Bob Bondurant’s 50-Year Valentine
Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving celebrated its official 50th anniversary on Valentines Day.
The school was founded in the year after the horrific crash where Bondurant’s McLaren steering arm broke on turn four at Watkins Glen in 1967 that ended his racing career. Bondurant chased his dream of opening a school that would empower other drivers with the skills needed to master car control and opened the doors of his school on Feb. 14, 1968, in Orange County, California, with five vehicles and three students.
Since that time, Bondurant’s school has become a world-class driver training facility that annually brings in over $40 million in revenue to the Greater Phoenix-area.
“I opened my racing school on Valentine’s Day in 1968 because of what the day represents,” Bondurant said. “It’s a day that celebrates love and passion. And there’s nothing I loved more passionately than racing and teaching, high performance driving, and just as important, driver safety. Of course, I’m very proud of the incredible influence my school has had on drivers from around the world. I’m so grateful to have created such a great legacy and to be the only family-owned and operated driver training school of this scale.”
Over the last 50 years, the school has grown in both size and reach. From 1968 to 1990, the school was hosted at various racetracks in California, before relocating to its permanent home at the Wild Horse Pass, Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. The school is considered to be “the world’s fastest 100 acres” and boasts a fleet of more than 200 vehicles.
“Bob Bondurant School of High Performance is the only purpose-built driver training facility in the world,” said Pat Bondurant, CEO and president of Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and Bondurant Companies. “It’s taken a lot of hard work and initiative to be recognized globally as the expert authority on driver training and safety. But this 50th Anniversary is not just a chance to reflect on our incredible legacy, this is a milestone to inspire us as we look forward to training the next generation of drivers.”
To date, the school has trained the Bondurant method to over 500,000 students from around the world, including many celebrities from the entertainment and sports industries such as Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, 50 Cent, Van Halen, Slash, Sean White, Jimmy Johnson, and Jeff Gordon to name a few. Hollywood actor, Paul Newman, was one of the first three students to train with Bondurant in 1968 for the movie Winning. Bondurant and Newman forged an unbreakable bond of friendship as Bondurant continued to coach Newman through movie roles and two decades of racing at LeMans and winning SCCA championships.
“We have a phenomenal reputation and history, and we’re just as excited about our next 50 years,” said Jason Bondurant, vice president of Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. “My dad says that the technology and performance in the automotive industry has improved by light-years, but those advancements have not diminished the need for driver training. In fact, driver safety is more important today, than it ever was. As we look to the future, we know we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, so we’ll continue to be the undisputed leader in driver training for decades to come.”
Bondurant has secured some of the most globally recognized names in automotive industry. Datsun, Porsche, Ford, GM, Chevrolet, Dodge FCA, Fiat, Goodyear, SHELL, Pennzoil, Borla, and Eibach etc.
Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving on Valentines Day offered a single day special of 50-percent off on all of classes.
For more information, call 800-842-RACE, or visit www.bondurant.com.
