Carroll Shelby: Early Years(US) Born in 1923. Carroll Shelby has enjoyed a multi-faceted career as a driver, owner, team manager, manufacturer and consultant. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shelby retired from driving in 1960, after being told by doctors to stop racing because of health reasons. Returning to the United States, he tried Texas oil wildcating, then running a trucking firm before becoming Goodyear's West Coast racing tire distributor. In 1962, Carroll formed Shelby American in Santa Fe, New Mexico, (later moving into Lance Reventlow's old Scarab works in Los Angeles) and developed the legendary Cobra with Ford and A.C. cars of Great Britain. The Cobra's racing debut was at Riverside in October that year. By 1965, Shelby became involved in the Ford GT40 project. Shelby-prepared GT40s placed 1 & 2 at Le Mans in 1966. |