Carroll
Shelby

Carroll Shelby was born in Leesburg, Texas, in 1923 and grew up in Dallas from the age of seven. He began racing as an amateur in May 1952, driving an MG TC at Norman, Oklahoma. He won several races later that year and more in 1953. In 1954 he travelled to Europe and raced for Aston Martin.

Shelby started eight Formula One World Championship races, in 1958 and 1959. In 1958 he drove a Maserati 250F for Scuderia Centro Sud, including the Portuguese Grand Prix. In one race he took over Masten Gregory's car and finished fourth, though no points were awarded for the shared drive. In 1959 he drove the Aston Martin DBR4 in the Dutch, British, Portuguese and Italian Grands Prix.

In June 1959 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Roy Salvadori in an Aston Martin DBR1. In 1960 he won at Riverside in a Maserati Tipo 61, and in October of that year he stopped racing. His final race was the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix.

He then opened a high-performance driving school at Riverside and, in 1962, founded Shelby American. Production of the Shelby AC Cobra, powered by a Ford V8, began in March 1962. The Daytona Coupe took several GT class wins in the World Sportscar Championship in 1964, including at Le Mans. Shelby American was also involved in Ford's GT40 programme. The Mark II version of the GT40 finished first, second and third at Le Mans in 1966. Shelby died in 2012 at the age of 89.

Source: Wikipedia, “Carroll Shelby”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.