Bob Bondurant, a racecar driver-turned-instructor who taught and guided such actors as Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Christian Bale and Nicolas Cage for racing movies and other fast-car films, died on Nov. 12 at an assisted living facility in Paradise Valley, Ariz. He was 88.
Bondurant Racing School announced his passing. His wife Pat Bondurant provided The New York TimesWith a death certificate indicating that Bondurant died “suspected immune reaction related to vaccinations.”Cerebrovascular disease and cerebral arterial narrowing are listed as the underlying conditions in the certificate.(The TimesThe type of vaccination was not specified in the report. According to the CDC, there are very few reports of deaths after Covid-19 vaccination.
During his racing career of the 1950s and ’60s, Bondurant became one of the world’s most successful drivers, winning the National Corvette Title, Le Mans GT, the World Championship, and the Baja 500. He won 32 of the 32 Corvette races between 1961 and 1963 and was the first American to bring home the World SportsCar Championship trophy in the Shelby Daytona Coupe 26. He reached the top of Formula 1 racing and prototypes with Ferrari.
But tragedy struck in 1967 during a race at Watkins Glen, New York, when the steering arm of Bondurant’s vehicle broke at 150 mph. The McLaren racecar he was driving flipped eight times, causing severe injuries to Bondurant’s rib, leg, foot and back. Doctors told him he might never be able to walk again.
The accident ended Bondurant’s racing career, so during his recuperation Bondurant decided to switch career paths and, inspired by his experience training the actor James Garner for the 1966 John Frankenheimer film Grand Prix, in 1968 he opened the The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving (initially at the Orange County International Raceway and moving to various locales over the years before settling in Chandler, Arizona.)
Over the next 50 years, the Bondurant Racing School saw a steady stream of actors seeking to learn or fine-tune their driving skills in preparation for film roles. Among the students he tutored were Paul Newman and Robert Wagner for 1969’s Winning, Tom Cruise for 1990’s Days of Thunder, Nicolas Cage in 2000 for Gone in 60 Seconds and Christian Bale for 2019’s Ford v Ferrari. (The school boasts more than 500,000 graduates worldwide.
The Bondurant School website features photos of Bondurant with celebrities such as Clint Eastwood and David Crosby.
Bondurant is survived by his wife Pat, the President and CEO of the Bondurant Racing School. Funeral services are scheduledSaturday, December 4, Glendale, Arizona