Bob Bondurant's Last Lap

Bob Bondurant, who went from winning races on the international stage to teaching others to win races at his famous driving school, has passed away at age 88.

In racing, Bondurant was part of a small cadre of American drivers who traveled to Europe in the early 1960s to take on the world’s best in sports cars and in Formula 1, after several years driving sports cars in the U.S. Bondurant started out in the burgeoning West Coast sports car racing scene, competing against the likes of Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby and Ritchie Ginther before any of those guys were famous. At first he raced Corvettes, winning the LA Times Grand Prix in 1962.

From there he started racing for Carroll Shelby and switched to Cobras. After U.S. wins driving Cobras, Bondurant went to Europe for the 1964 season, where he competed in races that are now legend: Spa, Nurburgring and the Targa Florio. But it was his class victory driving the Cobra Daytona Coupe at Le Mans that year that may have been his crowning achievement on a race track. He won the GT class at Le Mans co-driving with fellow American Dan Gurney. The following year he helped bring home the FIA Manufacturer’s Championship for Shelby and Ford. He also drove a Ford GT40 MkI, Ferrari 365 P2 and a Corvette in sports cars in 1967… read more >