Is Carroll Shelby Responsible For Chevy's Late 1960s Racing Success?

Carroll Shelby is a legendary name in the automotive industry, but not one typically associated with Chevrolet. Regardless, Shelby played a major roll in the company’s history, and he did so by providing the inspirational competition that brought about some of the great cars in Chevrolet’s unique racing history.

Born on January 11, 1923, Carroll Shelby is best known for being an American automobile designer, accomplished racer, and one of the most well-known names in automotive history. When it came to cars, Shelby had his hand in the creation of many, but was most famous for having his name emblazoned on the Shelby Cobras in the early ’60s, the original Ford GT40 racecars, and later in the ’60s, a number of high-performance Mustangs. As far as many people know, the Shelby name and Ford are as good as synonymous, or at least harmonious.

Image: Edgar Daily

But Shelby’s influence didn’t stop with Ford. In fact, when Shelby commissioned the AC Cobra for use in the United States by having the popular English AC Ace sports car outfitted with a Ford V8 powerplant, he caused a spark of competition to ignite throughout the automotive world.

With Ford providing financial support for the AC Cobras starting in 1962, despite the industry’s “ban” on manufacturers providing factory-backed support of race outlets, Chevrolet quickly caught on, and rumors began to circulate that Shelby’s dominance on the race circuit with his Shelby Cobras was soon to be challenged. Zora Arkus-Duntov, the man known as the Godfather of the Corvette, was behind those rumors.

Grand Sport #2 Racing at Watkins Glen. Image: Corvette Blogger

Left: A Shelby Cobra racing at Nassua Race Week in the Bahamas. Image: Dave Brownell via Hemmings ; Right: Grand Sport #2 racing at Mosport. Image: Corvette Blogger

Wanting to create a vehicle that could race in the GT production car circuit and give the Shelby Cobra a run for its money, Duntov, along with some of his fellow cohorts at Chevrolet, developed the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport. Though there were plans to manufacture 125 of these cars, the production of the Grand Sport was unfortunately cut short by a cease and desist letter sent to the group by upper management at General Motors. This resulted in only five 1963 Grand Sports being produced.

Ironically, Shelby did partner with GM to create a unique sports car in the 1990. It was called the Shelby Series 1 and it was produced by Oldsmobile. Only 249 were ever manufactured. Image: The Lingenfelter Collection

Still, the cars were raced, and in head-to-head competition with the Shelby Cobras, they showed serious potential, proving to not only out-pace the Cobra at the time, but also out-handle the famed racecar. But, because the Cobra was certified as a “production car”, meeting the 100-plus production rule while the Grand Sport was not, the Corvette had to enter the race circuit as a prototype, and was instantly outdone by its prototype competition like the Porsche RS-60 and the Maserati Tipo 61. With no factory backing from Chevrolet, the Grand Sport hype quickly ran its course, while the Shelby Cobra went on to make a significant mark in racing history.

After the Shelby Cobra came the GT40, then the Mustang GT350 and GT500s, all which made their mark in automotive and racing history. And even though these cars were all backed by Ford and seen as competition to Chevrolet and their race vehicles, they provided a necessary benchmark for Chevy and the rest of Ford’s competition to aim for and try to exceed.