Building Better Drivers
The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving
By Jim Prueter

From around the world they come by the thousands: the rich, the famous, the professionals, but mostly the average Joe or Mary who loves driving cars and wants to learn by sitting at the feet of the master, Bob Bondurant.

This year marks the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s 40th anniversary. Over the course of those four decades, more than 250,000 students have trained to become better drivers, using techniques that apply both on the track and during the daily commute.

Bob Bondurant grew up in southern California and, as a teenager, raced an Indian Scout motorcycle on local dirt tracks. In 1956 he moved on to sports cars, and in 1959 captured the West Coast “B” Production Championship and Corvette Driver of the Year Award.

By 1963, Bob was in Europe driving Ford Cobras for Carroll Shelby, winning numerous races. In 1964, paired with Dan Gurney, he won the GT category and placed fourth driving a Cobra Daytona Coupe at Le Mans. A year later, Bob won seven out of 10 races, plus the World Manufacturers’ Championship, for the U.S. and Shelby. That distinction led him to Formula One as a driver for the Ferrari team at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix.

In 1967, while racing at Watkins Glen in the Can-Am and USRC series behind the wheel of a McLaren Mark II, a steering arm broke. The car flipped eight times at 150 miles per hour, crushing Bob’s feet and legs.

Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive, and that he would never walk again. Refusing to accept the prognosis, Bob kept seeking opinions until he found a chiropractor whose help, along with his own determination, got him back on his feet and eventually back into a race car. Meanwhile, needing to make a living, Bob began teaching at Carroll Shelby’s driving school in Riverside, Calif.

It was on Valentine’s Day in 1968 that Bob opened the doors of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at Orange County International Raceway, starting with three students. The following week there were two students: Paul Newman and Robert Wagner who were training for the racing film, Winning.

Bob moved the school twice before building the current facility on a 60-acre site in Phoenix adjacent to Firebird International Raceway, back in 1990. Driving courses there range from teenage driving safety to highway survival to high-performance driving.

In the one- to three-day teenage driving safety course, teens learn basic skills like skid control, accident avoidance, shifting, cornering, braking and the physical dynamics of vehicle-weight-shift techniques that could someday save their life.

The one-day highway survival course is ideal for those who want to build confidence in their daily driving and want to feel more comfortable behind the wheel. The techniques learned are similar to those offered in the teenage course.

Most of the courses are geared for high-performance driving enthusiasts. They range from one to four days in length and are designed to help drivers get the most out of their own high-performance vehicle once they get back home.

Bondurant has a relationship with General Motors and the school features more than 200 race-prepared training vehicles including Corvette and Corvette Z06, Cadillac CTS, Pontiac GTO and Pontiac Solstice, open-wheel, open-cockpit F-1 style Formula cars and shifter carts.

There’s even a four-day executive protection/anti-kidnapping course designed for high-profile executives, their families, staff and chauffeurs. Using Chevy Tahoes, participants learn to avoid possible kidnapping or assault by criminals or terrorists.

All courses start in the classroom. After a brief introduction, the fun begins with a short walk to the 1.6-mile twisty road course designed by Bondurant himself, where students pile into long versions of Chevy’s full-size Express Van for a white-knuckle trip around the track, courtesy of the instructor-driver.

These are stock Chevy vans with 10 plus students on board, hitting the apexes at more than 85 miles per hour, tires squealing on sharp corners with the following van seemingly inches from the rear bumper. I’ll guarantee you’ve never had a van ride like this before. Your instructor, talking the entire time, explains that you, too, will drive their Corvettes in a similar fashion in a matter of days. The ride leaves a lasting impression and speaks volumes about getting the most out of your vehicle.

Based on my recent four day Grand Prix Road Racing course, it’s easy to understand both the popularity of the class and the reason so many past students keep returning. The adrenalin rush as you fly into corners, learn to heel-toe shift and fly back out of the corners is a feeling you can’t get anywhere else.

Forget everything you think you know about driving. Chances are you aren’t even sitting correctly, don’t have your hands properly on the wheel and don’t know how to brake when cornering, let alone understand how the anti-lock braking, stability control or traction control systems work on your own vehicle.

I asked Bondurant if there was just one thing he would want students to take away from the experience what would that be? Without hesitation he said, “To look ahead. Be sure to look well ahead, not at the car in front of you but where you want your car to go. Most drivers on the road today don’t look far enough ahead and many accidents could be avoided by just doing that.”

The student to instructor ratio is two to one and more than 80 percent of your time is spent in the vehicle, so technique coaching and instruction are completely personalized with instant feedback. The instructors sitting next to you while you’re behind the wheel really help you keep it together. With their superior skill level, they won’t let you forget to use all the techniques you’re learning.

Students are allowed to bring their own vehicle to the course and are given the opportunity to race it. I wouldn’t recommend doing so because these cars really take a beating.

On the third day of class, you’ll engage in a full race with your fellow students, all behind the wheel of your own Corvette. Hands down, it’s the most fun you’ll probably ever have in your whole life. All the skills you’ve learned come into play and you’ll be amazed at how much better a driver you’ve become in such a short time.

At age 75, most days, Bondurant can still be found at the school, never more than a few steps ahead of the school’s “real boss” Rusty, his eight-year old Queensland heeler. “I still love running the school and love everything about it. It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years because in many ways, I feel like I’m just getting started. There’s so much more I want to accomplish and it’s always important to look ahead, to look at where you want to go.” Now that sounds familiar.

Photos courtesy of Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving

If you go

Bondurant Racing School

800-842-RACE
www.bondurant.com

Checkout Bondurant’s Shifter Kart experience, available every evening during the week. These powerful go-karts can rocket from zero to 100 miles per hour in just 10 seconds and are capable of speeds up to 120 miles per hour — all while just a few inches off the ground.

Celebrity Graduates

Clint Eastwood, Katie Holmes, Nicholas Cage, Paul Newman, Sammy Hagar, Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise

Professional Driver Graduates

Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Buddy Rice, Dan Gurney, Stirling Moss