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| The Beginnings |
| Carroll Hall Shelby was born on January 11, 1923 in Leesburg, Texas. He graduated from high school and then immediately enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served out World War II as a flight instructor and test pilot. When the war ended, he was a Second Lieutenant with a wife and a child. He went into business running a fleet of dump trucks. After a while he decided to start over in the Texas oil business as a “roughneck”. After a few years, he took an aptitude test that told him he should raise animals, so he went into the chicken raising business. His second batch of chickens caught “Newcastle’s Disease” and they all died. He was now bankrupt. In the southern states, farming and racing just seem to go together. Name one great racer who racing career at the drag strip with a 1932 Ford and then moved over to sports car racing in an MG TC. He was a winner from the very beginning. Sports car racing in the United States was strictly an amateur affair and even though he was winning everything in sight, it didn’t pay the bills. He was named “Sports Car Driver of the Year” by Sports Illustrated magazine in both 1956 and 1957 and was featured on the cover. But still there was not enough money. In Europe , however, they paid good money for racing. Shelby headed oversees and landed a ride with John Wyer’s factory Aston Martin team where he won the 24-hours of Le Mans race. He returned to the US in 1960 and was still winning races when a heart ailment caused him to retire after winning the USAC championship. At 37 years old he was flat busted with no job prospects. |
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