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Ask any guy in America about his dream job, his most macho of fantasies, and at the top of the list will likely be: fly a jet fighter and drive a race car. Well, meet Tom Ball, liver of dreams: Twelve hundred mph F-16 pilot for the New Mexico Air National Guard and driver of a beastly 800-horsepower, 140 mph non-winged Sprint Car. On the side, he flies a Boeing 737 for Southwest Airlines. 

Tom’s dreams have become his realities through hard work, determination and the prerequisite of all achievers — a passionate focus on their goals fueled by burning desire. 

    

Tom Ball is the third generation of Sprint Car drivers in the racing Ball family. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a city renown for racing and home to racing teams legends of Unser and Galles, the last name Ball is synonymous with local racing. His grandfather, George “Pappy” Ball, raced on the New Mexico Motor Racing Association (NMMRA) short tracks beginning in the 50’s, as did his father Steve “Speed” Ball. Tom was the Rookie of the Year in 1987, as well as de facto series Champion in 1991, NMMRA Champion in 2002 and in 2006. 

  

As a youngster, racing like his Dad and Grandpa, was one of Tom’s strongest goals, along with being a jet pilot. Like many before him and since, lack of proper funding was an obstacle and he knew no one else was going to pay his way. Ever enterprising, he knew that if he could get into the U.S. Air Force Academy, the government would pay for his education, leaving him money to spend on race cars. So, at the age of 18, the same year he first strapped into a sprint car, he also took his first airplane flight. Destination: the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. 

  

He progressed through the Academy and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in May of 1978. He followed school with a five-year stint as an Air Force instructor pilot at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, where he married and started his family. In 1984, he left the Air Force and joined the Air National Guard, where he flew the A-7 Corsair until 1992. But from the time he had first laid eyes on the incredibly fast and sleek Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) F-16 Fighters, he never lost the constant desire to fly them. When Ball’s New Mexico Air National Guard unit converted from the A-7’s to the highly versatile and fast F-16’s in 1992, another dream came true. He retired from the Air Guard in 1999 after more than 22 years of service to his country. 

  

Once out of the Air Force and now flying fighter jets for the Air Guard and commercial airliners for Southwest Airlines, he pursued his other dream of racing sprint cars in Albuquerque. He was NMMRA Rookie of the Year in 1987 and just missed winning the Championship in 1989. He was the points leader in 1991, when the season was unexpectedly canceled. No Champion was officially declared, but the series participants acknowledged Tom as the Champion. Tom went on to win NMMRA Championships in 2002 and 2006. 

 

For more information on the NMMRA, visit: www.nmmra.com