# Carroll Shelby dead at 89
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726
**Category:** Shift518 Automotive
**Created:** [May 11, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726 "2012-05-11T12:54:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@K20power](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/K20power)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/1 "2012-05-11T12:54:49Z")
RIP Carroll Shelby. A true legend.
> Legendary racer Carroll Shelby, the larger-than-life Texan who created the brutal 427 Cobra and beat Enzo Ferrari, died Thursday night in Dallas after a lengthy illness.
> He was 89. No cause of death was disclosed.
> Born in Leesburg, Shelby attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas and started racing on weekends while working as a chicken farmer and dump-truck driver.
> Best known probably for his Shelby Cobras and Mustangs, Shelby was a highly accomplished racer in the 1950s before he began building cars.
> The lanky Shelby, who favored black cowboy hats and flashed cinematic smiles, won three national sports-car championships in the U.S., posted a victory at the prestigious 24 Hours of LeMans in 1959 and set land speed records at Bonneville. He was twice named Sports Illustrated’s “Driver of the Year.”
> A bad heart forced Shelby to quit racing in 1960, and he began developing the first Cobras and Shelby Mustangs shortly after that.
> In 1963, Shelby took a team of Cobras to Europe to race arch-enemy Ferrari as well as Porsche and Jaguar on their turf. In 1965, he wrested the Grand Touring World Championship away from Ferrari. He and drivers Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant returned to Europe to win LeMans in a Shelby-prepared Ford GT40 in 1966 and 1967.
> Shelby, who contended with heart problems for most of his adult life, got a heart transplant in 1992, later receiving a kidney from one of his sons.
> At the time of his death, he was founder and chairman of Carroll Shelby International and Shelby American, which unveiled its Shelby 1000 Mustang in New York last month – a street car that be equipped to produce more than 1,000 horsepower.
> “We are all deeply saddened, and feel a tremendous sense of loss for Carroll’s family, ourselves and the entire automotive industry,” said Joe Conway, president of Shelby International. “There has been no one like Carroll Shelby and never will be. However, we promised Carroll we would carry on, and he put the team, the products and the vision in place to do just that.”
[http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/05/legendary-racer-car-builder-ca.html](http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/05/legendary-racer-car-builder-ca.html)
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### Author:  [@K20power](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/K20power)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/2 "2012-05-11T12:55:26Z")
Another article: [http://jalopnik.com/5890132/carroll-shelby-automotive-legend-dead-at-89](http://jalopnik.com/5890132/carroll-shelby-automotive-legend-dead-at-89)
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### Author:  [@slwrthnu](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/slwrthnu)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/3 "2012-05-11T12:55:55Z")
He was hospitalized with pneumonia.
> **[Carroll Shelby, Automotive Legend, Dead At 89](https://jalopnik.com/5890132/carroll-shelby-automotive-legend-dead-at-89)**
>
> Before reality TV, and even still to a very large degree now, the best known name associated with performance cars to the average person is Carroll Shelby, and with good reason. Shelby has been considered a legend in the field for decades, and his...
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### Author:  [@adamea1635](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/adamea1635)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/4 "2012-05-11T12:56:38Z")
RIP
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### Author:  [@K20power](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/K20power)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/5 "2012-05-11T12:57:08Z")
R
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### Author:  [@JRubino](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/JRubino)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/6 "2012-05-11T13:34:23Z")
Rip
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### Author:  [@GermanPSI](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/GermanPSI)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/7 "2012-05-11T13:37:40Z")
Rip
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### Author:  [@AVB](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/AVB)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/8 "2012-05-11T13:45:48Z")
One of my favorite Shelby quotes “horsepower sells cars, torque wins races”
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### Author:  [@Cossey](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Cossey)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/9 "2012-05-11T13:47:13Z")
RIP. So this past year, we lost:
Dan Wheldon
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche
Carroll Shelby
Anyone else?
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### Author:  [@MikeF2D](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/MikeF2D)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/10 "2012-05-11T13:49:46Z")
“I’m the luckiest old man in the universe, and I’m doing what I want to do. I couldn’t be more thankful for my life, and the way it is.”
RIP
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### Author:  [@RocketPunch](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/RocketPunch)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/11 "2012-05-11T17:32:17Z")
One of my favorite Shelby quotes: “zMax, buy it!” :rofl
RIP
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### Author:  [@PJB](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/PJB)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/12 "2012-05-11T18:15:18Z")
He sure lived a long exciting life.
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### Author:  [@toomanycamaros](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/toomanycamaros)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/13 "2012-05-11T19:17:01Z")
the guy definetly helped design and build some badass cars over the past few decades. RIP
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### Author:  [@Skidplate](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Skidplate)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/14 "2012-05-11T19:56:36Z")
we lost a legend today. as close to a car god as you could get without a bible…
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### Author:  [@Shapes](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Shapes)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/15 "2012-05-11T22:11:11Z")
I was able to see the original Shelby cobra last month at the ny auto show. Amazing car and he will be missed
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### Author:  [@Quattro](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Quattro)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/16 "2012-05-11T22:20:18Z")
Damn, definitely an Icon. RIP. I drove a superformance 427 cobra and it was hands down the most hairy chested driving experience of my life.
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### Author:  [@Vovchandr](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Vovchandr)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/carroll-shelby-dead-at-89/263726/17 "2012-05-13T21:38:14Z")
Aston Martin Racing pays tribute.
