Bob Bondurant, the Legendary Driver Who Taught Movie Stars

Bondurant was born on April 27th, 1933, in Evanston, Illinois, where he lived just three years before moving with his family to California. At the age of seven, his father took him to a race track, which was when he became attracted to racing. Next, he delivered newspapers in Hollywood on a bicycle and then on a motorcycle. Then, at 14, he got his first car, a beaten-up 1932 Chevrolet, which he fixed.

After discovering the world of drag racing at Santa Ana, he understood that it wasn't for him. He was happy for that quarter-mile race, but then he had to wait half an hour for the next race, and as a teenager, he got bored very fast. So at the age of 16, he moved to his aunt in Bishop, California, after his parents divorced and his mother passed away.

Graduating school meant he was just one step closer to his dreams. He worked hard unloading furniture trucks and sold Corvettes at a dealer to finance his racing. Then, after a period of racing on two wheels, Bob considered that a four-wheel vehicle might spare him broken bones and the many injuries of dirt-track racing.

After purchasing a 1957 fuel-injected Corvette, he started racing it, and, in 1959, he won 18 out of 20 races. Obviously, he received the "Best Corvette Driver of the Year" award and came to the attention of team owners. As a result, a Santa Barbara Chevrolet dealer named Shelly Washburn hired the young driver in 1961 to race his Corvette. Between 1961 and 1963, Bob won 30 races out of 32.

That's how he came to the attention of another legendary man, Caroll Shelby, and Bob became a member of the Caroll Shelby Ford Cobra team. After winning a few races in 1963, he went to Europe, where he won the GT Class at the 1964 Le Man's race together with Dan Gurney. But, by far, the biggest achievement was winning the 1965 FIA's Manufacturer's World Championship for Shelby American and Ford. That year he won seven out of ten races, dominating the Ferrari 250 GTO.

Having already become famous, John Frankenheimer hired Bondurant as a technical consultant for the 1966 Grand Prix movie. In the same year at the Belgian Grand Prix, together with Graham Hill, he extracted Jackie Stewart from his fuel-leaking wrecked car.

But then, the 1967 crash at Watkins Glen changed Bob Bondurant forever. He was driving a McLaren when the steering column broke. As a result, the car went airborne and flipped eight times. Sustaining multiple bones fractures and, most importantly, back injuries, he was taken to the hospital. Doctors said that he might not be able to ever walk again. But Bob Bondurant didn't accept their verdict.

Years after the accident, Bob Bondurant said, "the only thing I recall is a short conversation with God saying, 'You're going back, and I need you to train people how to be better drivers because I'm losing thousands and thousands of people on highways, and I need your help.' And that was the agreement."

During his recovery, he dreamed about opening a driving school—a place where those who want to race learn how to do it properly. Also, safety driving lessons were big part of the process. From soccer moms to racing drivers and movie stars, Bob welcomed everyone there. He opened the school on Valentine's Day in 1968 at Orange County International Raceway. Later on, he moved it to Sonoma and, finally, in 1989, after the Loma Prieta earthquake, to Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first performance driving school in the world.

If you saw the movie Ford vs. Ferrari you should know that one former Le Mans winner was behind those racing scenes: Bob Bondurant. He trained Christian Bale not only for driving skills. Bale played the British race driver Ken Miller role, who was a close friend to Bob, but died in 1966.

Bob Bondurant raced for the last time in 2012, at the age of 79. In 2018, his racing school declared bankruptcy and closed. Yet, over 500,000 drivers from around the world attended his schools and became faster on the race tracks or safer on the roads. And that was way before the carmakers developed the Level 2 autonomous systems for regular cars.

He passed away on November 12th, 2021, in Paradise Valley, California. He is survived by his wife, Pat Bondurant, who remained as President and CEO of Bob Bondurant Driving School. His favorite quote was: "My life has been lived in two halves. The first was becoming a World Champion driver. The second was teaching the world to become champions."