Who was Glenn "Fireball" Roberts?

Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929 – July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer.

Roberts was born in Tavares, Florida, and raised in Apopka, Florida, where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball. He was a pitcher for the Zellwood Mud Hens, an American Legion baseball team, where he earned the nickname, "Fireball" because of his fastball.

In 1947, at the age of eighteen, he raced on the Daytona Beach Road Course at Daytona, for the first time. He won a 150-mile race at Daytona Beach the following year.

He won 33 NASCAR Grand National races. He finished in the top-five 45 percent of the time, and in the top-ten 59 percent of the time. He won both the Daytona 500 and Firecracker 250 events in 1962.

On May 24, 1964, at the World 600 in Charlotte, Roberts started in the middle of the pack. On lap seven, two other cars collided and spun out and Roberts crashed trying to avoid them. Roberts' Ford slammed backward into the inside retaining wall, flipped, and burst into flames. Roberts died from his burns on July 2, 1964.

After Roberts' death, NASCAR mandated that all drivers wear flame retardant coveralls while on track. They also instituted the five-point safety harness.

The "Fireball Run", named for Roberts, was started in 2007. This is an 8-day, 2000 - mile race to raise money for missing and exploited children's organizations. The "Fireball Run" is credited with assisting in the recovery of 38 missing children.