Bob Bondurant pays tribute to his racing teammate Dan Gurney.

Today I have lost my teammate. Dan said we were racing fraternity brothers, he was my true friend. We always, always called each other “Hey Teammate!” He always made me laugh every single time we spoke. We truly loved and respected each other which is unusual for competitive race car drivers.

Racing the Cobras together in Europe took our friendship to an entirely new level, but winning Le Mans in 1964 together sealed our bond for life. He later trusted me as we both sorted out and raced his F1 Eagles together. Later in life I trained him at my school for NASCAR, and we’ve had many, many great reunions over the years.

He was truly just a fantastic man in all aspects and I loved him dearly from the heart. I just can’t get his big friendly “Hey Teammate!” smile of his out of my head tonight. Our prayers go out to his incredible family, my sadness must pale compared to theirs.

At our last visit he told my wife Pat to remember that in the Bondurant history books, it must go down that he was my #001 very first student as he remembered how he had already raced Le Mans four times with no win, and I coached him during the race to be smooth and take care of the equipment and if he did, we could win this thing. I felt so honored that he remembered those talks at our driver changes, in the foreign dark night of France, exhausted, oil cooler problems, just the two of us for 24 hours to win that grueling race. The underdog Shelby Americans were not predicted to win that race but Dan and I did it together. What a feeling. Thank you Dan.

I have not cried since my mother died when I was 16 years old. I cried today losing Dan…my heart is just broken.

May he rest in Heavenly peace,
Bob Bondurant