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Joe Weatherly, Glenn Roberts and the Tragedy of 1964. (Part
One) By Michael Smith
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Nineteen-ninety three was a terrible and tragic year for
the sport of NASCAR. In the span of one short season,
the reigning Winston Cup Champion, Alan Kulwicki and
Davey Allison, a contender for the championship, were
killed in separate but equally heartbreaking air crashes.
But as difficult as that year was for the sport of stock
car racing, you might be surprised to learn that 1993
has a chilling parallel. The year was 1964 and the drivers
were “Little” Joe Weatherly and Glenn “Fireball” Roberts.
In 1964 Joe Weatherly was NASCAR’s reigning champion,
Glenn Roberts was a consistent championship contender
and neither would survive the season.
“Fireball” Roberts |
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Glenn Roberts earned the nickname “Fireball”
because of his ability as a baseball pitcher, playing
first on his high school team and then on various American
Legion league teams in his home state of Florida. Fireball
might have gone on to fame as a professional baseball
player were it not for the fact that his family moved
from Tavares to Daytona Beach in 1945.
Daytona beach in the mid ‘40s and into the 1950s was
the heart of everything automotive and Fireball evidently
jumped right in with both feet. Fireball ran in the
first Daytona Beach race in 1948 but was knocked out
after fewer than 10 laps. The experience seemed only
to increase the young man’s desire to race – would you
expect anything less from someone called “Fireball”?
Roberts made his NASCAR debut in1950, and 10 races into
the season he notched his first victory at Occoneechee
Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina. Despite his promising
start, Roberts ran in fewer than 10 races each season
between 1950 and 1955, claiming just two victories in
that period. It was not until 1956 that Fireball Roberts
burst onto the scene, scoring 5 victories. The following
year, he posted 8 first place finishes, a personal best.
Fireball Roberts grew into stock car racing’s first
superstar, despite never having won a NASCAR championship.
His superstar status was reinforced when, in 1959 he
won the Daytona 500 from the pole position while driving
for the legendary Smokey Yunick. The following day,
photographs of Roberts sharing a kiss with a former
Miss America in victory lane were plastered on sports
pages across the nation.
Glenn Roberts is also remembered as one of NASCAR’s
first “smart” drivers who relied on his head as much
as his foot for racing. Fireball was reportedly one
of the first drivers to maintain a physical fitness
regimen. Smoky Yunick recalled that Roberts carefully
planned each race, studying the other drivers and rating
them under various track conditions. During the Daytona
500 during NASCAR’s early years, certain laps would
be sponsored by outside contributions from businesses
and fans in the grandstands, with a $25 bonus going
to whoever led the sponsored lap. Fireball relied on
a list of sponsored laps taped to the dash of his racecar
to remind him which laps paid the bonus. According to
one observer, it was always easy to tell when a lap
was sponsored because Fireball Roberts would stomp on
the accelerator and blow by the leader to claim the
bonus money, then back off again to preserve his equipment
for the finish. Ned Jarrett, who would play a role in
the tragic events of 1964, referred to Roberts as “the
most respected driver there ever was.”
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Joe Weatherly’s career path into NASCAR racing
was vastly different than that taken by Glenn Roberts.
About the time Fireball Roberts and his parents were
moving to Daytona Beach, Florida, Joe Weatherly was
serving in the U.S. armed forces in North Africa and
Europe. While in North Africa, a German sniper’s bullet
struck Weatherly in the face, knocking out two of his
teeth and leaving behind a mean looking scar that would
forever belie Little Joe’s sense of mischievous good
humor.
Come wars end, Weatherly resumed a pre-war love affair
with motorcycles, racing in the AMA where he attained
a degree of fame and no small amount of success, earning
three AMA championships between 1946 and 1950. “Little”
Joe, as he came to be called, might easily have made
a career as a motorcycle racer were it not for his entry
into NASCAR racing in 1950. Such was his skill on four
wheels that Little Joe won the very first modified race
he entered.
A volume could be written about Joe Weatherly and his
pranks on and off the track. He was known as the “Clown
Prince of Automobile Racing” and he enjoyed behaving
outrageously, wearing wild clothes and once he took
practice laps wearing a Peter Pan suit. Moreover, he
frequently stayed out partying until the early hours,
usually with fellow driver and good time buddy Curtis
Turner.
But behind the happy, fun-loving exterior, Little Joe
held the heart of a champion. In a NASCAR Grand National
career that spanned between 1952 and 1964, Weatherly
notched 25 victories. The win column statistic is more
astounding when we consider that Little Joe never ran
anything approaching a full race season until 1962.
Not surprisingly, in 1962 (his first full season) Little
Joe won the NASCAR championship, claiming 7 victories
over a grueling span of 52 races. The following year
he backed up his dominating performance with 6 victories
and another NASCAR championship. The 1963 championship
is all the more amazing when we consider that Little
Joe’s team owner, Bud Moore didn’t have the resources
to campaign a car throughout the entire season. Rather
than sit out those races that the Bud Moore team couldn’t
afford to run, Little Joe “bummed” rides in other team’s
cars, thus salvaging the championship in grand fashion.
The 1961 Firecracker 250 offers a wonderful example
of Little Joe’s tenacity on the racetrack. During the
race Little Joe’s Pontiac started popping out of gear
unexpectedly. Refusing to pull into the garage, Little
Joe twisted around in his seat in order to hold the
shifter in gear with his right leg while using his left
foot to operate the accelerator and brake pedals. Testament
to his perseverance, Little Joe managed to finish sixth
that day.
So it seems that Glenn “Fireball” Roberts and “Little”
Joe Weatherly were nearly opposites in their approach
to their craft. Glenn Roberts is remembered as calculating,
deliberate and goal oriented; NASCAR’s first superstar.
Joe Weatherly is remembered as a prankster, a fun-loving
clown who just happened to be tough to beat on the track
come race day. This easily could be the end of the story.
Things would be best if we could remember the long,
successful careers of “Fireball” and “Little” Joe, but
sadly, they would enjoy little or no success in the
1964 season. For one, life would end at Riverside International
Raceway during the fifth race of the season. For the
other, a painful death would come after a fiery crash
during the World 600 at Charlotte.
Copyright 2000, Michael Smith
Next Time…..The Sudden, Tragic Events of 1964
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NASCAR
RACING DEPARTMENTS
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NASCAR
AUCTIONS
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NASCAR
RACING WEB SITES
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