Foreword by Edsel B. Ford II
1 The Boy from East Texas
2 The Army Air Force
3 Children, Trucks, and Chicken
4 Racing for Real
5 Foreign Representative
6 Record-Breaking and the Mexican Road Race
7 Guiberson’s Ferraris
8 Italian Summer
9 Moving On
10 Unrestricted National Champion
11 In Hemingway’s Footsteps
12 Carroll Shelby Sport Cars
13 Mainly Maseratis
14 Looking to the Future
15 Back to The Bahamas and a Kidnapping in Cuba
16 A Season in Europe
17 The Writing on the Wall
18 Works Driver
19 Victory at Le Mans
20 Aston Takes the Championship
21 El Paso by Sundown, Nassau by Night
22 “Lucky” Experiences
23 The Last Laps
24 Starting Afresh
25 Out into the Sunshine
26 The Cobra is Born
27 Let the Racing Begin
28 The Watershed Year
29 Further Ambitions
30 World Championship Bid
31 Over to Europe
32 A New Era
33 Upping the Ante
34 Getting the Job Done
35 Trials and Tribulations
36 The Price of Success
37 One More Time
38 Fresh Horizons
39 Off to Africa
40 Dodging Around
41 Rejuvenation
42 The First One
43 Millennium Man
Author’s Acknowledgements
Index
Rinsey Mills has owned AC sports cars, both pre-war and post-war, for forty years. He has restored some and raced others. His books include Original AC Ace and Cobra and Essential AC Cobra.
"...the book is worth adding to a personal automotive library"
- The New York Times“This biography is not the usual fluff.
Here at last is the real, raw, high octane truth, right from
Shelby’s first memory as a child through to the present day. Mills
has it all in fascinating detail that can be as outrageous as it is
funny. It’s all there including the whole deeply researched early
automotive history in Texas with Jim Hall, Shelby’s racing days in
Europe and, of course, the legendary Cobra and Ford eras, as well
as the years with Toyota and Chrysler and including Carroll’s
“lost” years in Africa. It’s all etched deeply in the pages of this
fantastic 400+ page volume that took Mills several years to
research and write. In his almost nine decades Shelby managed
to surround himself with incredible talent and wily scoundrels who
created as many byzantine problems as stellar triumphs that made
Shelby one of the most colorful and controversial characters of our
time. I personally recommend this fine book as one of the most
interesting and intriguing biographies you’ll ever have a chance to
read. Having spent several years of my life with Shelby I thought I
knew more than most…I wasn’t even close. Rinsey has it
all.” - Peter Brock
“Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography by Rinsey Mills has
set a tough standard for any future books on Shelby the man because
he covers so many areas so thoroughly there’s almost nothing else
anyone could add – no new area to shine light on. We’re glad to see
that Mills’ biography got published while Shelby was still there to
add to it and to steer the author to sources who could come up with
a lot of information that’s new. The best part is the price. With a
suggested retail price of $35.00 (and lower online), the price
represents a real bargain for a book that will take you a whole
weekend to read.” – SportsCarMarket.com“Anyone who reads the
book will come away with a far larger appreciation for just how
good he was. This was not a guy who dipped his toe into the whole
racing thing and built some cars, Carroll Shelby was a world class
driver on the level of Moss and Fangio in his era. He was a factory
driver for Aston Martin and drove nearly every exotic high end
piece of iron made in the 1950s and early 1960s. From Maserati’s to
Allard’s he was there and winning in them. If you want the most
academic account of Shelby’s racing life that has ever been written
and realistically will ever be written, this is the book for you.”
– Bangshift.com“For Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography,
author Rinsey Mills received full cooperation from Shelby, who sat
down with Mills on numerous occasions for interviews. Mills also
interviewed family members, friends, and former Shelby American
employees/drivers like Chuck Cantwell, Allen Grant, Pete Brock, and
Bob Bondurant. Many of the photos are from Carroll Shelby’s
personal collection and have never been published
before. Cobra and Shelby Mustang enthusiasts will be pleased
to know that the majority of the 464-page book covers the 1962-1967
time period, from the building of the first Cobra and the formation
of Shelby American to the company’s third and final win at LeMans.
But the book starts with Shelby’s birth and childhood in Texas and
follows his early success as a race car driver before heart
problems forced him to hang up his helmet in 1960. We can’t wait to
read it.” – MustangMonthly.com"The result is the best, most
complete and most reliable of version of the Shelby story, and as
someone who has personally written his own error-riddled stories
about Shelby (and corrected the error-riddled stories of others),
it’s a relief to read something about Shelby that isn’t overcome
with hype. This is a unique and invaluable piece of Carroll Shelby
lore." - Edmunds.com InsideLine "This is the book that
everyone in the Shelby world has been waiting for. Despite the flow
of publicity, what was lacking - and has been lacking for 50 years
- is the story behind the story. That narrative has been ably
provided by Rinsey Mills. He comes to the fore with no shortage of
Cobra experience. Other books about Carroll Shelby will certainly
be written, but none as thoroughly researched or with so much
attention to detail as this one. It is a comprehensive and
sometimes confusing story; Mills perseveres and gets it right."
- Shelby American Automobile Club
"Shelby's life and achievements are succinctly summarized
in Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography. Rinsey
Mills, who has written several auto-related books including three
about Cobras, the authorized biography leaves no stone
unturned. Mills has shone a set of high-intensity driving
lights on Shelby's life, and he spent years interviewing not only
the man himself, but also his family (including ex-wives), and
those most closely connected to his various ventures."
- Canada.com "Carroll Shelby: That Authorized Biography
is a nice way to remember the man and the legend. With lots of
images from Shelby's own collection, this is a book that any
enthusiast would enjoy." - AutoWeek"Biography goes full
throttle to keep pace with Cobra founder." - Denver Post
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