Allen Grant was a Shelby American employee who became one of the team’s Cobra drivers. His interviews trace the route from a teenager’s first sports car to a job in Shelby’s shop, a shot at racing, and a career shaped by close competition. These five quotes put those moments in context.
1. The car that started it: an AC Ace Bristol
“I finally found an AC Ace Bristol, and that was the car that got me really into racing.”
Grant recalled finding the car after developing an early interest in automobiles and mechanics. The quote marks a turning point: the AC Ace Bristol did more than satisfy his enthusiasm for cars; it drew him toward racing. He told this story in Roberta Naas’s 2016 Haute Time interview.
2. The reason he approached Carroll Shelby
“I wanted to be a part of it.”
In Grant’s account, that was the motivation behind driving to Venice, California, during spring break and pressing for an internship with Shelby’s operation. He was not arriving as an established driver: he joined Shelby American as a welder, then took on other work and pursued the opportunity to race. The short quote captures the ambition behind that first step into the team.
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Grant described the encounter in the 2016 interview; his work history and recollections also feature in Classic Driver’s 2018 interview.
3. The goal he set himself as a racer
“My goal was to prove to Shelby that I was the best racer there was, and when I had the opportunity, I did that.”
Grant recalled entering Shelby American as a welder and then getting a chance to drive a Cobra bought by Coventry Motors. He said that opportunity let him demonstrate his ability to Carroll Shelby. His recollection gives the quote its context: the goal was not an abstract boast, but a personal standard he hoped to meet once he got onto the track.
In the same interview, Grant said he won 12 of 14 races in his first racing year, 1962. That is his retrospective account, published by Naas in Haute Time, rather than a standalone season record presented here.
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“When I turned the wheel, the car turned – it didn’t lean or squeal, it just gripped the road.”
In his 2018 Classic Driver interview, Grant recalled driving an MGA in 1958 and being struck by how directly it responded. The memory predates his Shelby career and offers a glimpse of what first made sports-car driving compelling to him: the connection between steering input and a car’s grip through a turn.
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5. Why second place stayed with him
“On the last lap I fell short by a couple of seconds and to me second place is first loser.”
Grant said this while recounting a Riverside race in which he spun, recovered, and nearly caught Bob Bondurant. The line conveys the uncompromising measure he applied to competition, but the story behind it matters: he was close enough to challenge after a setback, yet still finished short of the win. Grant told the story to Naas in 2016. A 2020 tribute by the Los Angeles Shelby American Automobile Club also identifies “Second place is first loser” as one of Grant’s favorite sayings, attributing that description to club president Randy Richardson.
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What the quotes reveal about Grant’s Shelby years
Together, the recollections describe a progression: an early attraction to cars, a determined approach to Shelby, and a chance to prove himself behind the wheel. Grant was part of Shelby American’s 1965 Cobra campaign that won the FIA World Manufacturer’s Championship. The club’s profile describes it as the first time an American manufacturer won the title; it was a team achievement, not Grant’s alone.
Grant’s story also reached beyond the track. Naas’s 2016 interview and Classic Driver’s 2018 profile link his friendship with George Lucas and his teenage drive-in and street-car culture to the bright-yellow hot-rodder character in American Graffiti. That is source-reported context about Grant’s influence, not a quote from Lucas.
Later, Grant summed up his feelings about his time working and driving for Carroll Shelby with a different kind of line: “Words can’t express the nostalgia, memories, and gratitude I feel.” He offered it while discussing his memorabilia in the Classic Driver interview.
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