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

by John Morton

In the late 1950s, a young John Morton was transfixed with sports car racing. His dreams of competition eventually led him to enroll, in 1962, in the Shelby School of High Performance Driving. In a bold moment after the last class, Morton asked Carroll Shelby if he might come to work for the newly formed Shelby American. The answer was “Yes, here's a broom.” Thus ended Morton's college career and began his long racing career. Over the next three years, Morton would be a firsthand witness to the evolution of one of the most iconic sports car builders and racing teams of the 1960s. Inside Shelby American is his personal account of a company overflowing with talent, from designer Pete Brock to fabricator extraordinare Phil Remington to drivers like Dan Gurney, Ken Miles, Bob Bondurant, and Phil Hill. The cars were equally AC Cobra, Mustang GT350, Ford GT, Daytona Coupe. In this book, Morton’s story is intertwined with the memories of other Shelby staffers of the period, revealing through historic photography and an untold perspective the rousing story of America’s most legendary racer and car builder.

Genres: Biography, Cars, Nonfiction, Sports

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Morton’s wobbly career path from janitor to race driver at Shelby American shines a light on the realities of the world of auto racing. The writing is excellent. The story flows smoothly and eloquently—hard to put down. The first third of the book reads like an adventure, a dream come true—much like the BLACK TIGER novels of Patrick O’Connor, but it’s not all trophies and victory laps. Anyone who has dreamed of a career in one of the ‘glamour’ professions (acting, writing, music, sports), careers that put a strain on your personal life, should be able to empathize with Morton’s struggle.
I’ve never been much of a car guy, but Morton’s rise in the ranks of racing paralleled my early high school interest in sports car racing in the mid-‘60s when I raced a 427 Cobra slot car and read SPORTS CAR GRAPHIC magazine religiously, so all the mentions of Lolas, Coopers, Lotus, Chaparrals really take me back, not to mention all the famous drivers he rubbed shoulders with. I saw some of the races mentioned on Saturday afternoons on WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS and it was a treat reading about them from the inside out. I enjoyed following Shelby’s Cobra/Cobra Coupe/Ford GT40 saga, but aside from eating many batches of his chili, I never knew much about Carroll Shelby himself. Morton paints him in a rather dim light. It’ll be interesting to see how Matt Damon portrays him in the upcoming FORD VS FERRARI movie.

[Vendea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book certainly had promise, and was interesting at the beginning, but fairly quickly it turned into what felt like a mere list of car problems and placements from various races. I think a decent editor might have worked wonders for this autobiography. A slightly less convoluted outline, some separation between the car issues and families issues ("Jan had a baby. The Lotus had metal in the crankshaft case." e.g. - made things difficult to follow at times). Personally, I did not mind how technically detailed the book was, I just wished that it was a little more straightforward about whether we were talking about a specific race, something that happened while working at Shelby, or a family problem...

It did also drag after about the 30% mark, if I'm being honest. The author seems quick to admit his immaturity as he is looking back on his life, yet I feel like some of the immaturity lingers, unrecognized, in his writing.

Overall, not bad, but be prepared to skim once you get into the rhythm of "race-crash-repair-no money-race-crash" etc.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing insight into the early days of Carol Shelby Motors.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was somewhat interesting. The author seeming like a terrible father and husband was distracting.

[Allen Madding · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be titled "the racing career of John Morton" with tidbits of his time working for Shelby American.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably a good book, if you're really into cars. Not the best writing, a little gossipy, too gear-heady to finish.