‘Grand Prix’ 40th Birthday Sure to Garner Attention

To mark the 40th anniversary of the movie “Grand Prix,” Warner Home Video has released a special DVD edition of the film, including a “Making of” documentary featuring Bob Bondurant.
Bondurant was hired by director John Frankenheimer to personally instruct the star of the film, James Garner, in preparation for his driving scenes.
He spent two months with the actor, and then played an active roll in production of the film, even playing the role of a fellow competitor.
“The documentary turned out fantastic and the movie looked great. That was such a great time. Not only was I a technical advisor for the film, training the actors and driving various Formula cars, as well as the GT40 camera car, I was also racing competitively for Ferrari,” said Bob Bondurant.
“It’s great to see that the school that I started after my work with Grand Prix is still thriving and that this film is still considered one of the greatest racing pictures of all time.”
Shortly after Bondurant’s involvement with the film, Bondurant’s racing career was interrupted when the steering wheel on the McLaren Mk II he was driving at Watkins Glen broke at over 150 miles per hour, rolling end over end eight times and putting him in the hospital.
He began developing plans for a racing school while recuperating and in 1968 opened The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, Arizona.