 16		CLT	POR		NYF		MAS 21	4	MCF	POR	AWS 18	RSP 1*	PIF 2	CSF	CHI 1	4	MGY 10	OKL 3	ROA 3	4		8	PIF 8	1	POR	DAR 51	4	19	LAN 17	POR	CLB 4	HBO 1	1	CLT 10	12	MAR 5	HCY	4							7th	5794	[14]
		12																																								8
1957		22		2	CON	1*	DAB 37	CON 4	9	HBO 17	AWS 13	1**	LAN 1*	1	PIF 2	5	POR	1	RCH 2*	MAR 9	POR		2	14	ASP																																									6th	8268	[15]
	Roberts Racing																									1	CLB 16		PIF 9	JAC 12					5	21	7	GLN 2	KPC	31	6	3*	DAR 33	NYF 5	AWS 10	CSF		LAN 17*	CLB 15	14	2		1*	CON 1*	21*
		11																													13		MAS 3	POR
		34	Ford																													5
	Buck Baker Racing	7	Chevy																																																	12
1958	Bob Fish	M-1	Buick		DAB 9	CON			HBO		CLB	PIF																																																						11th	4420	[16]
	Beau Morgan	494	Ford										ATL 3		MAR	ODS		GPS			NWS	BGS
		22	Chevy																				1*	RSD	CLB				HCY	AWS	1*	MCC	SLS	TOR	BUF	MCF	BEL	BRR	CLB	NSV 30	AWS 1	BGS	MBS	DAR 1*		BIR 1	CSF		RCH	HBO		MAR 1*	NWS	ATL 2
1959		3	Pontiac		DAY 33	DAY 34	HBO	CON																					DAY 1*	HEI		MBS		NSV	AWS	BGS	GPS	CLB	DAR 7	HCY	RCH	CSF	HBO																							16th	3676	[17]
		22	Chevy						ATL 8		BGS	CLB	NWS		HCY
		48	Chevy													MAR 25	TRN		NSV	ASP	PIF	GPS
	Buck Baker Racing	88	Chevy																				ATL 6	CLB		RCH	BGS	AWS
																																												MAR 30	AWS	NWS
1960	John Hines	22	Pontiac		CLB	DAY 1**	DAY	DAY 57		NWS		CLB	MAR			BGS	GPS	AWS	DAR 20	PIF	HBO	RCH	HMS	CLT 35	BGS	DAY 31	HEI		MBS	ATL 1	BIR		AWS	PIF	CLB	SBO	BGS	DAR 9	HCY	CSF		HBO	MAR	NWS	CLT 23*	RCH	ATL 34																			29th	4700	[18]
1961	Smokey Yunick				JSP	DAY 1*	DAY	DAY 20*	PIF	AWS		ATL 42	GPS	HBO	BGS	MAR	NWS 4	CLB		RCH		DAR 5*					CLT 2	PIF		GPS	BGS				DAY 5*	12	CLB		BRI 2		BGS				DAR 2*	HCY	RCH	CSF	ATL 3			CLT 29*														5th	17600	[19]
		75									HMS 1**										3		6		RSD	ASP
		127	Pontiac																																			MBS 21
		59	Pontiac																																							AWS 31	RCH	SBO
	Cotton Owens	6	Pontiac																																															MAR 4
	Bud Moore Engineering	18	Pontiac																																																NWS 2
		22	Pontiac																																																		BRI 26	GPS 16	HBO 5
1962				CON	AWS	DAY 1*	DAY	DAY 1*	CON	AWS		HBO	RCH 5		NWS 4	GPS	MBS	MAR 18*	BGS	BRI 2	RCH		CON	DAR 32	PIF	CLT 9	ATL 4	BGS	AUG	RCH	SBO	DAY 1	CLB	ASH	GPS	AUG		MBS	BRI 36	CHT 2	19	HUN	AWS		BGS	PIF		DAR 36	HCY	RCH 17	DTS	AUG	MAR 7	NWS 29	2	ATL 10*										8th	16380	[20]
1963	Banjo Matthews			BIR	20		RSD 4	DAY 6	DAY	DAY 21	PIF	AWS	HBO	ATL 2																																																				5th	22642	[21]
	Holman-Moody		Ford													BRI 1*	AUG	RCH 23	GPS	SBO	BGS	MAR 28		CLB		DAR 2	ODS	RCH	CLT 10	BIR	ATL 31	DAY 1*	MBS		DTS	BGS	ASH	1	BRR 5	BRI 29	GPS		CLB	AWS	PIF	BGS		DAR 1	HCY	RCH	MAR 7	DTS	NWS 4*		4	SBO	HBO	RSD 4
1964				CON	1	JSP		RSD 3	DAY 7	DAY	DAY 37	RCH	BRI 2	GPS	BGS	ATL 20	AWS		PIF	CLB	NWS 31	MAR 5	SVH	DAR 2			SBO	CLT 35	GPS	ASH	ATL	CON	NSV		BIR		PIF	DAY			BRR	ISP	GLN	LIN	BRI	NSV	MBS	AWS			CLB			DAR	HCY	RCH	ODS	HBO	MAR		NWS				JAC	27th	9900	[22]

Daytona 500[]

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1959		Pontiac	46	45
1960	John Hines	Pontiac	3	57
1961	Smokey Yunick	Pontiac	1	20*
1962		Pontiac	1	1*
1963	Banjo Matthews	Pontiac	1	21
1964	Holman-Moody	Ford	15	37

References[]

External links[]

• "Fireball" Roberts web site
• Glenn "Fireball" Roberts at NASCAR.com
• [1]Glenn "Fireball" Roberts at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
• Glenn "Fireball" Roberts website and career stats by son-in-law
• Fireball Roberts driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Fireball Roberts owner statistics at Racing-Reference

Achievements
Preceded by Marvin Panch	Daytona 500 Winner 1962	Succeeded by Tiny Lund