I had a lot of fun driving race cars, but it wasn't my No. 1 priority.

The first time I walked by a crap table, I felt kind of funny.

It's a massive motor in a tiny, lightweight car.

It's a massive motor in a tiny, lightweight car.

I didn't have time for my children much. I wasn't a very good parent; I had a pretty unhappy home life.

The reason I moved to California the first time was to build the Cobra. I thought it was stupid to have a 1918 taxicab engine in what Europeans like to call a performance car when a little American V-8 could do the job better.

In 1964, when Lee Iacocca said, 'Shelby, I want you to make a sports car out of the Mustang,' the first thing I said was, 'Lee, you can't make a race horse out of a mule. I don't want to do it.' He said, 'I didn't ask you to make it; you work for me.'

I don't design cars. I'm not a designer. I know what I desire to be built, I know what the end result is, the horsepower, the competition we'll be working against - but I leave it to the people who work with me to put it all together. I don't do anything.

I don't think I'm a celebrity. I'm just a guy from east Texas who loves cars and airplanes.

The Cobra is my personal favorite car. The original 289 Cobra is the car I respect the most. I like to drive the 289 better than the 427.