1962 Daytona 500

Glen "Fireball" Roberts wins the 1963 Daytona 500. After disappointment in his previous 3 Daytona 500's, his legendary crewchief Smokey Yunick builds a car that Fireball is unable to break during the race. Fireball would go on to defeat Richard Petty by 27 seconds. This was Fireball's biggest victory in a racing career that was tragically cut short in 1964.

Time of race: 3:10:41
Average Speed: 152.529 mph
Pole Speed: 156.999 mph
Cautions: none
Margin of Victory: 27 sec
Attendance: 58,070
Purse: $24,190

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1962
• Daytona
• 500

[ItsSkaTV]

Where'd you get the clip from. Is it from some Daytona History DVD or something.

Great vid BTW.

[CrashCarnageVid]

@ItsSkaTV These are all from the DVD "Daytona 500 - 50 Years". It highlights every Daytona 500 from 1959-2008. I plan on posting them all so keep checking back!

[cjs3872]

@altfactor

Nope, the first time they aired the Daytona 500 was in 1963, but became an annual stop for Wide World through 1973, but in 1974, they began airing appoxoimately the last 200 miles of the race live, except for 1976, when they aired the first half hour, which lasted the first 19 laps, then broadcast the last 60 laps live after their coverage of the Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria

[CosmicFork]

If you're into Fireball Roberts racing career, high performance pontiac (on web.) has a great article on him. It gives an interview with his daughter Pam Roberts... But, best of all, you get to see all kinds of pictures of the sweet 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty that he won this very Daytona 500 with. It's got pictures of the wicked, stump-pulling 421 SD engine that Smokey Yunick (Chief Mechanic) built & painted Gold... He said: "Roberts just drove her flat out, belly to the ground, and won!"

[TalladegaTom]

Smokey Yunick at 2:47

I love that guy!

[joboots007]

@altfactor I believe that was the Firecracker 250 later that July which Fireball won as well

(earning the first Daytona sweep,BTW) and then won the first Firecracker 400 the next year

in one of those Holman-Moody Fords!!!!

[spartan36789]

what id like to know is if there were any 1962 ford fairlanes in this race, and what thier numbers were and where i could get a decent color photo of the car(s) or atleast a paint scheme and a detailed black n' white photo

[altfactor]

I thought that the 1962 Daytona "500" was the first-ever time the race was taped (and edited for showing the next weekend) on "Wide World Of Sports" (and I believe it was also just the second time "Wide World" did a NASCAR race).

I'd love to see clips from their coverage.

[ItsSkaTV]

@CrashCarnageVid Cool. Thanks.