The racing world lost an icon last Thursday when Carroll Shelby went to that big garage in the sky. The 89-year-old man died at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas. However, the native Texan had a great life. Born in Leesburg, Texas in 1923, the iconic Shelby grew up during the Great Depression. When World War II broke out, he enrolled in the Army Air Corp and soon found himself flying as a trainer and test pilot. He too soon found himself addicted to the high speeds that would spark his love of racing. Returning home, he devoted himself to raising chickens, but never forgot his high-speed days. Then, one day in 1952, he decided to enter a local race. He drove a beat-up little MG TC and, despite being outclassed by more luxurious cars, he managed to show off many of the other drivers. For Shelby it would change his life.
He soon upgraded to a more professional car, a Cadillac-powered Allard J2 and won his first real race at Caddo Mills, Texas. After that his reputation began to grow as he raced across the country and was soon approached by Aston Martin to race them at Le Mans and Sebring. He was badly injured in a race in Mexico when he flipped his Aston Martin four times after hitting a rock, but Shelby wasn’t about to give up. In the next race he was not fully recovered and had to wear a special caste and have his hand hit on the wheel. Sports Illustrated gave him back-to-back Driver of the Year awards in 1956-1957. He won several races, the most famous being the 1959 Le Mans and the USAC driving championship. It was after that that he was forced to retire due to a heart condition he suffered from. It may have been the end of his racing days, but not his love of cars.
He decided he wanted to build cars for himself and run his own racing teams, so in 1961 he contacted AC Cars out of England to see if they would be interested in allowing him to modify two of their car chassis. Shelby loved the idea of combining powerful (and more affordable) American V-8s with the lighter, better-handling frames of the European brands. Fortunately, Ford had just introduced a new small-block V-8 that Shelby thought would be perfect for his car. Ford had been looking for something to beat the Corvette and even the Ferrari, and they saw this as his big break. At the New York Auto Show, Shelby introduced the first CSX 2000 Cobra. It wasn’t long before his cars dominated the race tracks.
He went on to design the AC Cobra (Shelby Cobra), the Daytona Coupe, the GT40, and the famous Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT 500. No one could be his cars, and his teams won several races, including the 12 Hours of Sebring, and most More importantly, it beat the top-ranked Ferraris with a 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans in 1966. Shelby wanted a car to beat the Corvette, what he got was a car that could beat anything.
His most famous public works are his designs for Ford with the Mustang. In 1965, he released the Shelby Mustang GT350 for street and professional racing. He once again dominated the competition and has created a lasting legacy for Ford. Even to this day, the Shelby Mustang is Ford’s top-of-the-line model that packs more power than anything else they make. It’s quite a story for a man who originally raised chickens in Texas.
