The largest training center for advanced drivers in the world, and one of the most famous, is under new ownership. The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving has been purchased by Stig Investments Inc., which appropriately is headed by a group of racing and skilled-driving enthusiasts. The deal was announced this week, though no terms of the sale were disclosed.
Based in Phoenix, the school maintains a 3.0-mile, 26-turn track and a reconfigurable course for exercises. Its fleet of 100 vehicles ranges from street cars to open-wheel formula machines, but for most driver training, FCA automobiles are used exclusively, up to the 800-plus horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and the Viper ACR. FCA US LLC is already on board with the new owners, and intends to continue supplying vehicles to the school. Its founder is Bob Bondurant, one of the United States’ best road racers during the early 1960s, who went on to have a stint in Formula 1. He established the school to train prospective racers, but went on to teach fast driving for everyone from Hollywood stars to corporate drivers needing to learn threat evasion to NASCAR races who wanted to turn in both directions, not just left.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 