The Shelby American Story

My column in the October 2006 edition of Vintage Racecar was titled, “Shelby, the Early Years.” For the most part, it was about Carroll Shelby’s racing career that culminated in winning Le Mans in 1959. I followed up on the column with the publication of my book, Shelby, the Race Driver in 2008, but, of course, there’s a lot more about Shelby than just the fifties and his racing. Last month I wrote about Shelby’s early constructor attempts with the Lister and the Corvette.

Interestingly enough, Shelby’s life more or less has divided itself into decades. The forties were WWII and his Army Air Corps time, followed by the fifties and racing. In the sixties came the Cobras and Shelby Mustangs. The seventies were his Africa years and the eighties, the Dodge time. The nineties saw a revival of Cobras and Mustangs, while in the new millennium, he has developed his various enterprises into what amounts to a mini-conglomerate. Shelby, himself, has become a true icon.