In 2007, this exquisite statue of Carroll Shelby was unveiled of him during the glory days, smiling at lap times the Cobras were turning on his stop watch.
Carroll Shelby as a figure has inspired controversy,
consternation, subterfuge, and sometimes outright frustration. Whether you met Mr. Shelby in the courtroom
or the racetrack, anyone who he set his cross-hairs on tends to see him like this. I met him over breakfast.
There is always a schism that requires reconciliation
between the man and the icon when you get to know a legend. It was January 2007, right in the midst of a
civil war between SAAC and the newly constituted Team Shelby. I was invited to private breakfast ahead of
the evening’s festivities, commemorating a statue in Carroll’s honor during the
annual Shelby American Collection benefit dinner located in Boulder, Colorado. I had made a considerable donation to the
effort, but was upset by all that was being said and done on both sides of the
battle line. At that breakfast, I was
all of a sudden faced with squaring all the judgments, allegations, and bad
blood in the fight of over the Shelby Brand with a direct and personal meeting
with the man himself, sharing a meal with him and the members of his original
race team that made the brand something worth fighting over.
I have met several people with “celebrity” status over the years,
enough to know when they’ve let it go to their head. They become the imagined image in people’s
minds rather than remember that it is the people’s appreciation for what they
do that has launched them into the limelight.
Personal interactions with people of little note (as I was that morning,
dining with the actual team Shelby), are typically met with aloof
indifference. Carroll went out of his
was to make my acquaintance, inviting me to sit with him after the meal and
began to chat with me. After a while, he
pulled out a knife and demanded money.
It was a commemorative pocket knife, purchased just for the
original team members during the event.
He asked for a penny in return as he tossed the blade across the table
to me. I must have looked bewildered,
because I friend who was with me explained that you never give a knife away
without some token payment because then it will sever the relationship. I was honored.
I learned that morning that Carroll Hall Shelby wasn’t the
larger-than-life benevolent racing demigod that I grew up hearing stories
about. I also learned that he wasn’t the
self-serving son-of-bitch that would sue you as quick as look at you. Carroll the man was, in many ways, a regular
guy with faults and foibles who did extraordinary things for the industry and
hobby he loved. Lucky for all of us who
are dedicated fanatics of the American Muscle Car he trained his hawkish gaze
on a former employer when is first uttered that now famous phrase “Ferrari's
ass is mine!”
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This is an ugly picture, particularly if you don't know what you are looking at. This is the engine bay of SFM5R002 or "002", the very first Shelby GT350 “R” Model completed. Lee Iacocca approached Shelby to further prepare and campaign the Mustang as a B production SCCA racer. The idea was to boost an already successful seller with a winning race program. Boy did the Shelby team deliver, Ken Miles and Jerry Titus pulled down seven 1st place wins. Ford sold 680,989 Mustangs during the 1965 Model year.
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I invite you to forget everything you think you know
about the now iconic 427 Cobra, the quarter-million dollar '67 Shelby GT500, or
the multimillion-dollar GT40. The
chicken farmer’s legacy isn’t measured by much his old projects trade for today
between private collectors. I also
invite you to forgive the controversies that Shelby was so adept at creating
for himself and focus on the things he did to speak the hearts of millions who
love automotive performance.
When Ford and Team Shelby threw down the gauntlet at Enzo
Ferrari's feet they were the undisputed Royal Family of Motorsports. Think of Carroll's famous phrase as The
Declaration of Independence for the road racing world and Ferrari was King
George. Before that Seminole moment, the
everyman had no place on the road course.
European aristocracy crowded out all previous attempts by American
manufacturers to make a credible run at international road racing.
Ford wanted to build the “Total Performance” image. What were the tools offered for the
effort? In the beginning an outmoded
British chassis first designed in 1953 featuring a transverse rear leaf spring
suspension and worm and sector steering, a small block motor sourced from
Ford's compact economy line up, a small “secretary’s car”, and a pat on the
bottom to go create a race program.
It took a man with a belly full of grit, a swagger stick taller than a telephone pole, and a pair of cajones the size of his home state to pull it off. Shelby was that man. One can argue that his gun sights have been focused on the wrong target from time to time, but he was more than the son-of-a-bitch we needed at the time. He began by inspiring just a few. The members of the Shelby American racing team were young men who were passionate about cars and racing. We don’t venerate Shelby for his race driving career, by the time Ford came calling, his driving career was behind him. Carroll assembled and lead a motley group to do more than any of them thought possible.
These were regular guys all doing what they loved. The day he sold me that knife, was the day
they recognized that same thing within me. A few of the men who made it happen, left to right: GT350 Driver Tom Yeager, R&D Director Phil Remington, GT350 Project Engineer Chuck Cantwell, and Museum Supporter Roger Willbanks enjoy a pre-dinner reception.
Mr. Shelby has been given credit for many a man's
accomplishments over the years and perhaps he was sometimes too polite to
refuse it. But this isn't about THE man
or any one man. This is about what the
Shelby American race team accomplished. I
have seen him honor the team that created his legacy and also the place that
has done the best job preserving it.
Headed up by Steve Volk, the Shelby American Museum
Collection in Boulder Colorado is a charitably funded, all volunteer
organization that houses nearly every significant Shelby Cobra, Shelby Mustang,
Daytona Coupe, and even GT40 race cars known to exist. The museum doesn't just house the cars, it
tells the story. It was on Saturday
December 1st of 2007 that I witnessed O'l Shel himself say “None of
this would be anything without this bunch of guys right here. There wouldn't be a legacy to remember
without all of them...” Starting to
weep, Carroll turned to address Steve Volk, the Co-Founder of the museum,
“...and I can't think of a more worthy man to carry that legacy forward. Thank
you.” I'll tell you one thing, the old
croc's tears were genuine.
The rest of the night we were treated to stories and
recollections from Phil Remmington, Allen Grant, Chuck Cantwell, Lew Spenser,
Bob Bondurant and others. The cars, the
accomplishments, and the team that put American racing on the international
stage were all right there. We may take
for granted the enormity of the American performance today; to hear how it became
so assures you of one thing: It was a messy, uncertain adventure getting
there. The evening was crowned the only way
a Shelby event could, with the roar and revving of Cobra Daytona's and GT40's
filling the air with the fumes of race fuel.
I have never seen so many tie and gown clad people hoot and holler over the
staccato of a 427 before. These people
ARE Shelby’s legacy.
Check out our photo gallery of more views of the Shelby American Museum with detailed captions:
Shelby American Museum 2007 Charity Dinner, a set on Flickr.
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