The Fireball Roberts Legend and Legacy

An Interview With Pam Roberts"'I liked this race best of all,' said a 10-year-old girl with windblown hair. Why? 'Because my daddy won,' said Pam Roberts, grinning from ear to ear."-Pam Roberts, commenting on Fireball Roberts winning the '62 Daytona 500, quoted in the Daytona Beach News Journal, February 19, 1962.

Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts began racing professionally on May 18, 1947 at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and blew an engine. His first victory came August 13, 1950, in Hillsboro, North Carolina, driving an Oldsmobile 88 in a 100-mile NASCAR-sanctioned Grand National Race. It took just seven years from that first win for Fireball to be voted NASCAR's most popular driver in 1957.

Maintaining a base in his hometown of Daytona Beach, by 1959 Fireball Roberts was racing under the sponsorship of Stephens Pontiac and the guidance of the legendary Smokey Yunick. Fireball's biggest win for Pontiac came on February 18, 1962, when he won the Daytona 500. It is where the subject of our interview with Fireball Roberts' daughter, Pam Roberts, begins.

High Performance Pontiac: Please tell us about the Daytona 500, which your dad, Fireball Roberts, won in 1962.
Pam Roberts: The day of the 1962 Daytona 500 is very memorable to us in the Roberts family. Dad and Mom took me and my friend, Nancy, to my father's parent's house before we all went out to the track because I wanted to show Nancy the "tame" squirrel that lived in the yard. On this particular day, he wasn't so tame. As soon as we stopped to look for him, he came running down a tree, raced across the patio, ran up my leg, down my arm, and bit me on my hand. We washed the wound and bandaged it. Instead of riding to the track with my grand-parents, Daddy rushed us out to the Daytona International Speedway's infield hospital (our family doctor was the track doctor for years), where I received a tetanus shot. Needless to say, my day did not start out so well.

HPP: How did Mrs. Doris "Fireball" Roberts participate in this winning race?
PR: Mother always scored Daddy when she was at a race, so she was sitting in the scoring stand during the 1962 Daytona 500. Nancy and I sat with my grandparents in the infield near the fourth turn. When there were only 50 laps to go and Dad was still out in front, I was getting really excited. I kept telling my grandparents we needed to go towards the Winner's Circle. When there were 10 laps to go, I couldn't stand it anymore, so against my grandmother's wishes, Nancy and I took off running towards the Scorer's Stand and my mom. We got there just as Daddy came across the finish line. I could see my mother's face and her excitement. She was seated with my sitter, Joan Epton; she is the daughter of then-Chief Scorer, Joe Epton. We went into the Winner's Circle and from there into the Press Box, where I met Alan Shepard and John Glenn, who had both just been in space. The next day at school I was asked questions about the race, and all I wanted to talk about was meeting and talking to the astronauts.

HPP: How did your dad feel about his win?
PR: I have an article from the book I am writing about Dad's career that can answer that question better than I can. This article was written by the late Benny Kahn, who was sports editor of the Daytona Beach News Journal while Dad was racing. He was a dear friend of ours. I want to quote him:

"It was a long awaited victory for Roberts. He ran out of luck last year just 32 miles from the finish when, with a full lap lead, the crankshaft on his '61 Pontiac broke. Yesterday, he was almost thwarted again as he ran out of gas twice-on his first and second pit stops-and had to coast in to refuel. The one thing he has never run out of is moxie-and it finally paid off, BIG! Fireball led 144 of the 200 laps, and he led the laps that counted the most-the last 69 in a row to the finish line. It was a charging victory for Roberts, the guy who was betrayed by engine trouble in 1959, 1960, and again last year...'Fireball followed instructions to a T,' said [Chief Mechanic] Smokey Yunick. 'He just drove her flat out, belly to the ground, as we planned.' [Original text omitted.] 'You better believe I wanted this win,' said a jubilant Roberts. 'I sweated out those last 13 laps' (Daytona Beach News Journal February 19, 1962)."

HPP: What records did Fireball Roberts set or break at the 1962 Daytona 500?
PR: He set four world records: A world record for 500 miles at 152.529 mph, a two-lap time trials record at 158.744 mph, a 25-mile pole position race record at 156.44 mph, and a 100-mile race record at 156.999 mph. All of these records are stated in Benny Kahn's original article in the Daytona Beach News Journal on February 19, 1962.

Fireball Roberts gives one of his trademark grins that helped to get him voted NASCAR's most popular driver in 1957. Here he is in his #3 '59 Pontiac.

HPP: And today, how do you feel about your dad's win?
PR: That was truly a wonderful time for our family. Dad wanted to win the Daytona 500 so badly, and we all wanted it for him. It means a lot to a driver to win in his hometown, and I am so grateful that he got that wish.

HPP: How did your family celebrate that achievement?
PR: After the Daytona 500 win in 1962, Mom and Dad went to New York City together in our plane. [Fireball Roberts was an amateur pilot.] I got a second poodle and, in 1964, a bigger house was purchased.

HPP: Let's go back to Fireball Roberts' first win in a Pontiac. When was it?
PR: Dad's first Pontiac win was in the #3 Black/Gold Pontiac at the Daytona Firecracker 250 on July 4, 1959.

HPP: What were his thoughts before that race?
PR: Max Muhleman of The Charlotte Observer quoted Dad before his win: "I've got a faster car than the '57 Chevy, which won the Southern 500 for me, but the reliability of this Pontiac is an unknown factor. It isn't like having three or four long races in the car under your belt. I don't think anyone could have done a better job preparing it than Smokey did, however. Over 2,000 man-hours and $8,500 went into getting this car ready. That's why I don't think even the Holman and Moody Thunderbirds can compare with it. They were assembled on a production line basis and didn't have the time spent on them that Smokey spent on this one. I can't buy those T-Birds as world-beaters. The silhouette looks too boxy to me. All things considered, I don't think they're as streamlined as a new Chevy or Pontiac. The only tricky thing about driving this track is the wind. We qualified in a 15-mile-an-hour headwind and could have turned up to 143 [mph], I believe. At high speed it moves you around a lot, especially when you go up high on those banked turns. It's an easy track to drive-it just takes a lot of 'brave.' Being there at the end is going to mean a lot. It's sure going to be easy to blow an engine. I've seen two '57 Chevy's blow in just a few laps, and they're about the most dependable things around."

In 1963, Fireball Roberts smiles with the Nichels Engineering-built Banjo Matthews-wrenched #22 Pontiac at Riverside. Roberts finished fourth in one of the last races to field several Nichels' Pontiacs. Photo by Lester Nehamkin/courtesy of Nichels Engineering Archives.

Fireball Roberts continued racing Pontiacs into 1963 with the #22 '62 Pontiac Catalina. Here, Fireball (center) and Ray Nichels (right) talk racing at Daytona with an unidentified person.

Fireball Roberts and Smokey Yunick pose with the #3 '59 Catalina hardtop. Pontiac produced two NASCAR factory race car options in 1959. The first, like this one, was outfitted with a single four-barrel intake, rated at 330 hp. The rarer and rarely seen 345 hp NASCAR upgrade was illegal for Daytona racing and featured Tri-Power carburetion.