The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Like Jurassic Park’s recreated dinosaurs, today’s vintage race GT350s and Cobras start with a bit of the original Shelby DNA. All the right parts are used to make the cars appear like they were in 1965 or 1966. And most spectators don’t know they’re not seeing original cars. And apparently don’t really care. A $60K GT350 or Mustang mod- ified to resemble an R-Model is a good way to insure that a real $850K R-Model stays home in the garage. As more of these look- alikes take to the track, the result is that fewer real cars show up. It makes perfect sense. Why put a valuable original car at risk against a bunch of no-history throw-aways? So, what is vintage racing with- out real vintage race cars? It is a (mostly) accurate historical repre- sentation of what the cars that raced in the past looked like, sounded like and performed like. Today’s spectators don’t seem to care that what they are seeing on the track is only a caricature; a simulation. And we suppose that’s ok – not that we have a choice. Most of these people were not around back in the ‘60s when his- tory was being made. They come to the track today to get a small taste of what it was like. And they get it. When vintage racing first started in this country, in the mid-1970s, standards were high and cars with- out actual racing history never got near the track. It was a museum come to life. When you saw a car, restored to its original configura- tion (or sometimes unrestored/as raced), you could trust that it was the real thing. Sometimes it was even driven by the same driver who had given it some of its his- tory. That was a special thrill. It’s not that way anymore, of course, but we suppose it’s better than nothing. Some would call this progress, but we’d have to differ. Not everything new is better. But you have to take what you can get. Hometown In The Headlights Dragonsnake ’ s Cousin? It’s a far cry from the Dragonsnake. We found this photo on the Internet with no explanation. We’re guessing it’s a fiberglass replica body. Fall 2021 9 Mike Russell was driving #2289 in Nashville one evening when he hap- pened upon the filming of a music video – JD Shelburne’s “Hometown in My Headlights.” The scene was set in the parking lot in front of the Snow White Drive-In, a popular local ham- burger joint. The band was set up to play outside of the restaurant. They had an ‘83 Camaro parked on one side but the battery died and they wanted headlights. When Russell appeared the director was a knowledgeable Shelby guy. He asked, “ Is that a real one? ” Cutting to the chase, Russell was invited to park his car on the other side of the band with the headlights on and the video was shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQgDKMgm5Uw