Keen on Cobras: Jazz owner to open Motorsports Park

Internet historians suggest it came some 13 years after a shaky start for Shelby in the chicken-raising business, when his first batch produced a $5,000 profit before his second died of Limberneck disease and prompted bankruptcy.

But with quiet involvement from Ford, the Shelby American Cobras — their chassis were made in England, then shipped to the United States so they could be fitted with powertrains — were money.

"Carroll Shelby is a master marketer, and there had been all this hype for (about) a year," Miller recalled. "You couldn't pick up an automotive publication without reading about Cobras in 1962."

On Oct. 13, 1962, in a Riverside, Calif., race called the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix, Bill Krause was in the Cobra driver's seat. At lap No. 9, his No. 98 car even took over the lead. A mishap ended Krause's ride early. Still, the Cobra had left a heavier, slower but also-new Corvette Stingray — and others — in its dust.

"They finally had the first car go race in Riverside, and it lived up, absolutely, to its billing," Miller said. "The Corvettes and the Porches and the Jaguars — the Cobra was just absolutely dominant in that Riverside race. It seized a rear hub-bearing, which ultimately led to its losing a wheel. So it didn't finish. But they had sent the signal: 'We're here, and we're real.'

By January of 1963, legend has it, the Cobras had such a grip on the Stingrays that at another Riverside race driver Ken Miles actually pitted for a drink of water before relapping the Corvettes.

Cobra went on to Daytona and Sebring in Florida, falling to the more sophisticated Ferraris, but dazzling a fast-growing fan base nonetheless. According to Cobra lore, Ford would not finance a Shelby American Cobra effort at fabled LeMans in France, but Shelby found a way to get two over there as well anyway.

Then it was on to storied Bridgehampton, a 2.85-mile, 13-turn road course near Sag Harbor on Long Island in New York. Legends drove there in the late '50s and throughout the '60s, including Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney and Roger Penske.

Gurney would make history in '64 at Bridgehampton, giving Cobra its first international win. By December of that year Cobras would win the United States Road Racing Championship, and in 1965 they won the World Manufacturer's Championship.

Young gearheads throughout America drooled, Miller among them.

"Cobras seemed really cool to me," he said. "But to afford one was just out of the question. It was shooting for the moon."

Reality grounded Miller.

At the time, Larry and Gail were dating. Money was tight.