Racing Legend Bob Bondurant Has Passed

Bob Bondurant, a championship racer, Le Mans winner and the founder of the Bob Bondurant School for High Performance Driving has died at age 88. While best known today for his racing school, Bondurant’s driving career spanned decades; his success behind the wheel of a variety of cars gave him entry to 10 motorsports halls of fame.

Born in Illinois, at the age of two his family moved to California and settled in Westlake Village, a Los Angeles suburb. Perhaps it was due to his father’s ownership of a pair of luxury auto dealerships, but early in life Bondurant knew he loved automobiles, loved going fast and wanted to be part of racing. He began flat-track racing at the age of 16, riding Indians and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

By 23, Bondurant discovered four-wheel competition and his auto racing career began in a Morgan Plus 4. His successes made him one of the most recognizable sports car racers in the world. He earned the National Corvette title, Le Mans GT, the World SportsCar Championship and even the Baja 500, all between the ages of 23 and 34. His uncanny ability to race Corvettes had him in Victory Lane in 30 of 32 races entered.

Bondurant is the first and sole American to bring the World SportsCar Championship trophy home to the United States, driving the legendary, Pete Brock-designed Shelby Daytona coupe No. 26. He was then hired by Ferrari to race in both Formula One and prototype competition.

He left F1 to race the Lola T70 Mk II Can-Am cars with his best friend Peter Revson. During a 1967 race at Watkins Glen, his steering arm broke at 150mph. Lying in traction at the hospital, he came to the realization that his next, best move would be to start a driving and safety school, saving the lives of thousands of drivers. On Valentine’s Day of 1968, the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was born.

Bondurant’s school has, for 50 years, earned and held a reputation as the number-one racing school, crediting its owner as “the global expert authority on driver training and safety.” Personally, he taught his hand-chosen instructors how to educate attendees to hone their crafts.

Some of the celebrities who have graduated Bondurant’s school – and gone on to make movies celebrating motorsports – include Paul Newman, James Garner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Clint Eastwood and, most recently Christian Bale, along with more than 500,000 graduates from around the world.

While his prime focus had been on the racing school, Bondurant continued to race, with his final championship coming in 1997 in the World Cup Challenge, while racing with the team of Steve Saleen. He retired at the age of 79 after winning his last race at Pomona Raceway in the No. 72 ERA GT40.

Bondurant once said, “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” behind the wheel. The Bondurant family has requested privacy at his passing; in lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Team USA Scholarship: [email protected].