Very few individuals can boast of having the type of influence Carroll Shelby had on the latter part of the 20th Century Automotive industry. He developed the concept of “Small car, big engine” and was a pioneer in designing audaciously powerful and beautiful muscle cars of the time, cars that have cult-like followership to this day.
The talents of Carroll are as indisputable as his charms, and his toughness in character is something that’s always visualized in his masterpieces. Carroll was always in a fast lane and as such could never be held back by anything or anyone, he understood his mission and set out to achieve them and was never afraid of stepping on toes, even those of formal friends.
But this doesn’t mean that he was a bad person, far from it, Carroll Shelby was a visionary, a man that was could never be put on hold by anything especially sickness or age. In one phrase; he was larger than life.
This is 15 facts about Carroll Shelby you didn’t know.
15 Shelby's Childhood
Carroll was born between WWI and The Great Depression, on January 11, 1923, to Warren Hall Shelby and Eloise Lawrence Shelby in Leesburg, Texas. His father was a rural mail carrier. Carroll's father, Warren, had a major influence in his love for automotive, as he was a gearhead himself. Carroll eventually developed a keen interest in IMCA racing, combustion engines, and aviation, which he only picked up because of a payoff his father gave to him.
14 Heart Problems
Carroll developed a serious heart condition when he was 7 years, which would plague him throughout his life. Later in his life, he was diagnosed with Angina Pectoris, which was caused by a leaking coronary artery in his heart. The condition eventual made Carroll drop racing in 1960 and in 1990 he had a heart transplant.
13 WWII
Shelby was only 16 years when WWII broke out and signed up once he was eligible, joining the Army Air Corps. He studied at the Lackland Air Force Base, he graduated with the rank of a pilot staff sergeant. He served as a flight instructor and test pilot, before being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1942 and was discharged after V-J Day.
12 The Planes He Flew
While Shelby served in the Army Air Corps, he flew six different planes. He flew the AT-11 Kansan Beechcraft Model 18, 11 seaters twin-engine aircraft, the Curtiss AT-9 Jeep, twin-engine advanced training aircraft. After being commissioned to the rank of second lieutenant, he flew the B-18 medium bomber, the B-25 medium bomber, and the B-29 Superfortress, four-engine heavy bomber.
11 First Businesses
Before he turned his sight at driving, Shelby tried his hands on a few businesses. The first was to start his own dump truck business, which he started immediately after his return from the war. He changed to become an oil-well roughneck for almost a year starting from 1948. He almost settled for Poultry farming after making $5000 in profit for his first batch but went bankrupt after the flock died of limberneck disease in his second batch. Blessings in disguise.
10 A Love Of Women
Throughout his life, Carroll loved many women and married seven of them. While serving as a pilot, he used his plane to spin over his lover's home to drop letters. He married Jeanne Fields in 1943, the marriage lasted 15 years and there had three children, before divorcing. He went on to marry New Zealander Jan Harrison, Sandra Brandstetter, Cynthia Psaros, Helena Dahl, who died in a car accident, and Cleo. His love interest also includes Akiko Kojima, Carol Conors, and Jacque Passino.
9 Marital Woes
Shelby sucked at marriage. He admitted to cheating on his first wife Jeanne, with Harrison, and his marriage with his Harrison ended the same year it started. He married a New Zealand woman for a few weeks only to get her into the US. Following the death of his next wife Sandra, he remarried again just four months after. At age 89, he was in the process of getting a divorce when he died. It makes us wonder if he was going to remarry again at that age.
8 His Other Projects
Carroll is a man of many talents, and he wasn’t shy about combining them with his one true love, cars. In 1967, He endorsed the Real Man’s Deodrant, he was part of a collaborative effort that produced the Donzi Shelby speedboat, he also produced gold and silver-finished alloy wheels, supported Shelby motorcycles, and established a Children’s Foundation for heart disease. What a man.
7 Chili Lover
Shelby was the founder of the Terlingua International Chili Championship in Texas, where he owns 220,000 acres of land. He also co-founded the popular Chili’s Grill and Bar in 1975, with his son-in-law Larry Lavine. One of their initial products the Chili Mixing Kit features his iconic black hat and a story about his special love for chili.
6 Astute Racer
If it weren’t for his incessant heart condition and accidents, Shelby had the talents of becoming one of the best racers of his generation. His career began in 1952 as a hobby, where he participated and won the drag-racing hot rods. 1959 he did the impossible, winning over more powerful cars with his Aston DBR1/300 at the Le Mans.
5 Serious Crashes
Like most drivers, Shelby was involved in several auto crashes but two were particularly threatening. While driving a Healy in the 1955 border-to-border race for the Mexico Carrera Panamericana title, he had the first major crash, that left him in the hospital for eight months. Again, in 1957 he crashed a Maserati at the Riverside Raceway, and even required plastic surgery and extra 72 stitches. Lucky him.
4 The Iconic Cobra
Shelby has claimed that he got the ideas for the AC Cobra in his dreams, before contacting British AC cars to collaborate in building the AC Shelby Cobras. Three models of the Cobras were built called CSX 2000, CSX 2001, CSX 2002, and in 2003, Shelby and AC Motor Holdings collaborated to build the iconic Cobras again. In 2007, he was present for the sale of his Cobra Super Snake for $5.5 million at Barrett-Collector Car Auction.
3 The Stallion And The Snake
The legendary beef between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari sparked one of the greatest rivalries in automotive history. This rivalry involved Ford Motors Company, Shelby America, his driver Ken Miles, and Enzo Ferrari. The initial goal of the aggressors of Ferrari was to defeat the dominant Ferrari in the 24 hours Le Mans. Carroll was supposed to drive against Ferrari in that Le Mans but was unable to because of his heart condition.
2 Legal Battles
Carroll Shelby has been involved in so many lawsuits that it’s quite hard to follow them all. He sued one time partners Superformance for breach of contract, He also sued another major partner Ford, for rights to the Cobra name, lost a suit to Factory Five for producing Daytona replicas, was sued by a former employee for sexual alleged assault, he sued his fan club for not involving him in their proceedings. Even in death, his family was in court over how he wanted to be buried.
1 His Death
Carroll passed away at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, at the age of 89 years. The cause of death wasn’t officially disclosed, but he had a major medical history that included a heart transplant in 1990, and a kidney transplant from his son, Michael, in 1996. However, Carroll never wanted to be buried the traditional way, he wanted to be cremated, with his ashes, shared among his children, wife, and the family land.