Carroll Hall Shelby was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company. As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry. He died of heart valve leakage problems by age 7 and experienced health complications from this throughout his life.
About Carroll Shelby in brief
Carroll Hall Shelby was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company. He established Shelby American in 1962 to manufacture and market performance vehicles. As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans entry. He was severely injured in a crash while racing a Carrera Panamericana in 1956, but continued to drive for John Edgar and Carroll Shelby Cars in 60s and 70s. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967. He died of heart valve leakage problems by age 7 and experienced health complications from this throughout his life. He had a fascination in speed, leading to an interest in cars and airplanes. Shelby’s education as a pilot began in the military at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, later known as Lackland Air Force Base, in November 1941. 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 1948–49, and then as a poultry farmer before going bankrupt. He then enrolled at The Georgia Institute of Technology in the Aeronautical Engineering program.
Shelby began driving professionally at age 29, starting out as an amateur, in January 1952 at the Grand Prairie Naval Air Station drag meet, followed by other races. 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. In August 1954, Shelby drove with Donald Healey, and his team. In a 100S and supercharged Austin-Healey 100S, they set about 70 new speed records at the Saltville Salt Flats, with Shelby setting about 17 on his own. He won a further 30 races with the Ferrari in 1956. He started driving Tony Paravano’s Ferraris in August 1955, then driving Tony Guiberson’s Ferrari Monza in 1957. In 1959, he won about ten races with Allen Guibersen’s Ferrari, and a second place showing at Sebring driving Allen Guibert’s Ferrari. In 1961, he was driving the Aston Martin that won the Le Mans 24-hour race at Le Mans. In 1962, he opened Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas, Texas, and opened the Sports Cars Museum in Dallas in 1960. He later sold the company to Ford Motor Co. in 1983. He also served as a director of Ford’s North American Operations in the 1980s and 1990s, and was a board member of the American Institute of Aeronautics.
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This page is based on the article Carroll Shelby published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
