A shame. I think Pat had a lot to do with this.

Staff and instructors sent home in the middle of the day, during a program!

Smh...

His latest wife. Signs the checks (or not). Left in the middle of the day after terminating everyone before they could get to the office to ask what was going on, so they say.

I took his course about a year ago. Bob was there and though he’s been slowed by time, mini-strokes and accident, he seemed fully in control, observing the students and commenting. But, what goes on in the office is another story.

I’ll be on his course this weekend with NASA, and they tell me the course, which is owned by a Native American tribe has it open for business.

I disagree. Bob is a great guy, but he had a very dedicated group of prople that led that school long after he stopped with the day to day oversight. Often, these groups cycle through, with a strong lead instructor or instructors and a well-oiled support staff, over a few rotations. But over time, energy, motivation, those effective evangelist instructors and capital (read: operating cash) ebbs. Then, the owner discovers there’s not enough to operate anymore. That appears to be the case here.

In Skip’s case, he was more active than Bob in leading the school and setting up the all important OEM relationships that all top level schools have. Things like the supply of cars, tires, title sponsors, the all important ride and drive programs (which are much more profitable than schools), as well as school race series, which keeps people coming back.

It’s a tough model. The instructors and mechanics work there to get exposure and ride the pro racing coattails out of that subsistence gig into the whirl of pro racing. The owners are constantly looking to sign long term contracts with suppliers, tracks, sponsors and OEM’s, but for Bondurant, there was just an inexorable decline in subscriptions that even the FCA deal couldn’t make up. A shame.

I think when it became clear that Bob’s money was going out to support the school, and there was no good even short term prospect of turning that around, Pat pulled the plug.

Well, not quite. While VC money bought the school from Skip in 1999, and he was fully out by 2001, it was the leader of that buyout, Michael Culver, who very soon after that got greedy, bought all his other partners out and went it alone until he cratered the school in spectacular and tragic fashion in 2016. The model was profitable enough to attract those guys, and Skip is NOT a sentimental man!

Some say that the sale around the turn of the millennium ushered in one of the best periods of the school, with a collection of instructors unparalleled in their experience and effectiveness, good, stable long term contracts with OEMs, a great ride and drive program headed by Don Harple and four major “bases” around the country (Laguna Seca, Road America, Sebring and Lime Rock) giving truly nationwide coverage. It was a fantastic time, one that I’ll remember with fond memories.

But the model, especially on that scale, depends on many moving parts to keep going. Culver bought the Panoz School and established a base at Road Atlanta, and to pay for rapidly mounting losses, began cutting programs, reducing wages, deferring maintenance on capital equipment around the time the economy went into freefall. Make no mistake, Culver was the driver who began to crash the car, and it was going fast enough so when it finally wrecked, the debris field was very large and a lot of people were injured... financially and emotionally.

In 2011, he closed the original corporate office and call center in Lakeville, near Lime Rock, which had between 35-50 full time employees at the peak, and moved everything to a metal building at Road Atlanta. It dissembled quickly from there. By then, long time SBRS ride and drive guys had gone out on their own and become successful themselves, like Radius and others, long time instructors had moved to other schools, with a few top level guys going on to start and run the Lucas Oil School (Todd Snyder, Randy Buck) and LevelUp Racing School (Peter Stolz, Jim Pace, Terry Lee, Keith Watts and Steve Debrecht). Some went to competitors for a short while (Bruce MacInnes, Divina Galica) and some went out on their own or developed their already significant private coaching businesses (Mike Zimicki, Rob Slonaker, Lee Carpentier, Jim Pace, Andy Lally, Andrew Davis, Spencer Pumpelly and others). The diaspora, we called it...

As a matter of fact, in the darkest days of 2010-2011, a group of instructors investigated the idea of buying the school from Culver, such was the desire to "save" what truly was not only a great school, but a great culture. Sadly, Culver was in so deep by that time, he put an astronomical price on what was essentially a mailing list, and the hounds (tracks, instructors, suppliers) were already baying at the door, by that time.

After a a few hiccups, Demonte Motorsports, who operated a successful Mustang ride and drive program, made a successful bid for the name, the school, the IP and, over the last few years, made a GREAT effort to bring it back the way it originally hummed at its peak. So much so, that some of the stalwarts who began with Skip in 1975 and soon thereafter, have come back on staff. Bruce, Terry Lee and others, no longer shackled by the relentless cost cutting and corrosive atmosphere of the Culver regime, are again inspiring and mentoring new graduates, and returning students of the sport. It’s cool, and I think Demonte, at the head of the school, is both an enthusiast and a good businessman who “gets it.”

Schools have their place, and if properly run, inculcate proven, time tested fundamentals with drills, facilities and equipment that private coaches and volunteer schools can’t match. It’s a mistake to discount the value of attending a well run professional program.

Again, sad to see the Bondurant deal go down, but it’s sort of like racing. If you’re not pushing, you’re falling behind...