Carroll Shelby Dies at Age 89

Carroll Shelby, the larger-than-life Texas race car driver who later created the iconic Shelby Cobra sports car and several Shelby Mustang coupes for Ford Motor Co., died on May 10 at age 89.

Born with heart problems, Shelby nevertheless became a World War II flight instructor, won three U.S. sports car championships and the 24 Hour of Le Mans and set several land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Health issues forced him to retire from racing in 1960. But within two years he was importing British AC sports cars and retrofitting them with Ford 289-cu.-in. V-8 engines to create the AC Cobra, more commonly called the Shelby Cobra.

He cinched his reputation in 1966 when his Shelby-American racing team finished first, second and third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Ford GT40 race cars he helped to develop. The stunning victory ended Ferrari's domination of the endurance race.

From there, Shelby went on to influence performance car development at all three Detroit carmakers. His most recent project was the 2103 Shelby GT500 Mustang unveiled last month.

The hard-charging Shelby had a heart transplant 22 years ago and a kidney transplant six years later. He was married seven times.

Sports Illustrated twice named Shelby driver of the year in the 1950s. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1992.