Bob Bondurant

Originally from Illinois, Bob later moved to the West Coast where he raced Triumphs and Corvettes with some success, though his big break came with the chance to race Carroll Shelby’s hairy AC Cobra at Denver in 1963. A class win on his debut saw Bob signed full-time for 1964 as the Shelby team headed for Europe to contest the classic long-distance events. His best result was a fourth place at Le Mans (with Gurney) to win the GT class.

Bob had a hectic season in 1965, racing the Cobra and Ford GTs, in addition to a number of Formula 2 and Formula 3 outings. This led to an invitation to race the works Ferrari in place of the injured John Surtees at season’s end.

Back in Europe for 1966 Bob raced for Bernard White’s private team – picking up a fourth place at Monaco – in tandem with a freelance season of sports car rides, sharing Ferraris with Rindt, Parkes and Gregory and bringing a works Porsche into fourth place in the Nürburgring 1000 Km.

His career seemed to be over after a huge accident at Watkins Glen in 1967 prevented him from racing but he made a successsful comeback in Can-Am in 1970 and ’71. Thereafter he concentrated on his racing driver schools, but was occasionally tempted back behind the wheel in SCCA and NASCAR races.