Feature: Training Wheels
August 1, 2005
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Bob Bondurant, president of the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving,
was once a fine racer himself. Bondurant drove GM’s Corvettes to victories
in California and went on to perform on the world stage in Shelby’s Cobras and
Enzo’s Ferraris before injuries from a crash ended his racing career in 1967.
Having trained actors James Garner and Yves Montand for the 1966 movie Grand
Prix, Bondurant opened his own driving school at Orange County raceway near Los
Angeles in 1968. The first week, he had three students. The second week, only
two: Paul Newman and Robert Wagner, who were training for the movie Winning.
His growing operation moved to nearby Ontario Motor Speedway in 1970, then to Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma, Calif. in 1973. Following 17 successful seasons there, Bondurant achieved his longtime dream of opening his own purpose-built driver-training center at the Firebird sports complex, just south of Phoenix, in 1990.
Now an energetic 72, Bondurant has instructed and befriended so many top drivers and celebrities through the years that you never know who might be around on any given day. At this most recent visit for Executive Protection training, I found him working one-on-one with former Cobra racer turned author and poet Dan Gerber, who has recently resumed racing Cobras in vintage events. Gerber’s latest book of poetry, Trying to Catch the Horses, takes on new meaning when you watch him chase Mustangs around a track.
Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving
800.842.7223
www.bondurant.com
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