Robert "Bob" Bondurant (April 27, 1933 – November 12, 2021) was an American racecar driver who raced for the Shelby American, Ferrari, and Eagle teams. Bondurant was one of the most famous drivers to emerge from the Southern California road racing scene in the 1950s, and achieved success in North America and in Europe. His Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving has been responsible for training generations of American racing drivers.
Formula One Career[]
1965[]
1966[]
In 1966 Bondurant served as a technical consultant for John Frankenheimer's film Grand Prix and trained the film's lead actor James Garner to drive Formula cars in the race sequences. Bondurant was one of two drivers (alongside Graham Hill) to help extricate Jackie Stewart from his fuel-leaking wrecked car during the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix, the incident that led to Stewart's crusade for motor racing safety. Bondurant also drove BRMs in five Grands Prix for Team Chamaco Collect, finishing 4th at Monaco. He finished the Formula One season in North America in two races, driving an Eagle for Dan Gurney's Anglo American Racers.
1967[]
In 1967, he drove in the CanAm series and in a Corvette L88 Coupe at Le Mans. At Le Mans he led the GT class until a wrist pin failed putting the car out in the early morning. Later that month while driving a McLaren, at Watkins Glen, the steering arm broke at 150 mph approaching the Loop-Chute section of Watkins Glen (the current Turn 5, but without the bus stop, which was installed in 1992). Bondurant sustained serious rib, leg, foot and, most seriously, back injuries in the subsequent accident in which his car flipped eight times. Doctors told him he would likely never walk again, but through courage and hard work he overcame his injuries.
While recuperating, Bondurant drafted an idea for a high performance driving school borrowing from the experiences he had while training James Garner for Grand Prix. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving opened in early 1968 at Orange County International Raceway then moved to Ontario and then to Sonoma, where he was an important figure in the track's development. Nissan Motor Company (under Datsun name in the U.S.) was Bondurant's sponsoring partner in his school from its beginning, and continued in that role at the Sonoma Raceway driving school.
1971[]
Death[]
Bondurant died in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on November 12, 2021, at the age of 88. He was married to Pat, who survived him at the time of his death.[1]
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. He won his class at Le Mans and has been inducted into ten motorsports halls of fame. Bondurant Racing School was founded in 1968 and has graduated celebrities for car movies like James Garner, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Nicholas Cage, and Christian Bale, along with over 500,000 graduates from around the world. His legacy will remain with us forever."
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 |  North American Racing Team
|
Ferrari | 0 | NC | Report |
 Reg Parnell Racing
|
Lotus-BRM | ||||
| 1966 | Team Chamaco-Collect
|
BRM | 3 | 14th | Report |
| Bernard White Racing
| |||||
| Anglo American Racers
|
Eagle-Climax | ||||
| Eagle-Weslake | |||||
| 1967 | Anglo American Racers
|
Eagle-Weslake | 0 | NC | |
| 1968–1970: Did not compete | |||||
| 1971 | Competition Developments
|
Lola-Chevrolet* | Non-championship only | ||
- Italic donates as non-championship entries.
- * Classified as a Formula A entry.
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 11 |
| Starts | 9 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 3 |
| Laps Raced | 403 |
| Distance Raced | 1,741 km (1,082 mi) |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||||
| 1965 | 
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
| 9th | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966 |
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3 | 14th | ||||||||||||||
| 4th | Ret | DNA | 9th | Ret | 7th | DSQ | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1967 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||
| DNA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ Bob Bondurant 'iconic American racing hero' dies at 88 in Paradise Valley (Fox 10 Phoenix) accessed on November 14, 2021
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