Bobby Ball (racing driver)
Robert " Bobby" Ball ( born August 26, 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona; † February 27, 1954 in Gardena, California ) was an American race car driver.
Career
Ball was in the early 1950s one of the best Midget car drivers in the United States. In 1950 he won the AMORC Championship. He also started in 17 races on the AAA National Series, where he was able to achieve a victory. On November 2, 1952, he drove in San José his Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser to victory.
Twice he was in the 500 miles of Indianapolis at the start. In 1951, he reached in his first appearance on a Schroeder- Offenhauser fifth. In 1952, he was with a Stevens- Offenhauser at the start. In training, he had a serious accident, from which he was able to recover but as far as he could from the 17th starting position on the grid. He fell in the 24th round with a gearbox failure. Since 500 miles of Indianapolis from 1950 to 1960 were counted as the World Championships, the Formula 1 are also two Grand Prix starts and two points for the drivers' world championship should be recorded for him.
In January 1953 he was involved in a race at Carrell Speedway in a mass collision in which he suffered severe head injuries. Ball fell into a coma and died 14 months later.