NASCAR Hall of Fame Finalist 5th Class - Fireball Roberts,
Driver
Nascar's Fireball Roberts
(ISC Archives/Getty Images)
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SEE ALSO: Complete List Of Finalists - Includes Official NASCAR Bio's and Pictures
(b. 1/20/29 – d.
7/2/64)
Hometown:
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Competed:
1950-64
Starts:
207
Wins:
33
Poles:
32
Glenn Roberts, who got his legendary nickname from his
days as a hard-throwing pitcher in high school, is perhaps the greatest
driver never to win a NASCAR title.
He was arguably stock car racing’s first superstar, an immensely
popular prototype for some of today’s competitors who are stars on
and off the track.
Of course, Roberts’ fame was based on what he did when he got behind
the wheel. During his career he often came up big in the biggest events,
winning the Daytona 500 in 1962 and the Southern 500 in 1958 and ’63.
Overall, he won seven races at Daytona International Speedway, starting
with the Firecracker 250 in the summer of 1959 – the year the
speedway opened.
Roberts was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998; 40
years before that, he demonstrated a burst of greatness that is hard to
fathom. He ran only 10 races in ’58 but won six of them –
finishing 11th in the final NASCAR premier series standings.
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Statistics |
| Year |
Age |
Races |
Win |
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
Pole |
Laps |
Led |
Rank |
AvSt |
AvFn |
RAF |
Miles |
LLF |
| 1950 |
21 |
9 of 19 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
1138 |
60 |
4 |
10.8 |
11.0 |
6 |
1092.7 |
2 |
| 1951 |
22 |
9 of 41 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
825 |
0 |
24 |
8.8 |
20.8 |
6 |
782.8 |
1 |
| 1952 |
23 |
7 of 34 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
443 |
15 |
71 |
10.7 |
26.9 |
2 |
464.5 |
0 |
| 1953 |
24 |
2 of 37 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
352 |
41 |
244 |
3.0 |
42.0 |
1 |
424.5 |
0 |
| 1954 |
25 |
5 of 37 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
811 |
0 |
51 |
3.2 |
14.0 |
3 |
974.2 |
0 |
| 1955 |
26 |
2 of 45 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
69 |
4 |
190 |
2.5 |
57.0 |
0 |
202.8 |
1 |
| 1956 |
27 |
33 of 56 |
5 |
17 |
22 |
3 |
5695 |
475 |
4 |
9.5 |
11.6 |
23 |
3832.8 |
10 |
| 1957 |
28 |
42 of 53 |
8 |
21 |
27 |
4 |
6891 |
1107 |
2 |
5.8 |
9.2 |
32 |
4338.9 |
16 |
| 1958 |
29 |
10 of 51 |
6 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
2491 |
877 |
14 |
6.0 |
5.0 |
9 |
2483.7 |
8 |
| 1959 |
30 |
8 of 44 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1445 |
147 |
31 |
15.5 |
19.4 |
3 |
1503.5 |
1 |
| 1960 |
31 |
9 of 44 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
1338 |
578 |
29 |
1.4 |
23.4 |
2 |
2077.8 |
2 |
| 1961 |
32 |
22 of 52 |
2 |
13 |
14 |
5 |
5075 |
1002 |
5 |
8.1 |
11.0 |
14 |
5099.9 |
4 |
| 1962 |
33 |
19 of 53 |
3 |
9 |
12 |
8 |
4312 |
960 |
8 |
5.2 |
12.4 |
13 |
4244.7 |
4 |
| 1963 |
34 |
20 of 55 |
4 |
11 |
14 |
1 |
4643 |
692 |
8 |
4.3 |
10.2 |
14 |
5516.4 |
5 |
| 1964 |
35 |
10 of 62 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
1702 |
17 |
27 |
8.2 |
14.3 |
6 |
2029.7 |
4 |
| 15 years |
|
207 |
33 |
93 |
122 |
32 |
37230 |
5975 |
|
6.9 |
19.2 |
134 |
35068.9 |
58 |
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