Memories of Carroll

[bigdaddy]

Hey all

Big Daddy here

I know we are all still hurting from the news of Carroll Shelby's passing but instead of feeling sorry for ourselves because of what we lost let's celebrate his life and how we were enriched by his life and the legacy he leaves behind. I know lots of us have stories of when we met Carroll. I will go first but I expect to see yawll (Texan) posting also. Lets show Carroll and all who read this just what he really meant to us.
In February of 2005 I attended SAAC does Vegas X. One of the reasons I went was because I was told Carroll Shelby would be there. The other was I wanted to show off my new Mustang GT. Carroll showed up as promised and signed a bunch of stuff for folks. At that time I got the air cleaner cover signed. Got a picture of him signing it and everyhing. SO COOL. Well shortly after I was speaking with a friend of mine who knew Carroll personnally. He told me he was going to get his Ford truck signed. I took a chance and asked him if he thought there was a possibility I could get my brand new 2005 Mustang GT signed. I know it's not a Shelby but what the heck, I thought it would be so cool. Well I didn't see him for a while and soon he approached me and told me to bring my car to the back garage and keep it quiet. So I snuck to the back of the plant and pulled into the garage area. There were probably 20 or so Shelby's there along with my friends truck and my new Mustang. We had waited about 5 minutes and then Carroll emerged from an office. The room fell silent. The first thing that struck me was he was dressed casually and seemed to be down to earth. I remember him walking over to a Shelby sitting on a trailer. The car was completely restored. Carroll looked it over for a minute or two then announced to everyone that that was not a car he built. All of us were stunned as well as the owner. I couldn't figure out why he though it was a fake when he announced that he never built a car that nice. He said he built cars for driving and having fun. Not trailer queens. I immediately thought of Tony Sousa. That was his philosophy about his Shelby's. He was going to let me drive his 65 if I let him drive my 05. Unfortunately Tony passed shortly before our meeting. Carroll made the owner take his car off the trailer and drive around the lot several times before he would sign it. I though wow, what a cool guy. When it came time for him to sign my car I remember him getting in and and announcing "smells new". He smiled and signed my dash. When he got out I asked him for a picture. As you will note on the picture I got with him I am on a cell phone. Well his one request was to find out who was winning the Daytona 500. I was calling my daughter to find out this information. I remember that at that moment Scott Wimmer was leading the race. He looked at his staff and asked them who he raced for then announced that he would not win. We chatted for a few moments about Tony Sousa as he was a Shelby nut. Carroll remebered him and spoke fondly of him. We spoke for a few moments and he moved on to the next car. I was so impressed with Carroll. He was so down to earth. No airs, no looking down on us. He was just another car guy. To this day I tell everyone that if didn't know he was famous you'd never know he was famous. That was just how he was. I met him several times after that at different functions but that meeting really stuck out in my mind.

[Mustang 3]

Great Story Richard!

Thank you for starting the thread!!!

It's late but will revisit the thread for more detail--I meet Carroll once--Fabulous Ford event at Knott's, along with Dan Gurney, Phil Hil, and Parnelli Jones--all at the same event. A day I will never forget.

[MustangOne]

Well hopefully this means that our also dear and departed Tony Sousa now has more face time with his hero. ;)

[White05GT]

Velocity tv is have a 3 hour tribute on sunday. "King of the Road".

http://velocity.discovery.com/tv-schedules/weekly.html