Searching for Success on Senior Tour : Bowling: Tim Albin returned to bowling after trying his hand at drag racing and go-cart racing.

Although 51-year-old Tim Albin is in the midst of his first full season on the Professional Bowlers Assn. Senior Tour, he is hardly a newcomer to the pro ranks.

Albin competed for the San Antonio Cavaliers of the defunct National Bowling League in the early 1960s. In 1965, he decided to try his hand at drag racing. For six years, he competed in events such as the National Hot Rod Assn. Winternationals in Pomona.

Three decades later, the Torrance resident is taking another stab at the pro circuit. He will compete in the Cal Bowl Open, which begins today in Lakewood.

“If we have the same conditions as last year, I should do pretty well again,” said Albin, who finished fourth in the 1992 event.

Albin returned to the pro bowling tour in 1971.

“Back then, you had to be really good to make any money,” he said. “You had to be good just to break even.”

Since 1977, Albin’s main source of income has been from a bowling shop he owns in Torrance. He opened a pro shop at the Gable House in Torrance and moved to another location in 1979.

He dabbled in the pro tour in the early 1980s, including events at Gable House and the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas.

It also helped finance an interest in go-cart racing, which Albin has competed in since 1984.

“I’ve won more in go-cart racing than I have in bowling,” he said. “It’s a lot like bowling in many respects. It’s real challenging to compete in and, just like bowling, it costs about $1,500 a week to compete on the circuit and you have to make the (televised) shows to get any money.”

Competing in go-cart racing cost him dearly in December of 1987, when he suffered injuries in a crash at Willow Springs raceway in Rosamond.

“It was just after I had clinched the championship (in his race class) and I went on a flyer,” he said. “The car flipped over and landed on me and went into the wall. Like a good racer, I never even opened my eyes to look at it. I knew it was something serious.”

He crushed a shoulder and shattered his left arm in the accident. He throws a bowling ball with his right arm.

“They were going to cut my arm off at first because it was so bad, but I went to a doctor who was involved with the Olympics and after looking at it he saw that he could do something with it,” Albin said. “He actually put nine screws in the arm to keep it together. I still have a screw in there.”

Albin returned to go-cart racing 1989 and won the first event he entered. He is a member of the Southern California Karters and missed making the cut for the national finals at Willow Springs.

Albin had not bowled professionally in about 10 years, but decided to give the seniors tour a try after he turned 50, the minimum age to compete.

The only tournaments he competed in last year were the Showboat Invitational in Las Vegas and the Cal Bowl Open. He made the finals of the Cal Bowl Open despite a hamstring injury.

“I could barely make the (TV) show that week,” he said. “I made it and finished fourth, but after the show I was out until January because my leg just pulled up.”

After his injury healed, Albin decided to compete full time on the tour when the season started in March in Tulsa, Okla. Accompanied by his wife of 30 years, Diana, he has competed in every event.

“That’s part of the reason I wanted to go on the seniors tour,” Albin said. “I wanted her to be able to see America and this has really been a good experience for her.”

So far this season, they have traveled about 9,000 miles.

“People don’t realize what role the wives have in it,” Diana said. “They think we’re just out having a good time all of the time, but I work very hard. I chart every one of his shots so he knows what he has to work on for the next tournament.”

She also keeps his spirits high when he has had a difficult day on the lanes.

“You’ve got to help keep him motivated and sometimes it’s tough,” Diana said. “You’re his biggest fan and sometimes you’re in a place where you’re the only one who knows him.”

Albin said the pro tour has changed over the years.

“Equipment is more of a factor than it was before,” he said. “Physical skills are less of a factor, but you really can’t play anything down because it all goes into how well you do.”

Then there are financial considerations that make it difficult for players to stay on the tour. The purses are considerably lower than the open PBA tour.

Albin’s biggest payday was $3,200 for his fourth-place finish at the 1992 Cal Bowl Open, and his biggest this season was $2,500 at the Chicagoland tournament. He finished 34th at last week’s Showboat Invitational and Las Vegas and earned $1,050.

“A lot of these guys are retired or they have their own businesses and they can afford to come out on the tour,” he said. “There’s a few guys trying to make a living at it and a few others who are doing this for supplemental income. But at about $1,500 a week to be out (on the tour), you don’t do it for the money.”

Fortunately for Albin, he has other reasons to stay on the tour.

“It’s basically for the people you meet,” he said. “There are great guys out here, there’s a lot of camaraderie and it’s very competitive. There’s just tremendous competition here. When you can play with guys like Don Johnson and Nelson Burton Jr., you know you’re playing with the best in your sport.”

Despite struggling on the tour, Albin is having a good time.

“It’s fun, no question about it, and I certainly wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t. I’m going to compete as long as I can breathe. I’m going to keep bowling and racing. I think there’s just something about the competition factor that keeps you strong and keeps you motivated.”