Bob Bondurant, who led the Shelby American Cobra team’s successful 1965 World Manufacturers Championship effort, and later established one of the leading racing schools in the world, has been named the fifth Legend of Riverside by the Riverside International Automotive Museum. He will be honored by the Museum during its annual gala celebration on the weekend of March 22-23.
Bondurant, who joins fellow Riverside Legends Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby, Parnelli Jones and Bobby Unser as RIAM honorees, raced both Corvettes and Cobras with distinction during the ’60s. He also competed in the Formula One World Championship driving for Ferrari and All American Racers, as well as in a privateer BRM with which he posted his best F1 finish of 4th at Monte Carlo in 1966.
He served as technical adviser and driver coach for the feature films Grand Prix and Winning, in the process teaching James Garner, Paul Newman and Robert Wagner, among others, how to race. His Bob Bondurant School of High Performance driving was founded in 1968 at California’s Orange Country International Raceway and then moved to Ontario Motor Speedway and Sears Point Raceway before settling into its current, specially designed home at Firebird Raceway just southeast of Phoenix, Arizona.
The Riverside weekend will include another round of racing film screenings as well as a display of relevant cars from Bondurant’s career and an autograph session with various racing luminaries. For complete information, please visit http://riversideinternational.org/
