Bobby discusses racing with...
Bobby discusses racing with an unknown Firestone Tire representative in 1960 at Darlington.
HPP: How about Smokey? Do you recall the first time you met him?
BJ: Smokey and my dad were closer than I was with Smokey because my dad was a pretty ingenious mechanic. If we ever needed anything to work with, we'd go over to Smokey's garage. It was private, nobody would go into certain areas, and we weren't allowed to go in there either. But if we needed to use any tools or parts, Smokey was congenial. When I got to ride in the No. 3 '59 Pontiac in 1960, part of the deal was that I had to work on it. That was right up my alley because I was excited to see what Smokey had in his bag of tricks. It was an educational trip for me as a driving trip that worked out very well.
HPP: Who came up with the idea for you to drive the '59 No. 3 Pontiac Catalina in the 1960 Daytona 500?
BJ: I think Fireball was instrumental in getting the ride for me. I always thanked him for it anyways, whether he did it or not. It could have been Smokey. He could have had it in the back of his mind.
HPP: What did Smokey promise you if you won the Daytona 500?
BJ: The normal split for a racer was 40 percent. Anybody who was worth his weight would pull 40 percent. But the 40 percent payout wasn't the big part of racing for Smokey, at least to me. The big part of it was riding in a car that was very capable.
HPP: How did Smokey train you for the Daytona 500?
BJ: Smokey had me practice at the Daytona International Speedway before the Daytona 500 in 1960. One Sunday I was out there running 140 or 141 mph and Smokey pulled me in and said, "You're not in the secondaries, yet [referring to the carburetor secondaries]." Smokey had a real hard accelerator pedal to push. So I got back in that '59 Pontiac and then turned laps at 148 mph. When Smokey flagged me in, his first words were, "Didn't you feel that car sideways?" I said, "Yes, I felt it sideways, but it was getting through the corners." It was a treat to run a car with that kind of horsepower and I drove it like a dirt-track car. It reminds me of some of the Busch boys these days-how they're running sideways, sail the tail, get up against the wall, and just run as hard as they can against the wall. It brings back good memories. After I showed Smokey I could get around the racetrack with his No. 3 Pontiac, the deal was mine to run the 1960 Daytona 500.
HPP: History shows you had the lead and the Daytona 500 win was easily yours. What went wrong?
BJ: I told Smokey, "That rear window is 'oil canning' down the back straightaway." In other words, it's vibrating in and out. I could see it in the rearview mirror. "That thing looks like it might just come out," I said. But Smokey said, "No. Fireball won the Fourth of July [1959] race in it. It's not going to go anywhere." But we were running quicker in the draft than Fireball ever ran with that car. With the '60 Pontiacs being faster this next year, they were in the 150 mph range, and I was drafting up to 155 mph behind them. Of course, we took the lead toward the end of the race and were really running strong. That's when the rear window popped out. It was like a cannon went off. My helmet went down over the front of my face so I pushed it back and looked up to realize that I was almost at Lake Lloyd. I spun around and got back on the racetrack, and that's when Junior Johnson went by. I had just a couple more laps to go, but with no rear window, the car would hardly move because of wind turbulence coming over the back and then circulating through the cab. It was like a big anchor pulling me back. So I hooked up with Jim Reed-I got behind him and started drafting. I still finished Second, in front of Lee and Richard Petty. It was quite a race.