Friday 16th February 1962

Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly won the twin 100 mile NASCAR Grand National qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. In race 1, Dan Gurney finished 4th in his first GN start. Darel Dieringer, who won the pole in a special 10 lap pole position race held on February 11th, was involved in a 6 car crash in the early going of the second qualifier. Following the race, Dieringer was replaced in the primary Ray Fox Pontiac by David Pearson, leaving Dieringer on the sidelines for the ‘500’.