Inside Shelby American: Wrenching and Racing with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s

In 1962, a young, racing-obsessed midwesterner named John Morton headed to Riverside International Raceway to attend the newly opened Shelby School of High Performance Driving. His instructor? Pete Brock. His school car? The Shelby Cobra prototype. What more could you want?
How about a job with Shelby American?
When introduced to Carroll Shelby at the school, Morton had sufficient nerve to ask for a job in Shelby’s race shop. Shelby said, “Come and see me Monday.”
Thus began Morton’s tenure with Shelby American, an experience that would see him engaged in tasks from floor sweeping to race driving and would launch his professional racing career.
Inside Shelby American: Wrenching and Racing with Carroll Shelby in the 1960s is an engaging look behind the scenes as Shelby ramped up from ex-racer with a vision to all-conquering constructor and race team manager. But it’s also the story of Morton’s formative racing years—his trajectory from a go-kart–racing kid from the Midwest to a professional racer.