Keeping Shelby alive: Icon's company races forward with new strategy, products

摘要

LAS VEGAS - Carroll Shelby, the wild-spirited 89-year-old racing icon and king of thundering garage hot rods, lay on his deathbed last May struggling to talk. He urged his younger friend and business partner John Luft to lean closer. "Keep Shelby American alive," Shelby strained to tell Luft in his final hours. "I know that sounds a little melodramatic," Luft says today, recalling the moment. "And actually, I think what he said was, 'Goddamn it, keep Shelby American alive.' If you worked for Carroll, you know what it's like to have the old man's boot on your backside.