Born in Leesburg,Texas and, by age 7,suffered from leaky heart valves. His racing career started with a friend's MG TC, soon graduating to Allard-Cadillac, Austin Healey, Maserati and Aston Martin ( DBR1 ) winning the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. Shelby retired in 59 (he had nitroglycerin pills under his tongue while driving) and formed the Shelby American driving school. After discussions with AC in 1961 and Ford ( Lee Iacocca and Don Frey ) to secure motors, Shelby developed the Shelby Cobra in late 61 with a 221ci V8 under the hood. After running in Europe, the 221 was pulled and the motorless car was shipped to the US in Feb, 1962. The new 260 V8 was installed at Dean Moon's shop in Santa Fe Springs, California. Shelby American has gone through many trials and tribulations since that faithful day. SA can proudly say it has worked with all major American auto producers and the former chicken farmer ( Carroll's farmer's overalls became his racing trademark during the '50s ) to 1,000 plus horsepower Shelby Mustangs, Carroll was active up to his passing at age 89 in 2012.