Bobby Ball
| Nation: |
 United States
|
||||||||
| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First start: | Indianapolis 500 1951 | ||||||||
| Last start: | Indianapolis 500 1952 | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1951 Schroeder • 1952 Stevens | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | WM-18. ( 1951 ) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| World Cup points : | 2 | ||||||||
| Podiums : | - | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | - | ||||||||
Robert "Bobby" Ball (born August 26, 1925 in Phoenix , Arizona , † February 27, 1954 in Gardena , California ) was an American racing driver .
Career
Ball was one of the top midget car pilots in America in the early 1950s . In 1950 he won the AMORC championship. He also started in 17 races for the AAA National Series , in which he was able to achieve a victory. On November 2, 1952, he drove his Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser to victory in San José .
He competed twice in the Indianapolis 500 miles . In 1951, he reached fifth place when he first appeared on a Schroeder -Offenhauser. In 1952 he started with a Stevens Offenhauser. He had a serious accident during practice, from which he was able to recover enough that he could start the race from 17th on the grid. He retired on lap 24 with a gearbox failure. Since 500 miles from Indianapolis from 1950 to 1960 were counted as a Formula 1 world championship race , he also had two Grand Prix starts and two points for the drivers’s world championship.
In January 1953, he was involved in a mass collision while racing at Carrell Speedway , in which he sustained serious head injuries. Ball fell into a coma and passed away 14 months later.
statistics
Indy 500 results
| year | Start number | begin | Agony (km / h) | Result | Round | guide | failure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 52 | 29 | 215.778 | 5 | 200 | 0 | |
| 1952 | 15th | DNQ | 0 | Training accident | |||
| 38 | DNQ | ||||||
| 55 | 17th | 216.791 | 32 | 34 | 0 | transmission |
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
literature
- Rick Popely, L. Spencer Riggs: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Publications International Ltd., Lincolnwood IL 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Race results
- ↑ Mike Lang: Grand Prix! Volume 1: 1950-1965. Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981, ISBN 0-85429-276-4 , p. 42 (English).
- ↑ Bobby Ball at Old Racing Cars
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ball, bobby |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ball, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American racing car driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 26, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Phoenix |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 27, 1954 |
| Place of death | Gardena |