Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur.
Shelby was involved with the AC Cobra and Mustang for the Ford Motor Company. With driver Ken Miles, he developed the Ford GT40, the car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. As of 2026, it remains the only American-built car to win at Le Mans. Their efforts were dramatized in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Ford v Ferrari (titled Le Mans '66 in some European countries).
Shelby and co-driver Roy Salvadori won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Aston Martin DBR1. He won the 1960 Sports Car Club of America United States Auto Club Road Racing Sports Car Championship by winning the round-one race at Riverside International Raceway in a Maserati Tipo 61 "Birdcage" and winning round two at Continental Divide Raceways in a Chevrolet Scarab Mark II.
In 1962, Shelby established Shelby American to manufacture and market performance vehicles. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967.
Carroll Hall Shelby was born on January 11, 1923, to Warren Hall Shelby, a rural mail carrier, and his wife, Eloise Shelby (born Lawrence), in Leesburg, Texas. The younger Shelby suffered from heart valve leakage problems by the age of seven and related complications throughout his life. From a young age, Shelby was fascinated with speed, which led to an interest in cars and airplanes. He moved to Dallas, Texas at the age of seven with his family, and around age ten, he rode his bicycle to nearby dirt tracks to watch races. At the age of 15, he was driving and taking care of his father's Ford. Shelby honed his driving skills with his Willys automobile while attending Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, Texas. He graduated in 1940.
Shelby enrolled at The Georgia Institute of Technology in the Aeronautical Engineering program.
Shelby enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on April 11, 1941, eight months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He began pilot training that November at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He graduated with the rank of staff sergeant pilot in September 1942 at Ellington Field. After more training, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 1942.
Shelby served as a flight instructor and test pilot in the Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan and Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep. He was posted to several other air bases in Texas, including Kelly Field, Cuero Field, Perrin Army Air Field, Ellington Field, and Childress Army Airfield. He trained bombardiers and navigators. He went on to fly the Douglas B-18 Bolo, the North American B-25 Mitchell, the Douglas A-26 Invader, and finally the Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Denver, Colorado.
Shelby was then discharged after V-J Day. Afterwards, Shelby started a dump truck business, worked as an oil-well roughneck from 1948 to 1949, then started a poultry farm but went bankrupt in 1952.
Shelby began his racing career as an amateur. In May 1952, Shelby raced his friend Ed Wilkin's MG TC at the Norman Grand Prix in Norman, Oklahoma. At this race is where he first used the 98 racing number he carried for the remainder of his career in motorsports. Later in the year, he raced Charles Brown's Cadillac-Allards at Caddo Mills, Texas. At the end of 1952, Shelby won four races, taking home only trophies and accepting no prize money.
In 1953, Shelby raced Brown's Cad-Allard, then Roy Cherryhomes' Cad-Allard, winning eight or nine races.
The following year, Shelby drove in the Mil Kilometros de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina and the Sports Car Club of America. There he met John Wyer, Aston Martin's team manager, who asked Shelby to drive their DBR3 at Sebring. During the race, the DBR3 broke an axle and did not finish.
In April 1954, Shelby traveled to Europe, where he raced a DBR3 for Aston Martin at Aintree, then at Le Mans. He and Graham Whitehead took fifth place in an Aston Martin at the 1,000 km at Monza on 27 June. He then drove in the three-car factory team effort at Silverstone on 17 July with Peter Collins and Roy Salvadori; they took the three top places.
In August, Shelby drove with Donald Healey and his team. In an Austin-Healey 100S and supercharged 100S, they set Class D National speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Shelby, Healey, Captain G.E.T. Eyston, Mortimer Morris Goodall, and Roy Jackson-Moore set about 70 records, with Shelby setting 17 on his own. Shelby was severely injured in a crash while racing an Austin-Healey in the Carrera Panamericana.
Amid eight months of operations, Shelby continued to drive in 1955, winning about ten races and mounting a second-place showing at Sebring driving Allen Guiberson's Ferrari Monza. He started driving Tony Paravano's Ferraris in August.
In 1956, Shelby won 30 more races with the Ferrari, started driving for John Edgar, and opened Carroll Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas. He drove in the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race in a specially prepared Ferrari 375 GP roadster, to a record run of 10 minutes, 21.8 seconds. He also set records at Giants Despair Hillclimb, and raced at Brynfan Tyddyn. He was Sports Illustrated magazine's driver of the year in 1956.
In September 1957, Shelby raced John Edgar's 4.5-liter Maserati at the Riverside International Raceway, where he was involved in a crash that caused injuries requiring 72 stitches and plastic surgery for broken bones in his nose and cheekbones. He returned in November, winning with the same car at the same course, against Masten Gregory and Dan Gurney. He repeated as Sports Illustrated driver of the year.
On 18 May 1958, Shelby joined John Wyer and the Aston Martin team in Europe and drove a DBR3 at the Belgian Sports Car Grand Prix. He then drove a DBR1 at the Nürburgring 1000 km with co-driver Salvadori. Shelby was teamed up with Salvadori at Le Mans, but Shelby came down with dysentery and was replaced by Stuart Lewis-Evans a few hours into the race. Shelby then drove a Maserati 250F for Mimo Dei's Scuderia Centro Sud in 3 Grand Prix races to gain Formula 1 and open-wheel car experience, including the Portuguese Grand Prix. Shelby finished the year driving John Edgar's 4.5L Maserati in the Tourist Trophy at Nassau.