“Driving race cars was an avenue for me to learn how to build my own car, and that was my ambition all along.”

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

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

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

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

“I've always been asked, 'What is my favorite car?' and I've always said 'The next one.'”

“Driving race cars was an avenue for me to learn how to build my own car, and that was my ambition all along.”

“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.'”

“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.”

“I'm not going to take this defeatist attitude and listen to all this crap any more from all these people who have nothing except doomsday to predict.”