Bondurant passed away at the age of 88 and is survived by his wife, Pat, President and CEO of the. Bondurant trackside with Carroll Shelby while racing for the Cobra legend's team in the 1960s . During the race it started to rain; it was cold with 40-mph winds. Bob Bondurant, 88, has had some health concerns over the last few years and has stepped back a bit from the business. Bob Bondurant was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1933. It featured a 15-turn, 1.6-mile road course, an eight-acre asphalt pad for advanced training with more than 100 race-prepared vehicles, sedans, and open-wheel cars. Something went wrong. 'Do you have a license?' The aluminum Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe will start at $394,995. Answering the call, on February 14, 1968, Bob founded The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was the largest purpose-built driving school in the world. / CBS San Francisco. What Bob Bondurant started 22 years ago as a part-time business for a crippled race driver--a driving school at Orange County Raceway with three Datsuns and a Formula Vee--has turned into a . In total, he recorded nine F1 starts over two years. ATS was formed by disenchanted team members who broke away from Ferrari, including Phil Hill. The Bondurant edition Shelby 289 FIA Cobra roadster in fiberglass will start at US$149,995.00 and the aluminum version will begin at $249,995. Bob Bondurant, Transportation Department: Grand Prix. (How's that for motivation?) A statement on his passing reads, in part, "Bondurant is the only American. He was a member of Carroll Shelby's team, racing the famed Cobra. "I figured the ATS wasn't as fast as the Ferraris and after a few laps I began taking the corner flat-out at 150 mph. "My mom and dad had divorced, then mom died when I was 16. The only thing wrong with it was the head and manifold were off. Bob must've pinched himself: it was one thing to cruise the streets in his hot rod, but in a Formula 1 Ferrari! Bob Bondurant, a former champion race car driver who opened a high-performance driving school in 1968 and taught numerous A-list actors for their movie roles, has died. As funds dwindled leading up to the bankruptcy, the schools former financial controller Lavida Arvizu, who also walked out, said employees didnt trust they would get paid without herself or Jason Bondurant around to make sure it happened. Bob Bondurant was a racing driver who founded the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, where he taught celebrities including Paul Newman (1925-2008) and Tom Cruise. Since February 14th, 1968, Bondurant has been the premier driver-training destination for everyone from racing professionals looking for that winning edge to daily commuters seeking to become more proficient behind the wheel. (Photo via Getty Images), Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. In the interim, Bob did get back on track (or the horse so to speak), knowing he had a growing business to fall back on should anything catastrophic happen again, entering a Can-Am race June 1970 driving a Chevy Lola T160. The school closed a month later, though, with no information as to why and no indication of whether it would reopenor how the closure would affect existing agreements, like Bondurants customer obligations to the brands it works with. When the transporter to take Bob's car to the circuit didn't arrive, it was decided that Bob should drive the Ferrari to the track. He then rose to the highest level in racing with Ferrari in Formula 1 and prototypes. Instead of being kept at the track garages, the Ferrari F1 cars were at a Chevy dealer in town. We started winning races. There was still no real comment about the closure itself until last week, when multiple employees of the Arizona driving school told the Arizona-based ClassicCars.com Journal about the claimed walkout a month after it happened. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003. Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Bondurant was a driving instructor to actors James Garner, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner, Tim Allen, Tom Cruise, and Nicolas Cage. Bob Bondurant, a former champion race car driver who opened a high-performance driving school in 1968 and taught numerous A-list actors for their movie roles, has died. It was really cool because I could do wheelies with it. Bondurant sustained serious rib, leg, foot and, most seriously, back injuries in the subsequent accident in which his car flipped eight times. Over the next few years Bondurant would travel around the world, racing in Europe and the United States, competing in Formula 1, the Targa Florio, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Spa, the Nurburgring, and helping win the 1965FIA Manufacturers World Championship for Shelby. After the fabled school was purchased in $1.7 million May 2019 out of bankruptcy from the legendary Bob Bondurant and his family by Stig Investments. [citation needed], The famous Bondurant name has never been bought or sold. The Bondurant team, along with many friends, fans, graduates, journalists, celebrities, an. Bondurant raced cars in the 1960s with some success until a crash at Watkins Glen, in New York curtailed his career. Following a crash at Watkins Glen in New York, Bondurant opened the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in 1968. Bondurant relocated the driving school to Phoenix following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California. Image courtesy of the Bondurant Archives. Bob Bondurant has had a worldwide impact on the motorsports industry, and his legacy will live on as the Bondurant Racing School moves forward into the future. 26. He was 88. I checked the board to see where I qualified; I wasn't on the Novice board. Everyone who walked through the Bondurant doors was taught the copyrighted Bondurant Method, developed by the most respected Racing School in the world. As a resulting worse-case scenario, the schools assets were sold off in 2019. [6], A statement on his death reads, in part, "Bondurant is the only American to bring home the World Championship trophy back to the U.S. while racing for Carroll Shelby. Jason Bondurant said one of the more hampering parts of working at the school was how badly things were going when he felt like there was a solution to the math problem the whole time. ", Bob made the big bucks$8 a night because he was in the novice class. Not long after he was born in Illinois in 1933, his. In Bob's case, not wearing a belt saved his life. The catalyst of the walkout was this, according to the ClassicCars.com Journals conversation with the schools vice president Jason Bondurant: Jason Bondurant said he and former financial controller Lavida Arvizu were instructed by Pat Bondurant not to tell employees the school was running out of funds as she mulled filing for Chapter 7, which would have immediately shut down operations. In those days there were as many as 35 Vettes on the track at the same time. We may earn a commission from links on this page. In a bankruptcy document signed by Pat Bondurant, the school mentioned Dodge and SRT as one of four factors that led to the bankruptcy-protection filing. In 1965 Bondurant won the FIA Manufacturers' World Championship for Shelby American and Ford, winning seven out of ten races against the class dominating Ferrari 250 GTOs in Europe. From the professional race track to the big screen, Bob Bondurant, for more than 50 years, has trained anyone with a driver's license and a set of keys to handle any vehicle at extremely high speeds by combining the oft-chased union of precision, safety and self-confidence. WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA JULY 25: Bob Bondurant in his McLaren M8E/D Chevrolet Can-Am, leads Pete Revsons McLaren M8F Chevrolet at Watkins Glen in 1971. Temperature-controlledHook up to both your hot and cold water so you can control the temperature plus it comes with a heated seat. Certainly Bob's life was altered for the better as he was a bona fide Californian now going to Union High School in Westwood. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on October 2. I was riding motorcycles but I hadn't driven a car yet. He also said employees stayed around for so long despite the alleged environment because he treated them like family., When the school filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 2, a statement said it planned to stay open and emerge from this [bankruptcy] process as a stronger company.. After 12 laps Bob moved up to Eighth from his starting position of 14th on a completely wet track. My dad took me to Gilmore Stadium when I was 7 to watch the races and that got me interested in racing. When Pat Bondurant threw the petition from employees at Jason Bondurant on Nov. 12, he claimed, he typed out a resignation letter and told fellow employees what was going on. Stay up-to-date with our upcoming events! Motorsport Images. "I talked my mom into letting me get a '32 Chevy roadster when I was in junior high; at 14 you could get a Junior Operating License. Between 1961 and 1963, he won 30 out of 32 races in Washburn's Corvettes. Both raced Triumphs and both raced Corvettes, which got the attention of wealthy car owners who put them in their Ferraris and Maseratis. She said to me that we should stop hiring people from Chandler or Gilbert, Arvizu wrote. By 1970, the school relocated to the nearby Ontario Motor Speedway. The starting lineup of cars included Datsun 240Zs, 510s,[8] 2000 convertibles, a Lola T70 Can-Am car, and a Formula Vee. He was thrown out of the car. Bondurant enjoyed this experience and it led to him starting the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, over the years that followed he would train a slew of other celebrities, some of whom went on to become championship-winning racing drivers in their own right. He finished the Formula One season in North America in two races, driving an Eagle for Dan Gurney's Anglo American Racers. The original was made from a lighter gauge mild steel. Bob raced motorcycles on a regular basis, but he didn't want to be on a first-name basic with his orthopedic surgeon like many he raced against. The ClassicCars.com Journal report includes numerous detailed, on-the-record accounts from multiple former employees, and many of those accounts are substantiated in the sites comment section. Within a few years Bondurant had become one of the most promising drivers on the West Coast, between 1961 and 1963, he won 30 out of 32 races driving Corvettes for Santa Barbara Chevrolet dealer Shelly Washburn. Bondurant's story is well-known to racing fans and driving enthusiasts, how the champion driver had worked his way up from motorcycle competition to racing Cobras and Daytonas at Le Mans for Carroll Shelby's team, among his many accomplishments. Jason Bondurant told the journal that working at the school truly was a very hostile, horrible environment.. For the early part of the past year, it appeared that a sorry end awaited the school that had been founded by Robert L. Bondurant, a world champion racer, in 1968 in Orange County, California,. If youre not here, we know that were even more screwed, so we are leaving.. Bob Bondurant, champion driver and founder of the Bondurant Racing School, passed away Friday in Paradise Valley, Arizona, at the age of 88. Bob Bondurant was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1933. (The two Yanks didn't realize the French national colors are blue, white, and red, which might have had something to do with the salute. The new owners a . Bob is definitely the kid who owns the candy story! He didn't have the money to fix it but his motorcycle mechanic friend Don who built the hot motor for his 101 Scout came to the rescue. A roadster set up to HTTP FIA specifications and for track use only starts at $289,995. COURAGE. Bob won 18 out of 20 races in 1959 in the '57, which smartly won Bob the "B" Production Championship and "Best Corvette Driver of the Year" in 1959. Mini Bio (1) Bondurant raced cars in the 1960s with some success until a crash at Watkins Glen, in New York curtailed his career. Bob had never driven a Grand Prix Ferrari at all, and now he was about to go cruising not only through town, but out through the countryside to the track in a full-blown F1 car. Bob's massive 60-acre complex in Arizona is designed to show students the fastest and safest way around the 1.6-mile road course. At 62, Bob grabbed a Third place podium finish at Road Atlanta in a Saleen Mustang in 1995. In 1956 he switched to sports car racing with a Morgan and started to attract attention when he won the West Coast "B" production Championship, in a Chevrolet Corvette winning 18 out of 20 races. Its sad that in this stage of life, hes not competent or mentally there like he was 20 years ago. Guildstrand set a record of 171.5 mph down the Mulsanne. He was one of a handful of Americans to compete in the Formula 1 Grand Prix series, and also raced at Le Mans. April 10, 2022 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Friend. For her part, [front desk employee Heidi] Johnson said she overheard Pat Bondurant say that staffers should tell female students to not dress like prostitutes. By RACER Staff When the Bondurant school did reopen, new chief restructuring officer Timothy H. Shaffer said the school was working to reschedule classes from the closure period. Bob's first entry into Formula 1 was one that almost took his life in the ill-fated ATS Grand Prix Car he was about to drive on one of the deadliest tracks in racingMonza. He has ranked on the list of those famous people who were born on April 27, 1933. "Bachtold built a special motor and said, 'Why don't you take that little motor out of your bike and put this one in'? I raced an Indian 101 Scout motorcycle at De Anza Park in Riverside. In 1967, a fateful race at Watkins Glen changed his entire career, and the Bondurant School was born. What a career. A man who made his F1 debut in a Ferrari no less and won Le Mans in a Shelby Cobra Daytona alongside Dan Gurney. There was a Harley motorcycle shop near where I lived and they wanted to ride my James motorcycle and do wheelies with it. [citation needed], The current operators of the formerly leased facility have renamed the facility and has no affiliation with Bob Bondurant or the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving/ Bondurant Racing School. His Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving has been responsible for training generations of American racing drivers. I lived in Bishop about a year. No one from the school, including Bob Bondurant himself, have issued a comment beyond the statement. But on Monday, the high-performance driving . 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