Last week we posted a great story on Bob Ballenger's 1956 Sebring 12 Hours Recap. Bob; who is a member of our community and online sim racer, also ran in a wonderful era of professional motor sports, and has been kind enough to share his stories with us. Here is the 2nd story from Bob; his recap of the 1956 Road America 6 hours Race.

Bob Ballenger (pictured above) climbing out of the Car in the '56 Road America 6 hours for a Driver Change
Before I follow up on the next story The 1957 Sebring 12 Hour Race I feel that the next endurance race I participated in was held at my home track Road America in September 1956.

Tony Boyntons uncle Ted asked if I would co drive his beautiful 2 liter Ferrari at the 6 hour event in the fall. It took me all of 2 seconds to answer that one.
Now I must clear a few things before I get into this race. I had been racing only rear engine Porsche sport cars with steering wheels on the left side. The first exception to this was the front engine Arnolt Bristol that I drove at Sebring earlier that year. However the Arnolt was a left hand steering car also. Not to difficult to learn how to drive it.
Now the Ferrari had its steering wheel on the right and you shifted the 4 speed box with the left hand and man this is different.
Picture what happens to ones body when you push a very stiff Ferrari clutch with the left foot and at the same time shift gears with the left hand. Every thing on the left side of your body is trying to do something and you are completely off balance. When you are driving a car with the wheel on the left you push the clutch with the left foot but you shift with the right hand. Both left and right sides of your body are working at the same time but your body is now in balance. Therefore I had a lot to learn to be comfortable in Teds car and drive at the speeds that would be needed to do well.
Teds mechanic was Art Bly, and crew chief and photographer was Leo Cummings. Fred Wacker, SCCA President, was the Pit Stewart during our gas stop and change of drivers.
I did not find out that I was going to start the car until about 15 minutes before the cars were pushed to their starting positions. Art Bly knew me well enough that I would be so nervous I would do something stupid and then just sat me down and told me what I had to do at the start. "Dont hit anyone and back off if needed as 3 hours is a long time to stay clean and give a good car to the owner so he can finish the race".
There were several 2 liter Ferraris just like ours and also a 2 liter Maserati that were very fast that made up our class.
Art used the same starting setup that he used for our Arnolt at Sebring and that was to place a piece of cardboard under each rear wheel. This was a standing start at the drop of the flag.
My left foot was shaking trying to hold that damn stiff Ferrari clutch and keep the revs where Art wanted them for a clean start and I was in luck and got it off the line in good form.
The first corner was a tight one and yes I backed off and let another Ferrari go by but got him back at corner 5. Then up the hill through 6 and things started to settle down and I found myself behind one of Englands famous long distance drivers John Gordon Bennett in a Jaguar D type.
At the end of the first lap I had closed in on the Johns Jag and stayed there through lap 2 only to drop behind as the Jag was very fast in the straight line. The pit sign came out on lap 3 saying Stay with John and I then realized that John would give me the best driving lesson on how to go fast and last.
I did just that and learned how to become an endurance driver following a great teacher. "Wow was this fun".
The pit stop came and went without a hitch except my left leg was numb from the Ferrari clutch and as I exited the car I almost fell over as Ted caught me just in time as the photos show. I also had blisters on my left hand from shifting and the next day my entire body was sore from being out of balance.

However Ted drove his heart out for his 3 hours and we finished 1st in class and 4th Over All behind the winning 4.5 liter Ferrari and 2 Jaguar D's
I have got to say that this was my best and most fun drive ever.
-Bob Ballenger




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