Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 914 | Page 13

while he was chasing parts and he thus always smelled of liquor. He probably was a better janitor than I was, though I don’t
know how our driving compared.
I was preparing to buy my own race car in late ’62. During
our lunch breaks, I got some sound advice from my older friends.
One practical friend said I should “take the race car money and
put a down payment on a house.” Another more resourceful
friend suggested I “buy a Corvette and get laid.” Not taking either advice, I bought a Lotus Super 7 and went to the SCCA
licensing school at Riverside. Things went well at the school, but
three classes were required, each about a month apart.
One of our engine men, Ole Olsen offered to prepare my
engine for racing after hours in the engine department. When
the next SCCA school date approached, it was obvious my
car wasn’t going to be ready, so I concocted a plan to use the
school Cobra. I would drive it out to Riverside, do the school day
and hand out Cobra brochures to all the would-be racers. How
could Carroll refuse? I mustered my nerve and went to the office to present my plan.
Well, he refused.
Dejectedly, I told him, “I guess I won’t be getting my license
for a long time then, because I need two more SCCA schools.”
He looked a little put out then told me, “You want a license?
I’ll get you your license.”
Never one to shy away from my curiosity, I asked Carroll
how he could skirt the rules and he said, “I’ll call Charlie Gates.”
Charlie Gates was in charge of licensing for the California
Sports Car Club region of the SCCA. I got my racing license; I
was impressed. Carroll Shelly had some horsepower.
I took a leave of absence from Shelby American in the spring
of 1963 to race in the Midwest where I grew up.
Returning to California in the fall of 1963, I resumed working at Shelby American. By then the Cobras had become a real
force in American racing. The King Cobra, a Cooper Monaco in
which Shelby had installed a 289 Ford engine with Dave MacDonald as the driver, won both the Pacific Grand Prix at Laguna
Seca and the Times Grand Prix at Riverside, the two most important sports car races in the United States.
Upon returning, the first race in southern California that I
could enter was at Willow Springs, a track about 90 miles north
of Los Angeles. Coincidently, Carroll attended the Sunday race
to observe and recruit Ronnie Bucknum, a standout amateur,
for the Cobra team. As luck would have it, I nearly beat Ronnie
that weekend, finishing right on his tail.
Carroll came up to me after the Bucknum race and said:
“That was fantastic. We’ll fix you up with a good engine, and
you’ll beat Bucknum.”
Simply receiving the compliment was enough for me, but
the normally slow-talking Texan rushed on to say, “I’ll make you
a team driver and I want to sponsor you. We’ll get you some
parts from England. I’ll call up Colin Chapman and we’ll make
fixing up that car of yours a shop project. You just make a list of
what you need.”

LEFT TOP Shelby’s world-famous smile.
LEFT BOTTOM Shelby’s inner circle of friends has long in