Carroll Shelby

Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver and entrepreneur.

Carroll Shelby was born on January 11, 1923, to Warren Hall Shelby, a rural mail carrier, and his wife, Eloise Shelby (born Lawrence), in Leesburg, Texas.

Shelby suffered from heart valve leakage problems by age 7 and experienced several health-related complications throughout his life.

From a young age, Shelby was fascinated with the concept of speed, which led to an interest in cars and airplanes.

He moved to Dallas, Texas, at age 7 with his family, and around age 10, he rode his bicycle to dirt tracks nearby to watch races.

Eager for a car of his own, at age 15, he was driving and taking care of his father's Ford.

Shelby honed his driving skills with his Willys automobile while attending Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas, graduating in 1940.

He later enrolled at The Georgia Institute of Technology in the Aeronautical Engineering program.

Shelby's education as a pilot began in the military in November 1941 at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, later known as Lackland Air Force Base.

After enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps, Shelby began pilot training in November 1941.

He graduated with the rank of staff sergeant pilot in September 1942 at Ellington Field.

In December 1942, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant after undergoing air students' training, later serving in Colorado and Texas as a flight instructor and test pilot in the Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan and Curtiss AT-9 Jeep.

He went on to fly the Douglas B-18 Bolo, the North American B-25 Mitchell, the Douglas A-26 Invader, and finally the Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Denver, Colorado, before being discharged following V-J Day.

After the war, he started his own dump truck business, worked briefly as an oil-well roughneck from 1948 to 1949, and then as a poultry farmer before going bankrupt.

Shelby started driving professionally at age 29.

Before racing and building cars, Shelby was a poultry farmer, which was a livelihood he continued until 1952.

Starting out as an amateur, Shelby raced his friend Ed Wilkin's MG TC in January 1952 at the Grand Prairie Naval Air Station drag meet, followed by other races.

Then, he raced Charles Brown's Cadillac-Allards at Caddo Mills, Texas.

At the end of 1952, Shelby won 4 races, taking home only trophies, not accepting any prize money.

In 1953, Shelby raced Brown's Cad-Allard, followed by Roy Cherryhomes' Cad-Allard, winning 8 or 9 races.

Then in 1954, he drove in the Mil Kilometros de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina and the Sports Car Club of America.

This is where he met John Wyer, Aston Martin's team manager, who asked Shelby to drive their DBR3 at Sebring.

The DBR3 did not finish Sebring in 1954 due to a broken rear axle.

Shelby traveled to Europe in April 1954, where he raced a DBR3 for John Wyer at Aintree, followed by Le Mans.

Teaming up with Graham Whitehead, their Aston Martin took fifth at the Thousand Kilometers at Monza on 27 June.

He then drove in the 3-car factory team effort at Silverstone on 17 July with Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori, all three cars taking the three top places.

In August 1954, Shelby drove with Donald Healey, and his team.

In an Austin-Healey 100S and supercharged 100S, they set Class D National speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Shelby, Healey, Captain G.E.T. Eyston, Mortimer Morris Goodall, and Roy Jackson-Moore set about 70 new records, with Shelby setting 17 on his own.

Shelby was severely injured in a crash while racing an Austin-Healey in the Carrera Panamericana.

Though he underwent eight months of operations, he continued to drive in 1955, winning about ten races, and a second-place showing at Sebring driving Allen Guiberson's Ferrari Monza.

He then started driving Tony Paravano's Ferraris in August 1955.

As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry driving an Aston Martin DBR1.

Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified during the late 1960s and early 2000s.

He then went on to win the SCCA USAC Road Racing Sports Car Championship in 1960 driving a Maserati Tipo 61 "Birdcage" and a Chevrolet Scarab Mark II.

He established Shelby American in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles.

As an automotive designer, he is known for developing the Ford GT40 along with racing legend Ken Miles, which won at Le Mans in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.

As of 2024, it remains the only American built car ever to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967.

He and Miles's efforts at Le Mans were dramatized in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Ford v Ferrari.