Say the name Bob Bondurant and the first thing that pops into your head is that he owns and operates a high-performance driving school in Arizona. Most people assume he was some type of racing driver but don’t know a lot about his history. Bob Bondurant was one of the best and brightest Amercian road racers of the 1960s and he managed to compete in just about every venue possible on four wheels.
He was born in 1933 and was a kid of the Midwest until his family relocated to California, a move that would seal his fate as a gearhead and racer.
By the time he had reached his teenage years, Bondurant began making his oats racing a modified Indian motorcycle on the dirt oval tracks of Southern California. After spending several years doing the motorcycle gig, he began racing sports cars in 1956, driving a Morgan. Later in the 1950s he won the SCCA B Production title in a Chevy Corvette. This was the springboard he needed to reach the international scene.
The hits came quickly in the early ‘60s for Bondurant. He was made a member of Caroll Shelby’s team in 1963 and drove a Cobra Daytona to a win in the GT class. In 1965 he won seven of the ten races he entered for Shelby and won the World Manufacturers Championship. Interestingly enough, he began to race Formula One in 1965 as well. He drove a Ferrari at the US Grand Prix which was contested at Watkins Glenn and raced a Lotus at the next race on the schedule, the Mexican GP.
Take a second and think about just how much fun it had to have been to be Bob Bondurant in those days. Every day probably found you interacting with the greatest cars in the world, surrounded by a bevy of beauties, and earning a pretty substantial stack of cashola to do it.
Following up his 1965 F1 experience, Bondurant drove in five Grand Prix events in 1966 for Team Chamaco Collect. He managed a best finish of fourth at Monaco that year. The last two races of the year, the USGP and the Mexican GP rounded out his season.
It was a bad year in 1967 for Bondurant as he was involved in a near fatal accident while competing in the Can-Am series. The steering failed in his car, resulting in a complete loss of control. The open-cockpit car wrecked very hard, flipping eight times and leaving Bondurant severely injured. His prospects of ever driving in competition again were very slim. He worked hard over the next year and a half to regain the use of his arm and rehab the rest of his injuries.
His rather triumphant return to competition came on the dirt, driving for James Garner’s team and winning the passenger car class at the Baja 500 in a SC/Rambler.
He made occasional sports car and NASCAR starts through the ‘70s and ‘80s but his real concentration was the driving school that he had opened after regaining the ability to drive in 1968. According to the company website, more than 85,000 people have been through the school, including our own Chad Reynolds. He opened the school at California’s Orange County International Raceway. The second week, he instructed Paul Newman and Robert Wagner. From those humble beginnings grew one of the most successful and high-profile driving schools in the world.
Bob can still be found at the school and does don a helmet to cruise in the occasional historic racing event. He’s an avid helicopter pilot and as some stories we have heard go, he would occasionally use the helicopter to follow and judge students from the sky!
Bob Bondurant is a gearhead guy you should know because his driving school and teaching methods are among the most respected in the world. Add the fact that the kid raised in California went overseas the traded punches with the best racers in the world and came out victorious on a bunch of occasions.
