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Joe Weatherly, Glenn Roberts and the Tragedy of 1964. (Part Two) By Michael Smith
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For Joe Weatherly and Glenn Roberts the 1964 NASCAR season dawned full with the promise of success and good fortune – nothing could lead a person to believe otherwise. Joe Weatherly entered the new year as 1963’s reigning Grand National champion, having scored 3 victories and six pole positions on his way to the title. Glenn Roberts was fresh from a fifth place finish in the season’s final points standings, with 4 victories to his credit in just 20 starts, and probably looking forward to another season of championship contention.
Weatherly and Roberts, 41 and 35 years old respectively, were nearly direct opposites in terms of how they raced and conducted their lives away from the track. Early in their careers, Weatherly and Roberts, along with Curtis Turner, drove for the powerhouse team of Holman-Moody. Weatherly and Turner apparently paired off as party buddies on and off the track and would do whatever it took to win a race, including knocking competitors and each other out of the way. Roberts seemed content to run his races and keep his personal life as low key as possible. Weatherly, a World War II veteran, seemed to live life on the edge with a grin and a practical joke for everyone that crossed his path. Roberts, a bit younger, is recalled as somewhat reserved, NASCAR’s first superstar, and a driver who knew that to win a race, a driver had to finish.
Sudden Death on the West Coast
Joe Weatherly was in the championship points lead heading to Riverside Speedway, the fifth race of the 1964 season. Little Joe qualified sixteenth for the event but things would not go well under the California sun, at the track where he had clinched the 1963 championship just two short months earlier. Accounts of Little Joe’s accident vary. According to Ralph Moody, during the race the transmission in Weatherly’s 1964 Mercury reportedly malfunctioned. Weatherly pulled into the pits and the Bud Moore pit crew hastily swapped out the clutch and transmission and sent the red and black #8 car back out onto the road course, several laps down. The day after the race, the New York Times speculated that the cause of Weatherly’s crash might have been a stuck accelerator. A more recent account of the sudden accident indicates that an inspection of the car found that a brake caliper pin had fallen out, leaving Little Joe with no brakes heading into Riverside Speedway’s most treacherous turn.
Whatever the cause, less than halfway through the 187-lap event, Little Joe Weatherly’s car skidded out of control entering the treacherous 180-degree turn 6 and the car leapt, driver’s side first, into the steel retaining wall. Some reports indicate that a puff of blue smoke was seen to issue from the Mercury before the car skidded out of control. Perhaps in keeping with his devil-may-care attitude, perhaps because he had survived combat during the war, Little Joe Weatherly didn’t typically wear a shoulder harness and reportedly didn’t always race with his helmet strapped. The force of the impact jarred Little Joe Weatherly’s head sideways causing it to hit the retaining wall. Little Joe was apparently killed instantly.
In our era of modern mass communication, we might find it shocking that Little Joe’s sudden death warranted less than a half column of print in the New York Times the Monday morning following the Riverside race. The article was accompanied by a photo of Little Joe wearing his trademark “Rebel 300” shirt, which he had started wearing after what was perhaps his proudest moment: winning the 1960 Rebel 300 at Darlington. One wonders how many readers of the New York Times really noticed the photo, much less the article, sandwiched as it was between stories of bowling scores, yacht racing and the Monte Carlo rally race results.
Memorial Day Trial by Fire
For his part Fireball Roberts managed a third place finish at Riverside Speedway that day, behind Marvin Panch and race winner Dan Gurney. Fireball wouldn’t fare much better through the remainder of what was to be an abbreviated season for him as well. In the Daytona 500 on February 21st, equipment failure ended Fireball’s chances for another Daytona win. Following the Daytona race, Fireball managed to notch several second place finishes before the Grand National circuit rolled into Charlotte for the Memorial Day running of the World 600.
There were rumors that Fireball, who had come over to drive Fords during the 1963 season, was thinking of retiring from racing to take a job as spokesman for a national brewing company. Nevertheless, Fireball Roberts strapped on his helmet that Memorial Day and climbed into his #22 “Passino Purple” Ford Galaxie, intent on winning and giving the crowd of some 68,000 an enjoyable afternoon of racing action.
Notable by its absence was the fireproofed clothing worn by other drivers that day. In the 1960s, integrated fire suits had not been developed. As an early expedient, drivers suits or even T-shirts were soaked in a mixture of chemicals then hung up in the garage area to dry prior to the race. Fireball Roberts was allergic to the chemicals and preferred not to treat his clothing with the mixture.
The green flag dropped on the 1964 World 600 and, as the New York Times reported, “The starting field of 44 had just begun to settle down…” when on lap seven Junior Johnson’s yellow Ford went into a spin on the backstretch. One report indicates that Johnson’s car got into the back of Fireball Robert’s car sending them both, along with the Ford of Ned Jarrett into a spin. Whatever the cause, the results were disastrous. Almost immediately, there was fire.
Johnson’s car spun harmlessly away and into the grass. The cars of Jarrett and Fireball Roberts spun toward the outside wall with Robert’s car spinning backward and into the end of the exposed cement barrier. The fuel tank ruptured, the car turned over and burst into flames. The Monday morning following the Charlotte disaster, the New York Times ran a photo of the flaming wreck. Clearly visible is the #11 car of Ned Jarrett, with Jarrett scrambling clear of the flames. Once free, Jarrett rushed to the overturned #22 Ford and, at risk to his own life, pulled the badly burned Glenn Roberts out of the flaming wreck. As the stunned crowd looked on, Roberts was taken to the infield care center, then quickly transported to Charlotte Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
Fireball Roberts’ fate would not come as quickly as that of Little Joe Weatherly. Roberts remained on the critical list, his condition improving only slightly over the next few weeks. Most who visited him wondered how he could have survived the initial trauma, and many doubted from the outset that he would survive his injuries. Nevertheless, the Sunday, June 7th edition of the New York Times ran a small, postage stamp-sized article under the heading “Glenn Roberts is Gaining.” The article briefly pointed out that, though still in serious condition, the driver “is progressing satisfactorily.” Sadly, the burns would be too much even for Glenn Roberts.
Just a little over a month after reporting Roberts’ improving condition, the New York Times reported on July 3, 1964, the sad news, “Fireball Roberts Dead of Injuries.” Roberts’ condition had apparently continued on the upswing right up until three days before his death, when pneumonia and blood poisoning set in. Roberts lapsed into a coma on Wednesday and died Friday, July 3, 1964.
The loss of Little Joe Weatherly and Glenn Fireball Roberts ripped a void in the heart of NASCAR racing. Their sudden and violent deaths went as little more than a blip on the worldwide scene, if the New York Times coverage is any indication, but closer to the center of American stock car racing, the pain was palpable. In fewer than 6 short months, the reigning champion along with a perennial favorite were dead and the sport was looking for answers, along with new champs and contenders.
Aftermath
By their deaths, we now know that Joe Weatherly and Glenn Roberts helped raise awareness of on track safety. Where once driver safety took a backseat to excitement, NASCAR began to see a need for improvements in equipment. Head restraints, window nets, improved seat belt harnesses, and better fuel cells were mandated shortly after the tragic events of the 1964 season.
Richard Petty would go on to clinch his first championship in 1964, after finishing second in the points to Joe Weatherly in both ’62 and ’63. One has to wonder where “King” Richard might have placed were it not for the death of Little Joe so early in the 1964 season. Glenn Roberts and Joe Weatherly finished 27th and 48th respectively in the championship points that tragic year.
Nineteen-sixty four was really without precedent, in terms of its tragic events, both for NASCAR and for auto racing in general. In addition to Weatherly and Roberts, a number of other drivers died during the year, including: Robby Marshman, killed in a fiery crash while testing in Phoenix, and drivers Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald who were killed in a fiery crash on the first lap of the Indy 500. So, it’s little surprise that when 1993 rolled around and NASCAR lost Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison, two more of its favorites sons, the mourning was very real and very profound – as NASCAR fans, we’ve seen it before.
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