Valvoline.com

Shelby's Racers

Comp cars that led to street creds

Since the early 1960s, Carroll Shelby has built some of the fastest, most outrageous automobiles ever to hit the streets. Yet the real reason he's a household name today is that he backed up his street creds with race wins. In fact, when the Shelby American company was formed, it was with the intention of winning GT races against the all-conquering Ferraris. Here's a short history on some of his more notable comp cars

Making History

The Shelby American story starts in 1962 with the legendary Cobra. No sooner had Shelby finished the first prototype to show Ford what it had been spending its money on then he started fabricating the first Cobra racing car. It was a quick-and-dirty race-prep job with a mildly modified Ford 260-inch engine, 16-inch wire wheels, a roll bar and some minor beefing-up. Sporting less than 275 hp, it didn't seem like much compared to a 375-hp fuel-injected Corvette—until the flag fell!

First blood was at Riverside in late 1962. Billy Krause flogged the new warrior around the track, easily pulling away from a group of new Sting Rays, which had expected to dominate the big-bore class. At one time Krause was over a mile ahead, but a rear suspension part failed and put him out. The Corvettes won, but everyone knew their days were numbered.

Precision Prep

Sure enough, from then until 1965 the small-block Cobras ruled big-inch American sports car racing. Shelby also took his team of 289 roadsters (the 260 was replaced by the 289-inch engine in 1963) to Europe to do battle with the Ferrari 250 GTOs. At first the Cobras were quick but fragile, but by 1964 they had developed into formidable racers.

In 1964 Shelby introduced the Daytona Coupe, a fastback version of the Cobra roadster that was capable of 180 mph (30 mph higher than the less aerodynamic roadsters). Shelby was well on the way to victory in the GT Championship when Ferrari pulled strings to get the last race (in which Shelby was favored to win) cancelled, giving the red cars from Maranello a narrow win in the Championship.

Seeing Red

In 1965 Shelby found himself with no opposition, as Ferrari withdrew factory support from the now outdated GTOs. The Cobras romped to victory!

Although the Cobra 427 was the fastest production car in the world when it came out in 1965, it had a relatively short racing career. The first 427 prototype was a 289 Cobra stuffed with a NASCAR 427. At Sebring in 1964, its handling was so deadly the drivers were happy when it finally broke. Cobra driver and development expert Ken Miles also built an ultra-light Cobra with an experimental aluminum 390-inch Ford engine. He ran it once at Nassau in 1964, where it pulled out an impressive lead until it broke.

It was obvious that a stronger and more sophisticated chassis was needed to cope with the heavier, more muscular 427 engine. The original Cobra leaf-spring independent suspension was replaced with coil-overs and double A-arms all around. Interestingly enough, this was the first chassis designed on a computer by Klaus Arning and Bob Negsted.

Striped Horse

Shelby intended to build 100 racing versions of the 427 with hotter 485-hp engines, race suspension and brakes and wide racing wheels. Few were sold however, so most were remade into the now-priceless 427 S/C (street/competition) models. The Shelby team only raced one Cobra 427, and then only three times with no success. Private owners won SCCA A-Production championships from 1965 to 1969, and again in 1973.

Shelby got into the serious car business in 1965 with the introduction of the GT-350, a highly modified Mustang. In 1965 there were also 37 GT-350R race versions built, with hotter Cobra 289 engines and numerous suspension and bodywork modifications. These competed against the small-block Corvettes in amateur road racing, winning many championships. The factory even raced a couple of them with success, but the emphasis was on selling them to privateer teams.

Supreme Reign

When the Trans-Am Sedan Championship cranked up in 1966, Shelby whipped up a run of white notchback Mustangs with GT-350R underpinnings. These ruled the 1966 racing season, and Shelby fielded factory teams of Mustangs in the Trans-Am until 1969.

In 1963 Shelby also entered a team of Ford-powered Cooper Monaco sports-racing cars in professional big-bore sports car races. These "King Cobras" weighed around 1,500 pounds and sported Cobra 289 engines with four Weber carburetors. They were race winners, even against the fantastic Chevy-powered Chaparrals. In 1964 the King Cobras returned and took a win at Riverside, but by the end of the season they were obsolete.

Although Shelby-American did not build the Ford GTs, the company was responsible for turning them into race winners. In 1965 Shelby took over the project and beefed up the fragile chassis, installed Cobra 289 engines and started collecting trophies. In 1966 the Shelby team won Le Mans with its Ford GT Mk.IIs, now packing 427 engines. The next year Shelby was back with all-new Ford GT Mk.IVs collecting wins at Sebring and Le Mans. With that, Ford had proven its point and turned off the money tap.

Carrolling Along

Shelby American contested several other racing series, but not with same degree of success. In 1967, Shelby's King Cobra Group 7 (an all new design) sported a radical single-shock suspension and a lovely body, but the 351-inch Ford engine was too puny to take on the big-block Chevys in the Can-Am series. It was only raced twice, without any wins. In 1968 Shelby tried a Lola T-70 with a Ford 351 engine, then upgraded to a McLaren M6 powered by an aluminum 427 Ford. Neither was up to the factory McLarens that dominated the series.

Shelby even built two Toyota 2000 sports cars for amateur events. These lovely two-liter sports cars proved competitive against Porsche 911s, but after one season Toyota pulled the plug. Only two cars were built. Lacking new projects, Shelby-American closed the doors in late 1969.

In 1990 Carroll Shelby was jazzing up Chrysler, and he drummed up a sports-racing car called the Shelby Can-Am for SCCA road racing. It was for a one-make class using sealed Dodge V-6 engines for both professional and amateur races. The series continued until 1997, during which time 76 cars were built.

Although the Can-Am was the last pure racing car from the fertile mind of Carroll Shelby, the master of automotive performance has continued to build exciting street cars back under the Ford banner. His much publicized return to the blue oval began with his work on the acclaimed Ford GT supercar which was released in 2004. Ford and ol' Shel quickly followed with four concept cars also sharing the Ford/Shelby moniker—the Cobra roadster, the GR-1 coupe, the Shelby Expedition and most recently the return of the Shelby Cobra GT500, the fastest, most powerful Mustang ever produced. At 82 years old, age is the only thing holding this living legend back, as he has often commented that he wishes he could just keep on creating new cars. And so do Shelby fans the world over.