We owe this guy a lot. Great racer. Great American...


http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/C ... ra-051112/

For sure Bob. I was picking up an interview from a Detroit AM station Monday and listened to a Mustang author (sorry i dont remember the name) but he said something that stuck with me: Carroll Shelby was of the talent that combined business and racing successfully. There are many who are great in business and many who are great at racing and Shelby successfully combined the two. He mentioned that Shelby was a chicken farmer in Texas after WWII and went on to amateur racing which led to his racing the AC - he was looking for a small block V-8 and believe it or not, GM turned him down flat - he went over to Ford whose top management gave him the cold shoulder; but the racing division was contacted by Carroll and he told them he needed V-8's to race and they wanted to know why. Carroll told them he wanted to beat Corvettes. Ford racing then said how many engines do you need! This author also mentioned that Shelby got the name Cobra from a dream one night - wrote it down on a piece of paper on his nightstand - Bless you Mr. Shelby and rest in peace in that Cobra in the sky...

I can't say I'm awful surprised since he's led a full life with no small share of major health issues along the way, but it sure stung when I saw the news last week

The Shelby name would be an interesting business school study. He had his ups and downs (particularly in the past 10 years), and some questioned the worthiness of associating the Shelby name with the FWD Chryslers in the 1980s. But in the end the work he did in the 1960s was so game-changing that it remains incredibly valuable.

I wonder who ended up with the rights to the name?