Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Course- Leadership Skills

Leadership Lessons from the Life of a Legend or a Hero

Essay on Carroll Shelby

Submitted by – Tanmay Kumar

Date-30/06/2023
 Executive summary

In this essay we will be learning about a legend named Carroll Shelby who was an
American automotive designer, racing driver. We will be talking about his early life and
what health issues he faced all his life, and how amazed he was with the concept of
speed and it lead to his interest in cars and airplanes.

We will also get to know about his racing career and how good driver he was as he
was considered one of the best drivers in the world before he turned 30, and how he
started his own car company Shelby American in1962 which manufactured and
marketed performance vehicles.

Further we will be reading about his traits, personal qualities, how he managed stress
and hoe lead people and how he was best of both worlds- corporate and racing.

We will also read about how Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles built the 1st ever race car for
the Ford Motor Company which not only raced in Le Mans but also beat Ferrari in that
race for four consecutive years.

Carroll Shelby was the guy who would never give up and who would never step back
from a challenge which is a great quality we can learn from him. He partnered up with
two car companies in his career one was Dodge and the other Ford, whichever cars
which were built by Shelby turned out to be the best for both Ford and Dodge.

Then in the end we get to now there is movie which was released in 2019 Ford V
Ferrari which portrayed the epic story of Ford Motor company building the 1st ever race
car to beat the Ferrari and win the Le Mans and Carroll Shelby’s role is being played by
Matt Damon and Ken Miles’ role is being played by Christian Bale.

There is also a book written by the Great Carroll Shelby himself in which he tells about
his racing days, the challenges, the victories, the crashes and it also discusses the
genesis for the revolutionary car he created, the Shelby Cobra.
 Essay on Carroll Shelby

Introduction:

Carroll Hall Shelby was born on January 11th, 1923, son of Warren Hall Shelby. Carroll
Shelby was an American automotive designer, race car driver and an entrepreneur. He
is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford motor
company. Shelby American was introduced by Carroll Shelby in 1962, which
manufactured and marketed great performance vehicles.

Early Life

Carroll Hall Shelby was living with his father Warren Hall Shelby and mother Eloise
Shelby in Leesburg, Texas. Carroll Shelby was suffering from heart valve leakage
problems by the time he was 7 and he also suffered several health related
complications throughout his life.

He was fascinated with the concept of speed from a very young age which led to his
interest in cars and airplanes. When he was 15, he was driving and taking care of his
father’s Ford and his education as a pilot began in the military in November 1941. He
was a poultry farmer which was also his livelihood he continued till 1952.

Shelby sharpened his driving skills with his Willys automobile, he graduated in 1940
from Woodrow Wilson High school in Dallas, Texas. Shelby started his pilot training in
1941 and he graduated with the rank of staff sergeant pilot in September 1942. After
three months he got the position of a second lieutenant after undergoing air students
training, later he also served as a flight instructor and a test pilot.
Body:

Driving Career: Carroll Shelby started driving professionally when was 29, the first
time ever Shelby raced was with his friend Ed Wilkin’s car MG TC in January 1952 and
by the end of the year Shelby had won 4 races, taking home only trophies and not
accepting any prize money. By 1953, Shelby had won 8-9 races and in1954 he
travelled to Europe where he raced in an Aston Martin DBR3 for John Wyer followed by
Le Mans. In August 1954 he drove with Donald Healey and his team in an Austin
Healey 100s and supercharged 100s and they set Class D National speed records at
the Bonneville Salt Flats. Shelby was severely injured in a crash while racing an
Austin-Healey in the Carrera Panamericana. Though he underwent eight months of
operations, he continued to drive in 1955, winning about ten races, and a second-place
showing at Sebring driving Allen Guiberson's Ferrari Monza. He then started driving
Tony Paravano's Ferraris in August 1955. He won a further 30 races with the Ferrari in
1956, started driving for John Edgar, and opened Carroll Shelby Sports Cars in Dallas.
He was Sports Illustrated magazine's driver of the year in 1956 and 1957. In
September 1957, he was involved in a crash that severely injured him and it required
72 stitches and plastic surgery for broken bones in his nose and cheekbones, still
nothing backed him out and he returned in November and won with the same car at
the same course. Shelby joined John Wyer and the Aston Martin team in Europe and
drove a DBR3 at the Belgian Sports Car Grand Prix on 18 May 1958, followed by a
DBR1.

Shelby was teamed up with Salvadori at Le Mans, but Shelby came down
with dysentery and had to be replaced by Stuart Lewis-Evans after a few hours into the
race. Shelby then drove a Maserati 250F in 3 Grand Prix races to gain Formula
1 and open-wheel car experience, including the Portuguese Grand Prix. Shelby finished
the year driving John Edgar's 4.5L Maserati in the Tourist Trophy at Nassau. According
to Shelby, "winning the Twenty-four Hours was probably the greatest thrill I ever got
out of racing. I can think of plenty of other races that carry their quota of thrills for the
winner, but when you win this one it kind of gives you license to go out and tell people
you're good, and that often helps get some other deals together." In 1961, Shelby,
along with Pete Brock, opened the Shelby School of High Performance Driving at the
Riverside track.

Discussion:

Events that led to Carroll Shelby becoming a leader

Partnership with Dodge

Shelby began working with Dodge at the request of Chrysler Corporation chairman Lee
Iacocca. Lacocca had previously been responsible for bringing Shelby to the Ford
Mustang.

After almost a decade of tuning work, Shelby was brought on board as the
"Performance Consultant" on the Dodge Viper Technical Policy Committee. Shelby's
wealth of experience helped make the Viper as light and powerful as possible.
Ford-Shelby Projects
In 2004, a new Ford Shelby Cobra Concept was shown off at U.S. car shows, it was
based on the Ford GT chassis and it was powered with a 6.4 L V10 engine that
produced 605 hp. It received overwhelmingly positive press reviews and has won the
"Best In Show" award at Detroit International Auto Show.
A coupe version of the Shelby Cobra roadster was introduced the following year.
The Ford Shelby GR-1 concept car of 2005. While sporting a completely modern
design, it showed a nod to the 1960s Shelby Daytona. The GR-1, like the Cobra, is
based on the GT's chassis. Press reviews for the GR-1 were positive. The car was
featured on the cover of Motor Trend and Car Magazine.
In 2005, Carroll Shelby built his very first modern Masterpiece CSM:00001 V6 Shelby
Mustang CS6 and #01 V8 to prove to Ford that he could still build high-performance
cars. Its V6 produced 380HP, making it faster than Ford's V8 300HP.

Because Ford thought the CS6 would hurt Ford Mustang V8 sales, Ford told Shelby to
go with the 500HP V8 instead. Shelby first built a V8 modern version look of the
Eleanor. Carroll built only one at the Shelby Factory. Later WCC built 4 as kits. Few CS6
Shelbys were also built as kits; consequently, these are among the rarest Shelbys in
the world. The Shelby GT500 was revealed at the New York International Auto Show,
and was available in the summer of 2006 as part of the model year 2007 lineup. It was
powered by a 5.4 Liter Modular V8, with four-valves-per-cylinder. Also in the year 1966
Carroll Shelby built the very first race car known as the Ford GT with his dear friend
Ken Miles who was also a great race car driver. Carroll Shelby and his team and Ken
Miles made the 1st ever race car for the Ford Motor Company to win the Le Mans,
Carroll Shelby was the one who convinced Henry Ford II personally to let Ken Miles
drive the car in the Le Mans, he even argued and fought for Ken Miles with the
executives of the Ford Motor company who would not let Ken Miles drive.
Carroll Shelby put his whole company on the line and all its shares and stocks for Ken
Miles. He made a deal with Henry Ford II if Ken Miles doesn’t win the Daytona race
then the Ford Motor Company gets full ownership of Shelby American, Lock stock and
Brand, Forever. Carroll Shelby was the instructor for Ken Miles in the Daytona race and
in Le Mans.

Carroll Shelby personal qualities

Before he was 30, Carroll Shelby was one of the best drivers in the whole world, he
raced for the very first time in 1952 and in that race he drove an underpowered British
MG beating everyone in his engine class, and from that point it was onwards and
upwards.

Carroll Shelby could fly planes, he flew planes in the Army Air Corps. Formed during
the Second World War, the Army Air Corps is an airborne unit of the British Army.
Shelby joined the Army Air Corps in 1941 and was commissioned as a second
lieutenant in December 1942, He served as a flight instructor and flew several aircraft
for the ACC.

Carroll Shelby was a person who always faced challenges and never gave up in any
situation and always won in in almost every situation gloriously, we can say that he
was a person with a powerful personality and was persistent and strategic. Carroll
Shelby was an excellent fighter in the corporate world as well as on the track.

Carroll Shelby was a big risk taker as well as a very confident man as he put his whole
company on line for a guy in which Carroll Shelby believed very much that he can
surely win the Le Mans for the Ford Motor company.
How Carroll Shelby managed work pressure/stress

Whenever there was any kind of work pressure or any stressful situation Carroll Shelby
would always keep his cool and take actions according to the situation, if there was
any challenge in front of him he would face it every time. We can also take an example,
when the executives of the Ford Motor Company won’t let Ken Miles race in the
Daytona and Le Mans he ignored all the sidemen and talked directly to Henry Ford II
and convinced him to let Ken Miles race as he was the only one who could win. Even
when he would sell cars he would know what would make the customer buy the car
and would handle every customer in a cool and calm way and start a conversation and
build a good relationship with the customer. Carroll was an instant problem solver and
he had the ability to solve any problem within a short span of time, also he would
guide his whole team in every situation and tell the techniques which come in handy
and which would make the customer happy and satisfied. Carroll Shelby would always
have a strategy ready for anything that could come up as challenge, that’s why he was
a great strategist. Another example we can take is when the Ford Motor company
came to Carroll Shelby to make a race car for the Ford which would race the Le Mans
and would defeat the Ferrari and Ferrari was the car who was dominating the Le Mans
from a very long time and everyone thought no one can beat the Ferrari but Carroll
Shelby made a car which not only defeated Ferrari but won 4 times consecutively year
after year, Carroll Shelby took the challenge of building something glorious and
powerful and the car still gets an upgrade after few years and it is still one of the
fastest cars ever made.

Carroll Shelby’s Leadership style

Carroll Shelby was a person who would plan everything in advance, do the slightest of
the calculations so that nothing can go wrong and he was the guy who could bring out
a better version of him and his cars for example when Ford had launched their new
Mustang with a V8 engine producing 300hp, Carroll Shelby made a car on the same
platform but with a smaller V6 engine which produced 360hp which is more than the
car made by Ford. Shelby always believed he was best at putting people together, they
started out small but together they take on the world’s racing elite to the car company
and Team Shelby club was founded and Carroll Shelby understood that motivated
people can achieve almost anything. Talking about the behaviour, Carroll Shelby was
the guy who would always be cool either it is in the corporate world or on the race
track, he would not stress himself in any situation and almost every person Carroll
knew, all of them liked him as a person as he was one of the best drivers in the world
and made such good cars and he had a very good reputation of him and his company
Shelby American in the market and he never disappointed his customers neither his
team.

Conclusion:

There are so many qualities that I got to learn from him such as the risk taking ability,
leel confidence one should have, be cool in every situation no matter the problem as
there is always a solution for it and the most important face your challenges and never
ever give up. All these qualities motivates me so much.

Shelby wrote his memoir called The Carroll Shelby Story published in 1967 by Pocket
Books. In 2019, the book was re-released by Graymalkin Media for the opening of Ford
v Ferrari, a 2019 American sports drama film. The memoir describes his days as a race
car driver, the challenges, the victories, and the crashes-the worst of which he
describes as an “explosion.” The memoir also discusses the genesis for the
revolutionary car he created, the Shelby Cobra.

Carroll Shelby was a great man who will always be remembered for his contribution in
the auto motive world and he is and always be a Legend. Mustang the car made by
Carroll Shelby and Ford is the top most selling sports car in the world and has won
many awards also.