![]() ![]() He recalled the day: “He was a friend of mine from high school, Ed Wilkins. Weirdly, Carroll did not really intend to race there at first. ![]() ![]() Mind you, XK120s were the fastest production vehicles in the world, so Shelby’s ability to beat them in a little MG was most certainly admirable. Not only had Carroll beaten everybody else in MG class, he also gave much more powerful Jaguar XK120s a run for their money. Then 29-year-old Texan entered a race with his friend’s MG-TC. From then on, the legendary race car guru became a chicken farmer.Īnother serious breaking point in Carroll’s life came in 1952. The first batch of chickens he sold left him with a healthy $5,000 profit ($50,000 in today’s money). First, he had a dump truck company in Dallas, then he got into chicken farming. ![]() After all, he grew up through the Great Depression, thus he was forced to learn to hustle. Soon after the war, Shelby started a long series of his entrepreneurial ventures. Perhaps luckily for him, he remained states-side throughout his service and did not have to engage in any real combat. Ambitious Texan moved up in ranks and by the end of the war he was training other pilots. Shelby’s itch to go fast was partially satisfied when he was recruited into the army and managed to become an airplane pilot. To make matters worse, Carroll’s first car, ’38 4-cylinder Willys, offered a lackluster performance and could not satisfy his need for speed. Motorsport was out of reach for a small Texas town boy with a post-man for a father. Chicken farmer turned race driverĭespite having a car obsession since early age, Shelby could not really get involved in the hobby due to insufficient funds. We look at how this Texan shook the automotive hierarchy by racing in Europe and even taking on crème-de-la-crème, Enzo Ferrari himself. Remembered today mostly for his V8 sports cars and powerful modified Mustangs, he was also a talented driver and a race team manager. Carroll Shelby is one of the greatest automotive icons. ![]()
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