Robert L Bondurant was an American racecar driver who raced for the Shelby American, Ferrari, and Eagle teams.
16 Facts About Bob Bondurant
2.
Times Grand Prix in October 1962, Bob Bondurant drove Washburn's new 1963 Corvette Z06 Stingray.
3.
In 1965 Bob 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.
4.
In 1966, Bob 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.
5.
Bob Bondurant was one of two drivers 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.
6.
Bob Bondurant drove BRMs in five Grands Prix for Team Chamaco Collect, finishing 4th at Monaco.
7.
Bob Bondurant finished the Formula One season in North America in two races, driving an Eagle for Dan Gurney's Anglo American Racers.
8.
Bob Bondurant sustained serious rib, leg, foot and, most seriously, back injuries in the subsequent accident in which his car flipped eight times.
9.
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.
10.
Nissan Motor Company was Bob Bondurant's sponsoring partner in his school from its beginning, and continued in that role at the Sonoma Raceway driving school.
11.
Bob Bondurant had four NASCAR starts, all at Riverside International Raceway, with his highest finish of 18th in 1981.
12.
Bob Bondurant was a driving instructor to actors James Garner, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner, Tim Allen, Tom Cruise, and Nicolas Cage.
13.
Bob Bondurant was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003.
14.
Bob Bondurant died in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on November 12,2021, at the age of 88.
15.
Bob Bondurant won his class at Le Mans and has been inducted into ten motorsports halls of fame.
16.
Bob 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.