The Carroll Shelby Story

By: Carroll Shelby

Narrated by: Chris Abernathy

Carroll Shelby wasn’t born to run. He was born to race - some of the fastest cars ever to tear up a speedway. The exciting new feature film Ford v Ferrari - starring Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as fellow racer Ken Miles - immortalizes the small-town Texas boy who won the notorious Le Mans 24-hour endurance challenge and changed the face of auto racing with the legendary Shelby Cobra. But there’s much more to his high-velocity, history-making story.

A wizard behind the wheel, he was also a visionary designer of speed machines that ruled the racetrack and the road. While his GT40s racked up victories in the world’s most prestigious professional racing showdowns, his masterpiece, the Ford Cobra, gave Europe’s formidable Ferrari an American-style run for its money. If you’ve got a need for speed, strap in next to the man who put his foot down on the pedal, kept his eyes on the prize, and never looked back.

©1965, 1967 Carroll Shelby and Lyle Kenyon Engel (P)2019 Graymalkin Media LLC

ok

Very informative piece about Reece history picked up a few things that I did not know was worth the time

A must read for the motor enthusiast

Shelbys story is there amazing tale of adventure and success in one of the worlds most difficult sports. Not only is it a great story of Shelby’s racing activities but With a vast amount of entertainment, enlightenment and education on a very important era in American and international racing.

Carroll Shelby's story up to 1964

I really liked this book but I expected, and wanted, to hear his details about the "Ford vs. Ferrari" 1965-1969 LeMans wins and other endurance competitions. But, oh, this is his bio up to 1964 and it ends just as they are about to take up the GT40 story!
So having a GT40 on the cover is somewhat disingenuous and it should have been a Shelby Cobra.

So what this book DOES cover is his career as a sportscar and Grand Prix racing driver and his successful story to that led to the Shelby Cobra and partnership with Ford. So as long as that's your expectation, this is an excellent read.

The narrator has a slow Texan drawl, which really suits reading Mr. Shelby's story, though it does get a little tiresome and I found myself wishing for some pep at times.

Shelby really did fly B-29s (and other airplanes), as mentioned in the Ford vs. Ferrari movie (though I don't know if he did the crazy stunt-flying depicted).

And you really get a strong feel for what it was like with the early, freewheeling, days of sports car racing. Also how dangerous it was, without most of the safety considerations that we have today. The number of famous names in his competition is quite incredible and you can imagine what it must have been like to be around all these ace drivers.

The book is told a little haphazardly, with Shelby getting ahead of himself and catching the same, which makes it feel like a fireside chat and makes it feel more "real" than a more polished work. So this is actually a positive.

I hadn't known that Shelby was along a Grand Prix (Formula One) driver and switched between endurance/GT racing and F1.

He also tells the story of how he wanted to develop a light, big-block, sports car and how he alighted on the AC company and their vehicle. This was another surprisingly ad hoc development, without the straight-line-of-progress that we might imagine in hindsight. I like to drive cars but don't work under the hood, so I was especially interested in how many tweaks and modifications they had to make when taking the original AC and turning it into a Cobra. They didn't just drop in that big 427, they had to re-engineer a ton of other ride-handling factors.

Until 1966, Britain didn't have speed limits for cross-country or freeway driving. A friend once claimed that the folks testing the AC vehicles would take them out on the M1 freeway around 1am and legally rush along at 100+mph (remember that other family vehicles were probably not doing more than 50 or 60 back then). So the AC helped usher in the need for speed limits. But Wikipedia says it was due to accidents during fog and doesn't mention the AC testing, so it's probably just a nice myth.


So anyway, this is a very worthwhile read if you want to learn about GT racing in the 1950s and how he developed the Shelby Cobra. While it is not the story of Shelby's part in the Ford GT40 victories at LeMans, if you read Go Like Hell (the book that the Ford vs. Ferrari movie is based on) and then this book, then go watch the FvF movie to really know the background of the early movie characters!

good story for muscle car enthusiasts on road trip

i love cars and the engineering/technical details, and i especially admire Shelby's commitment to a goal and his obsession to achieve it. however, if you aren't passionate about these things, you'll probably be bored.

great

great man, great life. more on later life, but great story. highly recommend this book.

Excellent

Definitely one of my favorite audiobooks. Amazing man was Carroll Shelby! The reader was perfect for this book.

Did Mr. Shelby really talk like this?

I’m still listening but, I’m bothered by the slow, stereotypical, back country, not much education Texan portrayed by the narrator.
If Carroll Shelby did speak this way then, I’m fine, I’ll accept it because he was a genius and my favorite vehicle is the Shelby GT.

Loved it!

Saw the film Ford V Ferrari and loved it. I wanted to learn more about Carroll Shelby who was played by Matt Damon in the film. I remember hearing stories from my friend's dad who used to drive an AC Cobra. I came across this audiobook and it did not disappoint. Felt like I was right there with Shelby. Fascinating to hear Shelby in his own words.

Amazing man

Great follow up to the Ford v. Ferrari movie (and compare Hollywood to real life (sometimes real life is even more exciting)). Carroll is a god of racing. His legacy and experience are incredible. I wish there was an Audible version of his Cobra Story (which now appears to be out of print but am told is a great book).

Excellent story

I just happened to see a 2 hr Netflix documentary about Shelby from childhood to death. It was an excellent show, I learned more about the man than I had ever known. I saw Ford v Ferrari a week later. I think the movie did a pretty good job, but fell way short (and inaccurate) of what I had seen on Netflix....my point being....the book so far has tracked to the documentary. Great listen.