| Ever since the release of Ford v
Ferrari there has been a great deal of interest about Carroll
Shelby and his crew who built the Cobra and then won Le Mans
with the Ford GT. I have many books in my library dealing with
Shelby history and recollections of this period. Most of them
deal with this from the eyes of one person, or they concentrate
on Shelby's role, at the expense of the crew he assembled. But
now, Preston Lerner, who is well known for his book on the Ford
GT, has come out with "Shelby American; The Renegades Who Built
the Cars, Won the Races, and Lived the Legend." This book is
different from many of the others in that it tells the story of
all the people (or at least the major ones) who were part of the
team. Shelby is covered at the beginning, but then he takes a
back seat to other names; some you may know and some you may
meet here for the first time. Names like Ron Butler, John
"Granny" Collins, Joe Fukushima, John Ohlsen, Wally Peat, Jean
Stucki, Ted Sutton, and Ken Wallis. These were the people, along
with greats like Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Peter Brock, and
Dave McDonald, who made Shelby American the legend that it is
today. And Lerner, with a highly readable writing style, pulls
it all together. If you can only have one Shelby book, this is
the one to buy. |
