The automotive world’s most famous failed chicken farmer, Carroll Shelby, died Thursday, May 10, at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, 110 miles due west of tiny Leesburg, Texas, where he was born on January 11, 1923. Shelby, 89, had been ill for eight months, and his cause of death was listed as pneumonia.

Shelby often said that if he had been better at raising chickens, he never would have had to resort to his career plan B: building and racing cars.

That the automotive icon lasted as long as he did surprised no one more than Shelby, who was first diagnosed with heart problems 52 years ago, which effectively ended his race-driving career—near the end he was downing nitroglycerin tablets while he drove. One year earlier, he had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but he did not complain about the cards dealt to him, so seamless was his transition to car designer and builder.

“We are all deeply saddened, and feel a tremendous sense of loss for Carroll’s family, ourselves, and the entire automotive industry,” said Joe Conway, board member and president of Carroll Shelby International. “There has been no one like Carroll Shelby and never will be. However, we promised Carroll we would carry on, and he put the team, the products, and the vision in place to do just that.”

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Shelby’s path to sports cars was a typical one for the era. He began as a hobbyist in 1952, drag-racing hot rods. By May of that year, he had won his first road race, driving an MG TC in Norman, Oklahoma, beating faster, more powerful cars. Not surprisingly, he soon sought more powerful cars to drive, building a reputation that led to an invitation in 1954 to drive an Aston Martin DB3 at Sebring and then an Aston DBR1/300 at Le Mans.

Three years later—the chicken-raising business forgotten—he founded Carroll Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas.

In 1960, Shelby was preparing to race a Maserati 250F, but everything changed a month later when he experienced chest pains, and a doctor confirmed he had angina pectoris, a heart condition. His final professional race was in December 1960.

One year later, though, Shelby set in motion the sort of innovation and entrepreneurship that made him a legend. In 1961, he made a deal with British firm AC Cars to install a new, compact Ford V-8 into its tiny sports car at his shop in California. He called it the Cobra.

ROLOFSON PHOTOS, ERICK F. LIEDER, BOB EAST, DAVE FRIEDMAN, JULIUS WEITMANN, TOM BURNSIDE, JESSE ALEXANDER, D.M. BARTLEY, THE MANUFACTURER

Shelby’s new outfit—named Shelby-American—began a racing program for the Cobra in 1962. The car would record a DNF in its first race in October 1962, but in January 1963, Dave MacDonald and Ken Miles took first and second at Riverside, beating the Corvette Sting Rays. Racing continued with drivers like Dan Gurney and Phil Hill.

Then, in September 1963, Shelby began the Daytona Cobra coupe project for Le Mans, and in June 1964, the Cobras and Shelby-American won the GT class and placed fourth overall at the 24 Hours. That same year, Shelby began work on a Ford Mustang hot rod, resulting in the 1965 Shelby GT350.

Based largely on that success, Ford handed over development of the GT40 to Shelby. In 1966, GT40s took first, second, and third at Le Mans, achieving Ford’s central goal: beating Ferrari.

It was about that time that Carroll Shelby began to assume a larger-than-life persona in the automotive media. His first Texas chili cook-off took place in 1968, in part to enhance the value of some wasteland-caliber property he owned in Texas. The car magazines loved the brash, outspoken Texan, and everyone loved his cars, which tended to follow his simple mantra: little car, big engine. “It’s as simple as that,” he once told Car and Driver.

ROLOFSON PHOTOS, ERICK F. LIEDER, BOB EAST, DAVE FRIEDMAN, JULIUS WEITMANN, TOM BURNSIDE, JESSE ALEXANDER, D.M. BARTLEY, THE MANUFACTURER

Ford and Shelby soon parted ways, but he continued to build cars and wheels and became a successful tire distributor; Shelby had a way with money. In 1982, Lee Iacocca (the first executive at Ford who really believed in him) was running Chrysler, a company that badly needed to develop credibility with the performance crowd. Shelby lent his talent and, more important, his name to the four-cylinder Dodge Shelby Charger and Dodge Omni GLH and GLHS, among other Chrysler products.

Shelby helped develop the Dodge Viper and made multiple public appearances on its behalf. But finally, his fickle heart caught up with him. In June 1990, he received a heart transplant. In May 1991, less than a year later, he paced the Indianapolis 500 in a Viper. His own heart problems led him to found the Carroll Shelby Foundation that funds heart transplants for kids.

His health failed again in 1996, at which time his son Michael donated a kidney to his father. The next year, his relationship with Chrysler over, Shelby partnered with Oldsmobile on the Shelby Series 1 sports car.

By 2003, though, Shelby had returned to Ford, working on the Ford GT project that would help the company celebrate the Ford centennial. That August, Chris Theodore, Ford's vice-president of advanced product creation, announced that the company would, once again, manufacture a line of "Shelby-Ford" vehicles. In December, Shelby Automobiles was founded (the name was changed to Shelby American in 2009). In March 2005, the 2007 Shelby GT500 Mustang made its debut at the New York auto show.

ROLOFSON PHOTOS, ERICK F. LIEDER, BOB EAST, DAVE FRIEDMAN, JULIUS WEITMANN, TOM BURNSIDE, JESSE ALEXANDER, D.M. BARTLEY, THE MANUFACTURER

Over the past few years, Shelby continued to make appearances for Ford and for his charities, despite declining health. Shelby American headquarters, next to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is a frequent tourist destination. This summer, the 662-hp, 200-plus-mph Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 will debut, and Ford executives insist that Shelby had more than a little input into its development.

None of this is to say, though, that Shelby and Car and Driver always saw eye to eye. In March 2008, the magazine published a story on the various lawsuits that involved Shelby—some filed by him, some filed against him—as well as referencing an exposé by another publication that suggested that the Carroll Shelby Foundation had taken in far more than it had paid out. It also covered the ongoing disagreements between Shelby and the Shelby American Automobile Club.

Most of the controversies were resolved by the end of the year, though, and Car and Driver published that story, too, following a lengthy discussion with Shelby, then 85. The way he characterized many of the issues, he knew his time left was limited, and he wanted to make sure his legacy was in order and in the hands of people who had his best interests at heart.

“I don’t care how people remember me,” Shelby told Car and Driver then. “But I just want to make sure they have the story straight.”

ROLOFSON PHOTOS, ERICK F. LIEDER, BOB EAST, DAVE FRIEDMAN, JULIUS WEITMANN, TOM BURNSIDE, JESSE ALEXANDER, D.M. BARTLEY, THE MANUFACTURER

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