I moved to Bishop, California, where I was living with my Aunt Ella. He raced the Shelby Cobra CSX2345 through the 1964-1965 racing circuits and locked in more wins than anyone else on Shelby's team. As with the others, Pat Bondurant didnt respond directly to this allegation, but denied all of the allegations about school management. He bought a British two-seater Morgan Plus 4 with four cylinders that put out 68 hp and raced it for a year, graduating to a Triumph TR2 with a blazing 90 horses stock. Bob was racing at Riverside Raceway when the crank broke in the Vette. In 1965, Bob Bondurant takes the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 race car during the US Grand Prix. Power is provided by a highly-tuned, period-correct Ford 289 V8 which sends power to the rear wheels via aZF five-speed manual transaxle. (Photo via Getty Images), Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. Jalopnik has reached out to Dodge for comment on these alleged inconsistent payments and on the Vipers, and will update this story when we hear back. "The whole difference was the crowds who gathered around the Corvette with Dana Chevrolet on the door at the races and who sold cars. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. In 1967 while driving a McLaren CanAm car at Watkins Glen, Bondurant was seriously injured in a horrific crash when the steering arm failed at 150 mph. On Twitter, his family wrote that he "passed away in his sleep after a short illness." On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. We started winning races. He kept racing, too. He opened the school in early 1968 at California's Orange County International Raceway, then moved it to Ontario, California and later Sonoma, north of San Francisco. "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. Gregory was at Monza instructing Bob on the difficult course. In total, he recorded nine F1 starts over two years. Bondurant began his racing career as many did in the United States, riding an American built motorcycle around an oval track. The ERA GT uses a bespoke chassis closely based on the design of the original except its made from thicker gauge stainless steel to protect it against rusting. "I even tried selling insurance once, but that was boring. No one from the school, including Bob Bondurant himself, have issued a comment beyond the statement. "They had a used car lot there, Don worked on the cars and I sold used Corvettes. He also said Bob Bondurant, 85, isn't in the. 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. Partner of USA Today Sports Digital Properties. Others followed suit, which forced the brief closure. Shelbys faith in Bondurant was quickly justified as he won his first race at theContinental Divide Raceway in Colorado. 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. Looking for something specific? This marks the second driving school in just over a. By 14, he owned his first Indian motorcycle, and after the devastating death of his mother at 16 years old, he started racing flat track and even bigger Indians and Harleys. 69-year-old suffers stroke in his N.C. home; Realtor showing house leaves him there. Later that month while driving a McLaren, at Watkins Glen, the steering arm broke at 150mph approaching the Loop-Chute section of Watkins Glen (the current Turn 5, but without the bus stop, which was installed in 1992). A man who made his F1 debut in a Ferrari no less and won Le Mans in a Shelby Cobra Daytona alongside Dan Gurney. The 7,880-square-foot custom home of Pat and Bob Bondurant welcomes family, friends and racing associates with tinsel and gingerbread, garlands, glittering wreaths, food and festivity. Bob Bondurant was one of the most successful American racing drivers of his era, he also coached a slew of celebrities in the finer points of race car driving including James Garner, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Tim Allen, Tom Cruise, and Nicolas Cage. The starting lineup of cars included Datsun 240Zs, 510s,[8] 2000 convertibles, a Lola T70 Can-Am car, and a Formula Vee. ", Bob made the big bucks$8 a night because he was in the novice class. The name Bob Bondurant is synonymous with the Shelby Cobra. Ask any race car driver and they will tell you, on the edge, exceeding the limits, is where harmony is found. The walkout, he claimed, included all of the employees at work that day26 including the night shift. He put the motor back together and it ran strong. Bob Bondurant was a motor racing icon, a name synonymous with Carroll Shelby's globetrotting Cobras and Daytona Coupes. Bondurants final race in this car was in 2012 at the Auto Club Raceway Pomona, unsurprisingly hes said to have won despite being 79 years old. This particular ERA GT is finished to the specification of the car driven by Bondurant in the 1965 Daytona Continental. Not long after he was born in Illinois in 1933, his. Bob Bondurant excelled at the highest levels of sports car racing in the 1960s, with perhaps his greatest achievement coming in 1964 when he won the GT class at Le Mans 24 Hours driving with. The ClassicCars.com Journal report has more examples of specific allegations of Pat Bondurants conduct at the school, several of which were also confirmed to Jalopnik via email. Here are allegations of more general derogatory comments, via the ClassicCars.com Journal report: Two years ago, on the advice of an external human relations company, Jason Bondurant said he sent his mother home for two weeks after a worker overheard her making racist comments. The car you see here isnt an original GT40, its a replica built by ERA GT for Bondurant in the same specification and livery of the car he drove at Daytona in 1965. With the wind, plus rain, Bob's goggles were blowing off his face; the elastic strap had stretched and at one point his goggles blew down around his chin with the wind gusts. Bob then approached Datsun, which immediately agreed to support his plans. He was 88. Bob happened on a used car lot where Don was working. [5] Bob Bondurant's copyrighted method taught competition driving, police pursuit driving, evasive driving for chauffeurs and bodyguards, stunt driving, and other courses.[6][7]. He initially approached Porsche for backing, but was temporarily declined due to the uncertainty of this being a new school. Its sad that in this stage of life, hes not competent or mentally there like he was 20 years ago. Bondurant), Jack Bondurant's daughters, Emmie Lee Gagni . ", Bob knew the circuit well, having raced Le Mans in 1964, winning the GT Class in a Ford Daytona Coupe with Dan Gurney. Bondurant was born in Evanston, Illinois. The Bondurant team, along with many friends, fans, graduates, journalists, celebrities, an. His steering arm broke at 150mph, and, lying in traction at the hospital, he vividly remembers his conversation with God explaining to Bob that he was needed more on Earth and to start a driving and safety school to save thousands of lives of those otherwise dying on the highways and in motorsports. Being new, he was unaware the drivers carried spare goggles around their neck. 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. 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. 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. PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) -- 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. At the L.A. Times Grand Prix in October 1962, Bondurant drove Washburn's new 1963 Corvette Z06 Stingray. You're right, that's "tea bagger" stuff but wait! []. After five decades of training racers of all skill levels, the Bondurant High Performance Driving School in Chandler, Arizona has new name, the Radford Racing School. After he regained consciousness, Bob crawled out of the ravine, saw the hole in the hedge where the car went throughit was sitting with the windscreen and rollbar sheared off. Of course it would take some laps before he would build his confidence not to lift. COURAGE. (But this was Formula 1, it's supposed to rain, be windy, and cold.). You can call it character, you can call it determination, or you can just call it guts. The Great Depression altered countless lives and maybe some for the better. Graham Hill won the event in a BRM. / CBS San Francisco. Over the years 52 drivers and 35 spectators have lost their lives on the 3.6-mile track. You may have seen them at county fairs the vertical velodromes were originally built from old grain silos, leading to the name "silo-drome.". Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The Depression caused Mr. Bondurant (and Cord) to fall victim to hard times when he lost his business, telling the family, we're going to move as far west as we can. [citation needed], The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving has graduated over 500,000 drivers since its opening in 1968. "I went to the Cal Club (California Sports Car Club) and said I wanted to go racing. Bob Bondurant is an American former racing driver and a founder of the famous Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.. Bondurant taught stunt driving, competition driving, police pursuit driving, evasive driving for chauffeurs and bodyguards, plus other skills, according to the website. Formula 1 came to the United States on a course steeped with racing history dating back to 1956: Watkins Glen. Bob Bondurant left a legacy behind, which may be counted in lives saved, trophies won, and trained racing drivers. Right now, Bondurant's class sizes are about 60 percent full,. Bondurant trackside with Carroll Shelby while racing for the Cobra legend's team in the 1960s . Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake he moved the driving school to Phoenix, Arizona, where he enjoyed close ties to General Motors and Goodyear Tires. Santa Barbara Chevrolet dealer Shelly Washburn hired Bondurant in 1961 to drive his #614 1959 Corvette. Bob's father owned a car dealership that sold fast cars in nearby Chicago; very fast carsCords to be exact. Complete Formula One World Championship results, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, "Legendary World Driving Champion Bob Bondurant to Open New Location of Famed Racing School", "Bob Bondurant 'iconic American racing hero' dies at 88 in Paradise Valley", Bondurant Driving & Racing School Programs, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Bondurant&oldid=1120005560, North American Racing Team Formula One drivers, Anglo American Racers Formula One drivers, SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from November 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. When he made the decision to leave, he said, other employees went with him. In those days there were as many as 35 Vettes on the track at the same time. From the age of 23 to 34, Bob became one of the most iconic race car drivers in the world. ", Dick Guildstrand of Guildstrand Motorsports in Burbank was the manager: "Dana was number one in sales on the West Coast because we were racing," Guildstrand states. He taught . I was taking my buddy around the track and said, 'This is really great isn't it?' In 1966 his life would forever change the he was hired to serve as a technical consultant and driver trainer for the John Frankenheimer film Grand Prix. Many NASCAR drivers were trained at Bob's school for road course training, along with many celebrity actors for driving scenes. I got a Model A roadster body and frame from Economy Auto Wrecking in Bishop and put it together. Bob is the first and only American to bring the World SportsCar Championship trophy home to America in the legendary Shelby Daytona Coupe No. April 10, 2022 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Friend. There's a definite correlation between Dan Gurney's budding start and Bob's. That's how I learned to ride motorcycles," Bob laughs. He won his class at Le Mans and has been inducted into ten motorsports halls of fame. 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. Bob Bondurant, a former champion race car driver who opened a high-performance driving school in Orange County in 1968 and taught numerous A-list actors how to drive fast for their movie roles,. He was 88 and survived by his wife Patricia. She changed the subject. []. 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. All Rights Reserved. It was in October 1965 that Bob drove a V-8powered Formula 1 Ferrari for the North American Racing Team entered by Luigi Chinetti, the U.S. Ferrari distributor. Bob must've pinched himself: it was one thing to cruise the streets in his hot rod, but in a Formula 1 Ferrari! Some of the best Corvette racing duels were between him and David McDonald on the West Coast during the early 1960s. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, THE BOB BONDURANT SCHOOL OF HIGH PERFORMANCE DRIVING. According to his family and the Bondurant Racing School website, Bondurant died Friday in the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley. Bob's father owned a car dealership that sold fast cars in nearby Chicago; very fast carsCords to be exact. He was finally reunited with his elusive GT40, and wow, did he have fun tracking this car for the next eight years!, Bob tracked this car at a Shelby reunion on the Fontana Raceway. [citation needed], Within 5 months, enough financial and infrastructural damage had taken place to force the legendary racing school into Chapter 11 protection. He was 88. The aluminum Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe will start at $394,995. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was initially opened by World Champion and ten time hall of fame inductee Bob Bondurant at the Orange County International Raceway near Los Angeles, CA under the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving name. He said you buy the crank and I'll put the motor back together, and for every race you win I won't charge you. American racing legend Bob Bondurant has passed away aged 88. Certainly Bob's life was altered for the better as he was a bona fide Californian now going to Union High School in Westwood. Bob says, "Look for the burning Ferraris.". ", When Bob was 18 he started racing motorcycles at Carrell and Culver City Speedways: "In those days you didn't have brakes; you went faster without brakes on the bikes. By the mid-1950s he was racing on four wheels in a British Morgan before switching to a Corvette and winning theWest Coast B Production Championship, taking victory in 18 out of 20 races. A statement on his passing reads, in part, "Bondurant is the only American. Its sad.. Powered by Gasoline and Caffeine. He participated four times at 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing best in 1964 in the fourth place overall, and . I actually live in Gilbert so I let her know. ), "I had never been to Europe before so it was exciting to be able to race there," Guildstrand continues. "We moved near Pasadena to La Caada by the Angeles Crest Highway. I raced that bike for a long time.". She had a Chrysler. 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.. 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. In 1963 he became a member of Carroll Shelby's Ford Cobra team, winning his first race at the Continental Divide Raceway in Colorado, followed by an overall win at the LA Times Grand Prix GT race at Riverside in October 1963. . I said, I know you signed the petition, please do not leave because of me, he recalled telling employees. This week's reunion will be calmer, just a few minutes quietly recalling the life-changing event as . Bondurant Racing School was founded in 1968 and has graduated celebrities for car movies like James Garner, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, and Christian Bale, along with over 500,000 graduates from around the world. "It had Edelbrock heads and intake manifold, plus a light flywheel; it was a sleeper. 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 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. ClassicCars.com posted a picture of a note taped to the school's door indicating the closure. In 1989, Bob was invited to Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ to consider a lease agreement to build the world's first purpose-built driver training facility. Not all of the alleged remarks were in relation to the school, though. Bob Bondurant is a member of 10 Racing Hall of Fames and founded the famous driving school in 1968, teaching with his copyrighted Bondurant Method. 26. 72 ERA GT40. Bondurant won 30 of 32 races in Corvettes from 1961-63, and he won the GT class at Le Mans in 1964, co-driving with fellow American Dan Gurney. Bob Bondurant, champion driver and founder of the Bondurant Racing School, passed away Friday in Paradise Valley, Arizona, at the age of 88. 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