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Mark Martin's recipe for "baked" Bowling Ball

This past Saturday I took the ball to Bud Mulholland of Bud's Pro Shop to have it resurfaced. The ball had various gouges and nicks that had happened over its lifetime and Bud would take care of these.

On Monday I picked up the ball from Bud and told him of my dilemma of the ball not hooking any longer. He then described a procedure I could do myself to remedy the situation. He stated that the reactive resin ball "eats" the oil off of the lane and the lane oil soaks into the ball. After many trips down the oily lane the ball quits reacting. He took my ball in the back of his shop and put it under a heat lamp and in less than 10 seconds the oil began oozing out.

Bud suggested that I "bake" the ball. He described this process as being quite simple using a standard household oven and a cookie sheet. Balancing the ball on its thumbhole on the cookie sheet and putting it in an oven at 150 degrees for 10-12 minutes at a time would bleed all of the oil out of the ball. After each cycle remove the ball from the oven and wipe it off and repeat the process until no more oil emerged from the ball.

I had heard of this before and it seemed very easy and foolproof. Even I, as the master chef, could accomplish this feat and in return have a new bowling ball.

Later that afternoon at the GDBA'S office I decided to "bake" the ball, since Monday night was my bowling night and it would be nice to have my Red Alert back the way it used to be.

I proceeded to turn the oven on and place the ball into it as the recipe called for. Approximately five minutes later when I went to check on it, I got the surprise of my life. Upon opening the oven door my Red Alert had become a flaming Red Alert and came rolling out of the oven onto the floor in the kitchen still in flames.

After the fire was out I surveyed the damage; the ball was definitely history. Approximately one third of the ball was now a different texture and color. So much for having a rejuvenated ball for my league session.

When I told Bud of the incident he could hardly believe it. The ball is now in Bud's possession and on display at his pro shop at 3105 W. Huron in Waterford, next to Lakewood Lanes.

The moral of the story is "bake" don't "broil" and then only by a qualified professional.

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