Wheels legends: Carroll Shelby

Carroll Hall Shelby, born January 11, 1923 in Leesburg, Texas, began life far from the glitz and glamour of the automotive world. After graduating from Woodrow in 1940, he joined the US Army and served in the Second World War as a test pilot.

After the war, he dabbled with chicken farming before turning his attention to racing in 1952. He'd often be seen scrambling into his hot rod powered by a flat-head Ford V8 while still donning his signature black cowboy hat and hickory striped overalls — having rushed to the track directly from his farm.

Like many, when he began racing, he was an unknown and had to climb the ladder.

He made the headlines in November 1954 after flipping his Austin-Healey at the Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico, rolling it four times. He suffered serious injury, breaking countless bones and shattering his elbow.

He was back behind the wheel a year later but had to wear a special fibreglass cast and had his hands taped to the steering wheel to help him keep hold of it. He began his third career in 1957 as a car designer, launching Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas, Texas, but kept racing too and was named Sports Illustrated's Driver of the Year. He proved just how good he was in the 100-mile race at Riverside, California. Losing control of his Maserati single-seater, and ending up at the back of the field, he was seemingly out of contention. But never one to give in, he pushed the double-overhead-cam V8 harder than ever until he was leading the pack and even lapping his competitors. That race established him as one of the greatest drivers in the sport.

He was forced to retire in 1960 due to poor health and soon contacted the British carmaker AC, who'd just designed a gorgeous car which he had fallen in love with. They were looking for an engine for the car and so Shelby approached Chevrolet on their behalf, but they didn't want any in-house competition to their Corvette. But Ford wanted to compete with the ‘Vette and gave him the green light to use their new 260 cubic inch (4.2-litre V8). In January 1962, the AC Cobra was born.

Shelby's partnership with Ford lasted until 1970 and during that time, they were responsible for some of the greatest cars ever built. The 1964 GT40 and 1967 Ford Mustang GT500 stand out, but the Shelby Cobra remained the most iconic for Shelby Automotive Racing. However it went out of business in 1969, so Shelby and Ford parted ways.

He designed cars during the Eighties for Chrysler culminating with the Dodge Shelby Charger and Dodge Viper.

A heart and kidney transplant in 1990 put paid to his work for a while but he founded the Carroll Shelby Children's Foundation, a charitable organisation to help children in need of organ and tissue transplants and acute cardiac disorders.

He made a sensational return in 2003 launching Shelby Automobiles and joining forces, once again, with Ford. The outcome was the Ford-Shelby GT500 in 2005.

He's been busy ever since his triumphant return, introducing new packages such as the 2006 Ford-Shelby GT-H — a 40th anniversary tribute car — and Shelby GT500KR.

He's 87 years old and has left a solid mark on the auto industry and American culture in general, but this good ol' boy is showing no signs of slowing down just yet.