"Before there was a car, there was a man". Carroll Shelby is the man legends are made of. His accomplishments are the envy of every kid who ever fell in love with cars. It’s about courage, driving and performance. As a 37 year old race car driver burdened by heart disease, Shelby would defy death by downing nitroglycerine pills at high speed to stay alive and win the race. Shelby's vision of what an American sports car could be has shaped an entire generation of high performance automobiles. To this day his legacy continues.

Carroll Hall Shelby was born on January 11th, 1923 in Leesburg, Texas. Living life in high gear, Carroll would become a flight instructor during World War II. Carroll would drive his first race in a hot rod fitted with a flathead Ford V8. He would break land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1954. He would then finish a respectable 2nd place driving in an Aston-Martin DBR3 against C-Type Jags at Aintree. Carroll drove with the Aston-Martin team at LeMans in 1954. He would become sports illlustrated's 1956 "Sports Car Driver of the Year". Also he would become Sports Illustrated's "Driver of the Year in 1957. Shelby co-drove an Aston-Martin DBR 1/300 and won the coveted 24 hours of LeMans. He then proceeded to drive a Scarab at the Continental Divide Raceways in 1956. Unable to compete with a deteriorating heart condition.

With Shelby's Racing career over, he set his sites on automotive design. Carroll set his eyes on creating cars that would be faster, lighter, more nimble, and able to beat the world’s best. As a result of this quest, the Shelby Cobra was born. In 1965 the Shelby American team raced at the 12 Heures De Reims in France. Together they scored enough points to win the prestigious FIA World Championship of GT cars and took the title owned by Ferrari for over a decade.

Shelby-American built on their success and began racing Ford GT40's in the international competition. The result being a win at the LeMans 24 hour race in 1966 and 1967, the crowning achievement for Ford Racing and a humiliating disaster for Ferrari. Ford then requested Shelby to build a high performance Mustang for street and track. In the late 90's Shelby developed the awesome Shelby Series 1, this car turned out to be the fastest car ever measured in the standing measured mile. Shelby also help develop and fast track the Dodge Viper. These achievements all contributed to Shelby's introduction in the hall of fame in 1992. Shelby continues his vision of building high-performance cars to this day.