Daytona 1962 Fireball Roberts and Richard

[pmossberg]

Fireball Roberts leads Richard at the 1962 Daytona 500.

Fireball would go on to win and led 144 laps.

Richard finished second and led 32 laps. They were the only two cars on the lead lap at the end.

The picture is copyrighted by www.fireball22.com, the "official” website for Glenn “Fireball” Roberts.

[songsmith1950]

Good old Fireball. . . May God Bless and Keep him. He was a great driver who didn't get to live out his full career. He surely could fly though and I am sure he can now as well.

[pmossberg]

Off line, I blew the picture up to confirm what I thought I saw in the above picture.

And sure enough, Richard has his vent window cracked open for a bit of air flow into the car;
just like any of us would have done when out for a nice Sunday drive. Classic!

[pb1945]

I bet that is some kinda hot right there under the three hoo-wee.

There was thing I do remember about Fireball Roberts he was either leading or blown up. I didn't think they could make a engine strong enough.

I should have added it seemed like he was blown up a lot but I see where he finished in the top 5 45 % of the time that's a darn good stat. I do remember the wreck and I was still in my teens and it was tough to listen to that. seemed like someone was always getting burned bad at Indy too and Glenn's wreck help change the safety requirements.

pb ;D

[eddyk82]

Nov 30, 2009 14:23:33 GMT -5 pmossberg said:

Off line, I blew the picture up to confirm what I thought I saw in the above picture.

And sure enough, Richard has his vent window cracked open for a bit of air flow into the car;
just like any of us would have done when out for a nice Sunday drive. Classic!

Maybe that's why King lost it. Little aerodynamic speed bump cost him a 10th of a second maybe.

[pb1945]

Hate to say it that was a really ugly street car and a ugly race car.

Bbuuuuuut they got it to run.

pb ;D

[pmossberg]

No argument there pb1945!

The 1962 Plymouth Savoy/Fury has to be one of the worst designs to come out of Ma Mopar.

And their advertising tag line for 1962 was "Look at Plymouth Now!"
Geez, that took balls!



At least Chrysler Corp was fair with the Plymouth and Dodge sister cars.
The 1962 Dodge Polara was no better than the Fury.

[apttyfn]

My dad had a white 62 exactly like the one in the pic.

[pmossberg]

Did Dad ever explain whY?

Mine didn't! I learned to drive on my Dad's 1966 Volvo 122 station wagon. Never wanted to be seen around town in that one! But now? I'd love to have it.

[ricklou]

Great job on the blow up Paul, and the mag adverts. The Plymouth had a lot cleaner front end. That Dodge is horrible !

Petty drafted his way to a 2nd place finish in the Daytona that Fireball won. Actually all the talk was about Petty's finish that day. Even though he came home 27 seconds behind Roberts it was slipstreaming that put him into a good position.

Here is a good shot of Glen's high powered Pontiac. Those were the days.



Finding a nice big clean shot of Petty's 62 Plymouth is not that easy or rather very difficult. Go find it Paul.

Here is Bunky Blackburn who brought this car home to a 13th place in the race. Looks like there is window tint on this car.

[pmossberg]

I'll take that challenge Rick!

OK, done!

From our friends at StockCarHistoryOnLine and photographer Don Hunter

1962 at Darlington



And this is cool, here is Richard's Charger about ten years later...from the same view!

[pmossberg]

We've been commenting on the "beauty" of the 1962 cars.

Here is a brief recap of the 1962 Daytona 500 and Richard's battle with Fireball Roberts.
Apparently the writer agrees with us, calling the1962 Plymouth Savoy/Fury and Dodge Polara "outrageously ugly"!

www.allpar.com/racing/petty-plymouth-racing.html

1962 dawned with a totally different atmosphere at Petty Enterprises. Lee Petty was home, but was not an active participant in the decision making process. Heavy rehabilitation efforts were his only focus. As well, due to a judgement blunder made by the former Chrysler President, Newberg, both Plymouth and Dodge makes were downsized. In the process, Virgil Exner's original designs for the 1962 models were horribly applied by a non supervised styling staff. As a result, the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge rode on a truncated 116 inch wheelbase. The styling was just plain outrageously ugly. Still assisting Petty Enterprises, Plymouth furnished two sedans
for 1962. They were not the Fury. Instead they were the least expensive Savoy, 2 door, post models. Faced with having to build another totally new car, their 4th such effort since 1959, the new '62 model, while ugly, soon became Richard's car of choice. He had used the 1961 model for a few races early, before the Daytona 500 in February.

It was at the 1962 Daytona 500 that Richard Petty showed how driving skill could mean just as much as brute horsepower in winning races. For 1962, Pontiac had made an all out effort to dominate NASCAR. They had quietly introduced a "super duty" engine of 421 cubic inches in limited quantities in 1961. The 1962 effort put the 421 available to anyone that had the down payment. "Fireball" Roberts, in a 1962 Pontiac, prepared by Daytona Beach garage owner and self made automotive genius, "Smokey" Yunick, put on a show that up until that time in NASCAR, had never been seen before.

First, Roberts went out and ran a qualifying lap at 156.99 miles an hour! Everyone just looked at each other. That was about 10 miles an hour faster than anything that had ever gone before. Second, in his qualifying race, Roberts dominated it, beginning to end, winning it convincingly. Third, at the end of the 500 mile race, Roberts won, from the pole position, another first. Yet, even though it was obvious that the little Plymouth of Richard Petty was giving up at least 50 horsepower to the Pontiac, Richard used the draft and his skill, and put the Savoy sedan into second place, and held on! He had started in 10th place, moving right up as he put the Plymouth out in front three different times, leading for 27 laps! If Richard Petty had not been noted before, he certainly was then. TV sports and large news organizations actually made more of his second place finish in the obviously underpowered Plymouth than they did of Robert's dominating performance. Richard Petty still talks about this race, and remarks to this day, that the 1962 Daytona was his all out favorite! After that race, the 1961 cars were never used again. Lee Petty never got into a race car in 1962, still recovering from his near death accident in 1961.

[songsmith1950]

Wow, when you two compete we all win!!!!!