Welcome to Carroll Shelby

There are few names in the motoring world that compare with that of Carroll Shelby.
Racer, designer and entrepreneur he’s far more than simply an American that shone brightly on the European stage. He has became a global automotive icon.

Shelby’s achievements transcend just his on-track record. His racing career was surprisingly short, but he packed a lot in.  What really made the man, and the name he came to hoist to the pinnacle of performance engineering, was what he did off the track. He was clearly a gambling man: a stubborn Texan ex-chicken farmer who simply refused to stay down. The farm faltered, so he went racing. A heart condition stopped him racing, so he built his own car. His own cars began to win everything, so he upscaled and took one of the world’s biggest manufacturers to the height of its sporting success, masterminding Ford’s long-craved Le Mans victory. And along with that he launched supercars, some of which swam like gracious big-engined swans, others which sank like an iron V8 block (the ill-fated Shelby Series 1 being a prime example of when putting your money where your mouth is sometimes doesn’t work out.)

There were multiple side hustles along the way; racing schools, chilli cook-offs even random toiletry brands, and they all painted a picture of a man who simply couldn’t sit still. Carroll Shelby was never afraid to take on the world, and more often than not he won.

Today the Shelby name is a powerhouse in performance engineering, and the legacy of the man lives on. But he didn’t do everything by himself. In this special issue we look at not just what made Shelby tick, but also explore the stories of those who helped him along the way.

Read more about Le Mans and motor racing over the last century in Motor Sport’s vast archive. Visit: motorsportmagazine.com