4LT GS Roadster
DETROIT - Carroll Shelby finally lost the grudge match against his own human frailty.
His heart gave out in his thirties. He should have died in the '50s when he was racing Aston Martins in Europe, popping nitro glycerin capsules under his tongue each race. But he didn't die -- not for another half-century and dozens of bypasses, grafts and finally heart and kidney transplants.
When he died Thursday in Dallas at 89, Carroll had more non-stock parts than a Shelby Mustang. A thought that undoubtedly would amuse him, broadening that infectious East Texas grin.
Carroll stopped racing in 1960. "Doctor told me I was gonna die if I didn't," he once told me. "I said I didn't mind dying in a race. Then he asked who else dies when my car crashes."
So Carroll gave up racing -- not easy for a young guy with a Le Mans victory.
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