During this years Goodwood Revival we had the opportunity to meet Aaron Shelby, the grandson of Carroll Shelby , for a short interview with 5 questions.
1. What was it like growing up with the Shelby name ?
My era of growing up did not include Carroll being very active in the automotive world. So most of my friends, or their parents, didn’t really equate my name with being related to Carroll. I don’t think it was until he joined back with Ford in the early 2000’s that the Shelby name became bigger and started to mean something to multiple generations of enthusiasts.
2. Which personal memory of Carroll has stayed with you the most ?
I have many great memories with Carroll, but one of my favorites is in 1991 when he drove the Dodge Viper as the pace car at the Indy 500. I was able to spend the weekend with him. He took me for a hot lap in the Viper and it was just magical.
3. How did you manage to organize the amazing reunion of the three LeMans winning GT40s in Goodwood this year ?
We started the conversation with Goodwood in the 4th quarter of 2025. I spoke to the two owners of the cars(the Miller Family and Rob Kaufman) shortly after that and they liked the idea of bringing all the cars together for the 60th anniversary. There were a lot of moving parts and many people involved to make it happen and I am thankful for everyone’s contribution. It made for a great summer!
4. What are you currently working on ?
As we close out 2026, I am working on the event schedule for 2027. I am fortunate to have met many enthusiasts over the years and Shelby as a company gets asked to be present at many events. We can’t do them all unfortunately, but try to spread the presence around each year. We have the anniversary of the Super Snake GT500 next year and the 60th of the MkIV victory at Le Mans to celebrate!
5. Is there any project or dream you still very much want to fulfill ?
I would be thrilled to get the Shelby name back into racing. Racing success is such an important part of our foundation. There are many hurdles to this, but it did ask for a dream!
