Carroll Shelby Passes

[Sssss]

Safely Home Carroll

 

I am home in heaven, dear ones;

Oh so happy and so bright!

There is perfect joy and beauty

In this everlasting light.

 

All the pain and grief is over,

Every restless tossing passed;

I am now at peace forever,

Safely home in heaven at last.

 

Did you wonder how I so calmly

Trod the valley of the shade?

Oh, but Jesus' love illumined

Every dark and fearful glade.

 

And he came himself to meet me

In that way so hard to tread;

And with Jesus' arm to lean on,

Could I have one doubt or dread?

 

Then you must not grieve so sorely,

For I love you dearly still;

Try to look beyond earth's shadows,

Pray to trust our Heavenly Father's will.

 

There is work still waiting for you,

So you must not idly stand;

Do it now, while life remains,

You shall rest in Jesus' land.

 

When that work is all completed,

He will gently call you home;

Oh, the rapture of that meeting,

Oh, the joy to see you come!

 

God rest your soul my dear friend,

You deserve it.

Until we meet again.....

[stephenroy]

I was so happy and proud when I picked up my 40th Anniversary GT500 from the Shelby plant up in Vegas. It was fun to take the tour, sign the wall, and then get my keys. Even had the opportunity to see Carroll driving round in that hopped up golf cart of his.

 

I wish him well on his journey.

 

Thank you Carroll for making driving exciting.

[chucks07]

RIP Mr.Shelby. You will be missed by many. My thoughts and prayers to your family and friends.

[VaporDude]

The thing I will miss about Carroll Shelby is listening to him. He has a unique way and a unique voice that anyone can remember. I have always like to hear his speeches in Tulsa when he went there.

[StrayShadow]

 

 

 

[Wicked Quick]

We are all still really upset about Carroll's passing, and we are hoping to release a tribute tee in his honor very soon.

 

If you haven't checked it out already, the founder of our company actually met Mr. Shelby on several occasions last year, and he tells his story on our website. (some photos of Carroll as well!)

 

It's a really enlightening read

 

We hope you're all holding up okay!

 

-The Wicked Quick Team

[AjsCobra]

I think Carroll Shelby is an icon of the automotive industry and motorsports. Not many beings like him for what he did and as he did. I think that only a Ferrari Enzo is comparable to Carroll.

I have a Shelby Cobra replica.

Greetings to everyone from Buenos Aires Argentina Shelby.

Alejandro Schiaffino

[XY GTHO Phase III]

For all the good that Carroll Shelby has done on this earth I feel comforted that the lord is cradling him in his arms, Rob

[jerseygator]

Safely Home Carroll

 

I am home in heaven, dear ones;

Oh so happy and so bright!

There is perfect joy and beauty

In this everlasting light.

 

All the pain and grief is over,

Every restless tossing passed;

I am now at peace forever,

Safely home in heaven at last.

 

Did you wonder how I so calmly

Trod the valley of the shade?

Oh, but Jesus' love illumined

Every dark and fearful glade.

 

And he came himself to meet me

In that way so hard to tread;

And with Jesus' arm to lean on,

Could I have one doubt or dread?

 

Then you must not grieve so sorely,

For I love you dearly still;

Try to look beyond earth's shadows,

Pray to trust our Heavenly Father's will.

 

There is work still waiting for you,

So you must not idly stand;

Do it now, while life remains,

You shall rest in Jesus' land.

 

When that work is all completed,

He will gently call you home;

Oh, the rapture of that meeting,

Oh, the joy to see you come!

 

God rest your soul my dear friend,

You deserve it.

Until we meet again.....

 

 

 

+1 That is beautiful...

[Jimbroski_00]

RIP Mr. Shelby...

 

Fair Winds To You and the Shelby Family...

 

Thanks for Everything... from just one of the many who make up the Shelby Nation!!!

 

08SGT004

[John Canfield]

This is a brilliant rememberance from AutoWeek writer Denise McCluggage...enjoy...

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120515/CARNEWS/120519866

[al ellison]

Thank you for sharing that.

God's peace to the Shelby family.

[MY500SS]

This is a brilliant rememberance from AutoWeek writer Denise McCluggage...enjoy...

http://www.autoweek....RNEWS/120519866

 

 

Wonderful read................thanks for posting.

[UK PONY]

RIP Mr. Shelby - my CS6 was at a show on Saturday and the compliments she received were matched only by the kind comments about how saddened people were to hear of your passing.

[shel-b001]

Thanks for sharing . I have many fond memories of Carroll at SAAC conventions he always had time to talk with you . RIP Carroll you will never be forgotten.

[Foggy]

It came as a great shock to hear of the demise of Carroll Shelby, I have been a fan of Shelby cars ever since I saw one drag racing in the UK back in the late 1960's, it was 2010 before I finally manged to buy one, yep a 2010 model which I love and adore.

 

Carroll Shelby brought back the Muscle Car when all other maufacturers thought they were obselete. He has personnally brought me great motoring pleasure and I'm sure has done the same for many Petrolheads worldwide. I'm already planning to aquire the 2013 model as soon as I can, long may Shelby's continue.

 

You will be sadly missed.

 

From a Shelby fan based in Dubai in the UAE.

 

You will be sadly missed.

 

Don't completely Rest in Peace, carry on as you did so there are Shelby's in the next world ready for me as well.

 

Condlolances to all his family.

 

 

IanB Dubai (Foggy)

[Alexandros]

RIP Mr. Shelby...

Alexandros

[Chuck Gorzenski]

I'm pretty sure Caroll Shelby brings some more life to above our heads and he'll keep an eye on us all.

 

My thoughts and prayers to his wife Cleo and his Family.

 

RIP Caroll Shelby

[cooper4]

Dear Carroll and family,

 

these are surely bad and sad days.

But there were better ones and as long as we think of him he will still live in our memories and hearts.

Thank you for your energy, your dreams, your cars, your enthusiasm!

 

Every time we see our, … your car, we smile! And when we are driving we even laugh. Our young children know the name Shelby for years and were exited!

 

Thank you for making our life happier!

Thank you for your husband, daddy, grandpa, brother!

 

Ralf & Kirsten

Melanie & Nick ... we say good bye.

[Frank S]

This is a brilliant rememberance from AutoWeek writer Denise McCluggage...enjoy...

http://www.autoweek....RNEWS/120519866

 

Yes, it is.

 

More tears, and more resolve to live up to Carroll Shelby's standards. He didn't make that easy for us.

[ilmor]

Is there any information yet regarding Carroll Shelby's final resting place?

[Mikyy]

It passed 10 days since he's gone and I still can't belive it...A true legend gone. It really seemed like he would be around forever sometimes, like he was just too awesome to die. Makes it kind of a shock now that he has.

[Bill Hamilton]

'Nuff said......> ( See Pic Attached)

[2007_Shelby_GT]

I received this through the Amelia Island Concour de Elegance. A very nice remembrance by Bill Warner, founder and chairman of the Concours here on Amelia:

 

(Sorry for the large post, but I couldn't locate a link since it came in my e-mail! If someone can fix it, please do!)

 

 

MEMORIES OF CARROLL SHELBY

1923 - 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Joel Finn

 

 

 

I don't intend for this to be an obituary for Carroll Shelby. There are plenty of those available elsewhere.

 

 

There was no surprise when Shelby died. He had been seriously ill since February. He was scheduled to be a part of the Amelia Island Concours seminar entitled "Ferrari vs Cobra, the Battle for the World Championship of Sports Car" in March.

 

 

 

 

His wife, Cleo, called from his hospital room to explain that Carroll was ill - pneumonia -- and therefore very questionable for the seminar. She was explaining his situation when suddenly a familiar gravelly voice erupted in the background, "DON'T COUNT ME OUT!" yelled patient Shelby. Then he wrested the phone from his wife, " Bill, I'll be there!" Thus spake Carroll Shelby last winter . . . from his hospital bed, hooked up to machines and not enjoying his status as one of, if not the oldest and longest surviving heart transplant recipients. He was determined to the end, always looking ahead, never behind. That was Shelby.

 

 

 

 

The seminar went on without him but he was there in spirit. The panelists - Mauro Forghieri, Peter Brock, Charlie Agapiou, Lou Chinetti and Bob Bondurant found it difficult to tell the story without the man who had created the Cobra and changed everything with a group he called " a bunch of California hot rodders".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Joel Finn

 

 

 

 

Shelby had an uncanny knack for attracting headline talent. Phil Remington, the brilliant master fabricator and metal artist was a pivotal part of Shelby's original Cobra retinue. Team Manager and engineer, Carroll Smith. Ace photographer, Dave Friedman, Project Manager Chuck Cantwell, and Deke Houlgate, PR. The list goes on.

 

 

 

 

Peter Brock, who came aboard early in the Cobra story was (and is) a gifted designer who signed on to teach high performance driving at Shelby's Cobra driving school at Riverside Raceway. His designs of Cobra logos and graphics are still fresh and vivid and have become collectors' items as well as modern classics. Brock then designed the car that became known as the Cobra Daytona Coupe, strangely enough, a project in which Shelby had no faith until Ken Miles and Pete came back from Riverside with the lap times of the prototype. Brock's design went on to win its class at Le Mans in 1964 and the World Championship - America's first sports car world championship - on July 4, 1965 at Rheims France. After Shelby American, Brock went on to more success as a designer, constructor, author, and award winning photo journalist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Dave Friedman

 

 

 

 

Shelby had faced health problems since his racing days in the Fifties. He drove his final race at Laguna Seca with a nitroglycerine tablet under his tongue to blunt the pain of angina. No matter. He forced his obsolescent Birdcage Maserati into second overall behind Stirling Moss's state of the art, rear engine Lotus 19, little more than a Formula 1 car with fenders and two seats.

 

 

 

 

He always had his intellectual focus well up the road. Another phone call I received showed Shelby's distain for ancient accomplishments and his abhorrence to rest on laurels, no matter how plush or well earned. Someone had asked about his sports racing creation, the King Cobra (nee a Cooper Monaco packing a Cobra Ford V-8). Shelby didn't know how many he'd made. That was history. There was no profit in it. So he called me for the facts. The conversation was Shelby-blunt and to the point.

 

 

 

Shelby: " Bill, Shelby, here. How many of those damn Cooper Fords did I build ?

 

 

 

Warner: "Seven, including the Lang Cooper."

 

 

 

Shelby: "Yeah, that's right, I built seven of 'em." Click. Conversation over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Dave Friedman

 

 

 

 

There was a broad streak of the warrior in Shelby. He was at his best when confronted by a challenge. The more potent the challenge, the better. Enzo Ferrari was custom made for Carroll Shelby. The Axis powers, too. The "Flying Sargent" Shelby spent WWII flying AT-11's and such in Texas surviving at least one plane crash. By the time he got his Lieutenant's bars, the need for bomber pilots had waned and fighter pilots were taking the war to the Wehrmacht on a more personal level. As for Ferrari, Shelby's goal was to take the World Sports Car Championship from him.

 

 

 

 

The list of drivers who raced his Cobras is as impressive as well. A true all-star team . . . Bob Bondurant, Dan Gurney, Bill Krause, World Champion and three-time Le Mans winner Phil Hill, AJ Foyt, Lloyd Ruby, Dan Gerber, Allen Grant, Chris Amon, Bob Holbert, Dave MacDonald, Bruce McLaren, John Morton, Lew Spencer, Ed Leslie, and, of course, Ken Miles who led the Shelby Cobra charge.

 

 

 

 

In 1962 the Cobra hit the international sports car scene like a bolt of lightning. The reworked and massaged British chassis packing what was essentially a small displacement Ford thin wall casting V-8 changed the world of sports cars and sports car racing practically overnight. That got the attention of none other than Henry Ford II who was having a high stakes international feud with Enzo Ferrari. Ford was spending money on the GT40 program like the GSA and the results were not in line with expenditures. So Hank the Deuce called the man who made the Cobras (Powered by Ford, of course). The results Ford wanted came quickly. Shelby's band of California hot rodders won the first time out at Daytona. But it took another year to win the ultimate prize, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. One year later he did it again. But 1967 was an all-American win organized by Shelby who had already won Le Mans as a driver for Aston Martin in 1959. For 1967 odd couple Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt won a crushing Le Mans victory for Ford and America upping the speed record for the day long race by a dazzling ten mph!

 

 

 

Photo by Dave Friedman

 

 

 

 

Just two years later Shelby was out of the Cobra business. He had built nearly 1000 Cobras with more than ten per cent of the total as racing cars. He was off to Africa for big game hunting.

 

 

 

 

 

A renewed association with Lee Iacocca brought Shelby into the orbit of Chrysler Corp. A new generation of Shelbys was produced including development of the Dodge (now SRT) Viper.

 

 

 

 

More recently a string of potent Shelby Mustangs was created for Ford at Shelby's international headquarters in Las Vegas. Customers can order one with engines packing up to 1000 horsepower.

 

 

 

 

His post racing career was so spectacular, the cars he created so desirable that what powered Carroll Shelby before Ford's brilliant little V-8 was a love of cars and speed. Carroll Shelby was a member of the first generation of professional American sports car and road racers. With gentlemen such as Masten Gregory, Phil Hill and Dan Gurney, Shelby changed the perception and reality of American pro road racers that was unfairly tainted by the decidedly blue collar roots and environment of American circle track and speedway racing. His Cobras changed international sports car racing, investing it with the fury of a thumping American V-8 and a very American spirit of innovation and impatience.

 

 

 

 

He was a great driver and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine as their racer of the year. (His matinee good looks didn't hurt a bit.) But he was a fast, gentle and thoughtful racer who was just the sort of driver perfectionist who John Wyer required at Aston Martin. His grace at speed, his ease with the car earned him the respect of car owners, car builders and his fellow drivers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Gene Clendenning

 

 

 

 

 

Shelby was named Amelia's honoree in 1999. When I called him in the summer of 1998 to confirm his participation the reply was classic Shelby . . . "I've got another man's heart and a new kidney, I don't make plans that far in advance; hell, I don't even buy green bananas!" But he made it to Amelia and his irascible presence made the weekend perfect for his legion of Cobra fans.

 

 

 

 

He returned to Amelia in 2010, filling in for Sir Stirling Moss who had fallen down an elevator shaft at his London flat. We had planned for an unforgettable seminar entitled "The Three Greats" with Sir Stirling, Don Garlits and Richard Petty. Carroll came on at the eleventh hour notice to bail us out and sub for Moss. Name one "Great" who would do that on five day's notice ? Not many, if any. It was an absolutely magical and unforgettable moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've lost a friend and an American original who, quoting his first wife, Jeanne, could sell anybody "white blackbirds", a man you could count on when needed, who had the marketing skills of P.T. Barnum with just a touch Billie Sol Estes thrown into the mix. Years ago, while visiting him in his office in Gardena, I spotted a sign over his desk. It read, "Will those who say it can't be done, please get out of the way of those of us who are doing it"..............classic Shelby.

 

 

 

 

 

He was known to close a phone conversation to friends by saying he loved them. The soft side, not seen in business deals, I am sure. We spoke a couple of times just before he died. The conversation centered upon his health and the medical challenges that he and my granddaughter were facing. He said he'd pray for her and closed by asking, "Pray for me, also". I did. Once again the soft side of the man became apparent. It was very touching and I was moved.

 

 

 

 

 

He was a man who rose from a humble childhood to success few will ever achieve or understand. All of us at The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance Foundation will miss him and send our condolences to his family.

 

 

 

 

Goodbye, my friend, the bananas finally ripened.

 

 

 

 

Bill Warner, 18 May 2012

 

 

 

 

 

[John Canfield]

You have no reason to apologize for the size of the post, it still is nowhere near the size of the man for which it is about. Thank you very much for sharing.

[leviathon]

I dont mean for this to be a pity story by any means so I apologize if this hits anyone wrong...

 

When I heard the news of Carroll's passing, I was at work about mid shift. I was genuinely saddened by this. About five minutes later my father called me to tell me the sad news. All my co workers immediately started talking about this and expressing how Shelby had touched every aspect of the performance auto world. Everyone from hardcore GM buyers to dodge truckers. The first time I had ever heard about Shelby was from my grandfather who grew up with American muscle and therefore got my passion started. I bought my mustang when I graduated from high school. A 06 performance white mustang...of course I would have loved to have a shelby but the v6 had to do being only 18 and working for every penny I spent. I hope to build my car to model a shelby and who knows maybe one day have it christened as one....

 

the whole point of this was that Carroll touched so many lives with his passion for speed and innovation. Its because of people like him that we all can get together and talk about our cars and passions only to bask in the fellowship that he has brought to us..

 

Carroll will be extremely missed by all, but we must remember that He lived a fantastic life, and still continues to inspire all automotive nuts like us..

 

God speed Mr. Shelby and God bless.........Thank you.

[HARALD KELLEY]

Did not realize that his last race was at Laguna Seca. Anyways, thanks for posting.

[silversurfer]

A good and great man not to mention a Legacy! I wish I could have met him. May Ford carry on his life.

[Steve.Madrid]

Excellent post by 2007_Shelby_GT I learned quite a few things. Like many others I was taken aback at the news. Personally I was at a car show cleaning up 08SGT0645 before she was judged for the first time in my ownership and some other Shelby owners were discussing his passing. I was stunned, more so because Carroll had passed two days prior and I had been so busy with work and prepping the car I had not watched any news. I was saddened the whole day but also took pride in that I had my own small piece of Shelby history to exhibit.

 

That day an absolutely perfect '66 Hertz Shelby won Best Of Show and there were a few announcements over the PA regarding Carroll and his life. In the end I was gladI was glad I was there that day to help represent what he had given so many of us.

 

Rest In Peace.

[AzSideWinder]

Thanks Mr. Shelby for what you did to the auto industry, especially the Ford Mustang. I wanted a Shelby for 40 years and finally could afford to own one at the rip young age of 49. Thanks for helping develop a great car, I love my Shelby! RIP.