Carroll Shelby: the racing driver

Switching from car to car meant that Shelby did not win this capacity class-based series – but Sports Illustrated magazine had no doubts and nominated him as its driver of the year for 1956 and 1957.

His handling of the fearsome Maserati 450S – a weapon that caused even Stirling Moss to quiver – was particularly praiseworthy. This ‘Bazooka’ got the better of him at Riverside in September – a front-end smash causing him 70 stitches and plastic surgery – but two months later he got “Texas mad” at the same track to recover from an early spin to beat Dan Gurney, Gregory, Walt Hansgen and Richie Ginther.

Shelby was at the top of his game.

It was now or never.

Wyer’s offer of a World Sports Car Championship drive in 1958 would allow him an extended crack at F1 – albeit in outdated privateer 250Fs. He would be one of 10 drivers through the revolving door at wildly enthusiastic Scuderia Centro Sud.

He made his world championship bow in the French GP at Reims and qualified 17th – substantially slower than fellow American debutant Phil Hill in a 250F hired from Jo Bonnier – and retired because of engine woes.

He then finished ninth and last in the British GP at Silverstone.

His next two outings, however, showed promise.

Driving the shorter and lighter ‘Piccolo’ 250F that Juan Fangio had used at Reims to finish fourth in his farewell GP – and which had been bought by Temple Buell, another American construction millionaire – Shelby shone in the early damp stages of the Portuguese GP on the Oporto road circuit: cobblestones, tramlines and all.

He battled with the Vanwall of Stuart Lewis-Evans – his regular co-driver at Aston Martin and a front-row starter here – as well as Ferrari’s Wolfgang von Trips for fourth place until a drying track put too much strain on his engine; oil on his visor caused him to back off.

He was still heading for sixth place, however, when a locked front brake sent him off the road two laps from home.

Relegated to Centro Sud for the Italian GP – he had been subbing for Gregory, injured at Silverstone – Shelby was forced to start in an unfamiliar car rustled up following a problematical practice: he retired after one lap because of a cramped cockpit and all four wheels being out of balance.

But when Gregory pitted after 46 laps, exhausted in the aftermath of a brief but thrilling battle for the lead with Ferrari’s champion elect Mike Hawthorn, Shelby was reunited with the Piccolo and brought it home fourth.

The practice of sharing cars and points, however, was no longer germane: Shelby never would score an F1 point.

Aston Martin had been talking about F1 since 1951 – and had begun its DBR4/250 project in 1956. After delaying it in order to concentrate on the 1958 World Sportscar Championship – just six rounds, of which it contested five – it was finally made ready.

Except, of course, it was already too late.

Roy Salvadori’s front-row start and eventual second place in the International Trophy at Silverstone in May 1959 were reasons for hope. But Shelby’s retirement because of engine bearing failure – having qualified sixth, he was being encouraged by the team to hunt down Ron Flockhart’s BRM for third place in the closing stages – was a cause for concern: the in-line ‘six’ would not be able to withstand 8000rpm over a full GP distance.

Limited to 7000rpm for the Dutch GP, these front-engined cars, though well built and superbly turned out, were slow – Shelby outqualified Salvadori – and lumbering at Zandvoort before both retired early because of engine trouble.

Skipping the French GP at Reims, the lubrication problem was cured in time for the British GP at Aintree – Salvadori again qualified on the front row and Shelby again started sixth – but all hope was lost when both drivers pitted early to complain of being sprayed from the fuel filler.

Shelby, slowed by magneto failure, soldiered on until eventually halted with six laps remaining by the failure of the second magneto fitted to this twin-spark unit.

The Portuguese – this time in Lisbon’s Monsanto Park – and Italian GPs brought more of the same: eighth and 10th places, each several laps in arrears.

Fortunately the DBR1 sportscar was a more competitive proposition – although Salvadori and Shelby outlasted rather than outpaced the Ferraris to win at Le Mans; and it was only the heroics of Moss in victory at the Nürburgring and Goodwood that secured the world title for the Feltham-based squad.

Shelby and Salvadori were evenly matched in terms of performance and – handily for sharing a sports car – physical stature, but the Englishman had undertaken the lion’s share at Le Mans when a stomach bug ‘limited’ his co-driver to 10 hours.

Despite appearances, Shelby was never the most robust and had suffered illness as a child.

Now increasing chest pain was diagnosed as a hereditary defect – his father had died young because of a heart attack – and Shelby would undertake his final race in October 1960 with a tab of nitroglycerine dissolving under his tongue; he finished second behind Moss after two tough heats at Laguna Seca in a Maserati ‘Birdcage’

The Texan had cut an odd but popular figure (especially in European paddocks) in his pinstriped bib overalls: he had long been cute to the idea of brand.

His greatest days – as team boss/entrant and automotive entrepreneur – lay ahead, but these were indeed based on lessons learned during a rapid rise as one of the more savvy drivers of a hectic, varied and dangerous decade.