Bob Bondurant 1933-2021

Steve Havelock salutes the passing of one of American motorsport’s most enduring stars on both sides of the Atlantic…

Words: Steve Havelock

Images courtesy: Bob Bondurant Collection, Ford and Steve Havelock

We are sad to report the passing of Bob Bondurant at the age of 88. He was one of America’s finest sportscar drivers during the Sixties and one of the few Americans who also made a name for himself racing in Europe. Following a horrendous crash in a Can-Am race in 1967 in which he was seriously injured, he decided to establish the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving which opened its doors in February 1968. It became the benchmark, the gold standard and since then, some half a million students have passed through its doors including budding race car drivers and movie stars including Paul Newman, James Garner, Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise and many more.

Bob had racing in his blood and from an early age was determined to make it to the top. He was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1933, but when he was three his family moved to Southern California. As a teenager he was in the midst of the So-Cal hot rod and racing culture. He built himself a couple of rods while still at school and he and his dad used to regularly watch midget dirt track races. He bought a 1937 Indian Scout motorcycle and started flat track racing. In 1956 he moved into sportscar racing, first with a Morgan and then a Triumph TR2 in which he did quite well. In 1958 he acquired a regional championship-winning Corvette and his career took off. Bob won 18 out of 20 races and won the West Coast B Production Championship.

In ’61 and ’62 he raced Corvettes for Chevy dealer Shelly Washburn and he won virtually every race he entered, 30 out of 32. He was named Corvette Man of the Year and also Valvoline Driver of the Year. In October 1962 Bob debuted Washburn’s brand-new Corvette ZO6 in the LA Times Grand Prix for Sportscars meeting at Riverside where Carroll Shelby’s Cobra Roadster was also making its debut. Although a Cobra initially led that race, a Corvette eventually won, but when I interviewed Bob at Goodwood in 2012 (see Classic American August 2013/issue CA268) he told me: “The Cobra blew us all off and I thought the writing’s on the wall.”

Bob’s Corvette achievements led to him being hired by Shelby in ‘63 to race his Cobras and his winning ways continued. The following year saw the step up to FIA World Championship racing which meant racing in Europe against many of the world’s top drivers, a challenge that Bob relished and rose to. He was introduced to the fast and demanding circuits of Spa, Monza, Nurburgring and Reims and to road course events like the Targa Florio. In ’1964 Bob and Dan Gurney won their class and were 4th overall in the Le Mans 24 Hours in the sleek new Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe.

Bob told me: “We were doing 197mph down the Mulsanne Straight. Winning Le Mans is one of my outstanding memories.” Then Bob massively helped the Shelby Team to win the 1965 World Sportscar Manufacturers Championship by winning the GT Class at Sebring, Monza, Spa, Nurburgring and finally clinching the championship by winning at Reims. He told me: “I’m really proud of winning that championship. It had never been done before by an American in an American-built car and it didn’t happen again.”

Now, with a high profile on the international stage, Bob raced for Ferrari in the US Grand Prix where he finished 9th and for a few other teams, his best result being 4th in a BRM in the ’66 Monaco GP. During the 1966 Belgian GP, it was Bob and Graham Hill who extricated a trapped Jackie Stewart from his mangled, fuel-swamped car because there was no other help at hand. This was the trigger for Stewart and Bob to initiate campaigns for better race and road safety.

In ’67 Bob and Dick Guldstrand were leading their class in the Le Mans 24 Hours in their Corvette until the engine blew 13 hours in. A couple of weeks later Bob was racing a McLaren in Can-Am at Watkins Glen and crashed at 150mph when the steering arm broke. The car rolled many times and he sustained very serious injuries, so much so that doctors told him that he may never walk again, let alone race.

While recuperating he hatched the plan for his driving school. In 1966 he had been asked to train James Garner for his role as an F1 driver in the film Grand Prix which he enjoyed, so this seemed like a logical progression.

Thankfully, Bob made a miraculous recovery Bob and Pat, 2012 GWR. and resumed racing which included piloting James Garner’s Rambler to a class win in the arduous Baja 500 desert race in ’69. He even dabbled in NASCAR.

He later raced in Historics for fun, including the Goodwood Revival in 2004 and in 2012, at the age of 79, he won a race at Pomona in his Ford GT40 against some serious opposition. Once a racer, always a racer. His driving school became world famous and, mostly using Corvettes, ran until 2018.

Bob was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003. Our condolences go to his wife Pat, family and friends.

2004 Goodwood Revival. Bob at the 1997 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bob and wife Pat, 2012 Goodwood Revival. Bob with Paul Newman at the race school. Bob and Pat, 2012 GWR. 

Bob set up a world class race school. Bob Bondurant in '63, racing a Cobra at Riverside. 1964 Le Mans, Dan Gurney number 5 Shelby Cobra Coupe. Bob Bondurant and Carroll Shelby, Le Mans 1964. Bob in 1965 at Nurburgring. Bob in the number 614 Washburn Corvette, Riverside.