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Carroll Shelby Celebrates 75th Birthday with Friends and Charities

13 January 1998

Racing legend Carroll Shelby--father of the Ford Cobra, Mustangs GTs,
and a bunch of other high performance cars--celebrated his 75th
birthday in Grand style last Sunday at his Goodyear (carpeted) Racing
Tire facility in Gardena, CA.  The celebration involved the things
nearest and dearest to Shelby.  Over 700 friends came to the televised
affair.  They lunched on steak sandwiches from the Outback restaurant
chain; they viewed a bunch of 289 and 427 ci Cobras, Shelby Mustangs,
and prototype models of his new Olds Aurora powered sports car; and
they participated in a silent auction with the proceeds going to his
Carroll Kids Charities Foundation.

Besides a silent auction that featured Goodyear racing tires, an old
Shelby passport, lots of signed racing photos, a '70 Ford Ranchero,
Terluinga Cobra, 427ci Aluminum block, Goodyear Blimp rides, and the
$100,000 Shelby Series 1 (Olds) sports car, the old tire warehouse was
filled with warmth as ol' Shel's friends came to the podium to tell
out-of-school stories and pay their respects to the automotive legend.

The first donor of a heart from his charity efforts, a six year old
little lady in bib overalls, expressed her thanks to Carroll.

In the audience were Jerry Grant, Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Dick
Gulstrand, Bob Bondurant, and a zillion other pals.

When it was Shelby's turn to speak, he said that back in the late
196os Doctors gave him but a couple of years to live.  But after
tender loving care and a heart transplant in 1991, he's still going
strong.  He thanked his son Mike and all of his employees and pals for
a wonderful life, and is still looking ahead to new projects.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel