1964 World 600

1964 World 600
Race details
Race 25 of 62 in the 1964 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

This is the dangerous crash that would hospitalize Fireball Roberts before he died of pneumonia 39 days later.
Date May 24, 1964 (1964-May-24)
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway (Concord, North Carolina)
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 400 laps, 500 mi (965.5 km)
Weather Temperatures between 64.9 °F (18.3 °C) and 82.0 °F (27.8 °C); wind speed reaching a maximum of 10.10 miles per hour (16.25 km/h)[1]
Avg Speed 125.772 miles per hour (202.410 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Jimmy Pardue Charles Robinson
Time 149.64 seconds
Most laps led
Driver Jim Paschal Petty Enterprises
Laps 126
Winner
41
 Jim Paschal
 Petty Enterprises
Television
Network CBS (through local affiliate WBTV)
Announcers local reporters

The 1964 World 600 is a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that took place on May 24, 1964 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the American community of Concord, North Carolina.[2][3]

Contents

Summary

This race took place in the daytime because the lights for nighttime racing were not installed until 1992 (for the 8th NASCAR All-Star Race in its "modern day" history).

The race covered four hundred laps of a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km). It took four hours, forty-six minutes, and fourteen seconds for the race to go from the first green flag to the checkered flag.[2][3] Seven cautions were given out by NASCAR officials for forty-eight laps.[2] Notable speeds were: 125.772 miles per hour (202.410 km/h) for the average speed and 144.346 miles per hour (232.302 km/h) for the pole position speed.[2][3] There was a live attendance of exactly 66,311 racing fans.[2][3]

Jim Paschal defeated Richard Petty by more than four laps.[2] Other notable drivers included: Ralph Earnhardt, Roy Tyner, Fireball Roberts, Elmo Langley, and Buddy Baker.[2][3] The top two finishers were teammates at Petty Enterprises (now Richard Petty Motorsports).[2][3] Jim Paschal would receive $24,785 ($175,495.94 considering inflation) in prize money after becoming the only driver to finish all 400 laps of the race.[2][3] Pete Stewart was rewarded with $600 ($4,248.44 in today's money) for finishing only one lap; resulting in a last place finish.[2][3] Billy Wade started in pole position while the winner started in 12th place.[2][3]

Death of Fireball Roberts

Fireball Roberts ended up in a terrible crash in this race while trying to avoid Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett's crash on lap 7.[2][3][4] Roberts was sent to Charlotte hospital by a team of emergency paramedics.[4] While he was not seriously injured by the crash itself, Roberts was trapped when his ankle became pinned up from under the dashboard and caught by either the clutch or brake pedal.[4] The death would have occurred at the speedway if Jarrett hadn't pulled Roberts out in time.[4] Instead, he died in hospital on July 2 of that year; leaving behind a wife (Mrs. Doris Roberts) and a young daughter (Pamela Jane Roberts Trivette).[4] Many fans could hear Roberts screaming "My God, Ned, help me! I'm on fire!" after being caught on fire because of the crash.[5]

Before the fatal accident, Roberts was going to announce his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series after the race to work as a spokesperson for a beer company.[5] Fireball, as he was known to his racing fans and to his fellow drivers, was the first superstar of the superspeedway era.[5] He would be followed by Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, and other drivers who would compete in the Cup Series during the decades that would come after Roberts' death. Doctors ultimately blamed his death on pneumonia and he spent the last 39 days of his life at Charlotte Memorial Hospital (now Carolinas Medical Center) in extremely critical condition.[5] The entire week from April 29 through May 1, 1964 ultimately became one of the darkest weeks in motorsports history as Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald were both killed in that year's Indianapolis 500. Actual home video footage of the accident was being recorded as the race occurred.

The race was being televised by local CBS affiliate WBTV. Roberts' body was eventually delivered to his burial crypt in Daytona Beach, Florida.[5] One of the quotes that came in an earlier race sometime prior to his death was "I fear fire the most!"

Finishing order

  1. Jim Paschal†
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Rex White
  4. Fred Lorenzen
  5. Billy Wade†
  6. G.C. Spencer†
  7. Larry Frank†
  8. David Pearson
  9. Wendell Scott†
  10. Jack Anderson
  11. Curtis Crider
  12. J.T. Putney
  13. Darel Dieringer†*
  14. Worth McMillion
  15. Doug Cooper
  16. Roy Tyner
  17. Bob Derrington
  18. Bunkie Blackburn†*
  19. Paul Goldsmith*
  20. Buck Baker*
  21. Bill McMahan*
  22. Ken Spikes*
  23. Larry Thomas†*
  24. Jimmy Pardue†*
  25. Bobby Isaac†*
  26. LeeRoy Yarborough†*
  27. Stick Elliott*
  28. Cale Yarborough*
  29. Marvin Panch*
  30. Roy Mayne*
  31. Ken Rush*
  32. Mark Hurley*
  33. Ned Jarrett*
  34. Junior Johnson*
  35. Fireball Roberts†*
  36. Buddy Baker*
  37. Ralph Earnhardt†*
  38. Neil Castles*
  39. Jimmy Helms*
  40. Bob Cooper*
  41. Bud Harless†*
  42. Elmo Langley†*
  43. E.J. Trivette*
  44. Pete Stewart*

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

References

  1. ^ Concord, North Carolina Weather for May 24, 1964
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Racing Reference
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ultimate Racing History
  4. ^ a b c d e NASCAR.com - General Information about the 1964 World 600 and Fireball Roberts' death
  5. ^ a b c d e Fireball Roberts Information

External links

Preceded by
1964 untitled race at South Boston Speedway		 NASCAR Grand National Races
1964		 Succeeded by
1964 Pickens 200