1962: Fireball, finally

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- An unexpected kiss helped Fireball Roberts finally finish first in a 500-mile race at Daytona.

	Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts

Roberts, jinxed by bad luck in three previous Daytona 500 starts, was unbeatable in the fourth annual Daytona 500, leading 144 of 200 laps, including 68 of the final 69. His final margin of victory was 27 seconds and he averaged a blistering 152.529 mph, despite running the car nearly out of fuel twice.

And all because of a kiss -- from a former Miss America, no less.

Before the race, Mary Ann Mobley stunned the superstitious Roberts with a peck on the cheek.

"I had a horror of kissing girls before a race," Roberts said. "It started many years ago when I was a rookie. A girl kissed me before a race and I spun out and backed through a fence.

"She kissed me later and the same thing happened. In an effort to break the jinx, she kissed me twice before the next race.

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  1962 Season Recap  50 Greatest Drivers: Fireball Roberts  More NASCAR History

"So what happens? I flip end over end seven times. I don't even kiss my wife before a race."

Richard Petty was the only other car on the lead lap. His father, Lee, filed a protest following the race, claiming that Roberts' crew had more than the maximum six crewmen over the wall on one pit stop, but NASCAR denied the appeal.

1962 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Fireball Roberts  2. Richard Petty  3. Joe Weatherly  4. Jack Smith  5. Fred Lorenzen  6. David Pearson  7. Rex White  8. Banjo Matthews  9. Ned Jarrett  10. Bob Welborn

There were a number of spins but no caution flags to slow the pace. The faster than expected pace caused Roberts' crew to miscalculate fuel mileage for the new 421-cubic inch Pontiac engine twice. But once Roberts passed Petty for the lead on lap 131, he was never headed.

"I kept waiting for Fireball to blow up," Petty said with a thin smile.

During the final few laps, Roberts said he kept thinking about rocket launches at nearby Cape Canaveral -- and hoping his luck would hold.

"I had a countdown of my own for the last 10 (laps)," Roberts said. "It was sweet to roll in ahead of the field."

Buddy Baker finished 29th in his Daytona 500 debut, while Cale Yarborough lasted just four laps as a rookie.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.