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Fireball Roberts
Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929 – July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer.
Roberts was born in Daytona Beach, 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.[citation needed]
Roberts attended the University of Florida and raced on dirt tracks on weekends. In 1947, at the age of 18, 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.[citation needed]
"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 first Southern 500 in 1958, driving a Chevrolet prepared by Paul 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, 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.[citation needed]
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 – which Curtis Turner and he had helped organize, and which France was trying to disband. Unlike the banned Curtis Turner and Tim Flock, Roberts soon returned to the NASCAR fold.
On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts had qualified in 11th 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 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.
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 contracted pneumonia and sepsis and had slipped into a coma by the next day. Roberts died from his burns on July 2.
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Fireball Roberts
Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929 – July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer.
Roberts was born in Daytona Beach, 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.[citation needed]
Roberts attended the University of Florida and raced on dirt tracks on weekends. In 1947, at the age of 18, 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.[citation needed]
"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 first Southern 500 in 1958, driving a Chevrolet prepared by Paul 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, 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.[citation needed]
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 – which Curtis Turner and he had helped organize, and which France was trying to disband. Unlike the banned Curtis Turner and Tim Flock, Roberts soon returned to the NASCAR fold.
On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts had qualified in 11th 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 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.
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 contracted pneumonia and sepsis and had slipped into a coma by the next day. Roberts died from his burns on July 2.