Quote:
Originally Posted by John McMahon
Wow...this is a first, I agree with most of what Sal said! We have made progress! 
Personally, I have always been an enthusiast, guys and cars, car and guys. I tried my darndest to be an organized group back when I had my first Cobra. Since then, we've done the same thing with our wannabee racing, its about having fun. 
But throughout, there was always an uneasiness with Carroll Shelby, but I (we?) let him slide because he was...well, Carroll Shelby, the legend. I still remeber catching him and his cronies using SAAC 25 for his personal gain. This was when he was bringing a lawsuit against ERA and he directed his henchmen to take pictures of all the ERAs in Sunday's car show that were using Shelby Cobra emblems on thier Cobras. He was gathering evidence for his impending suit. On that day, a bit of me died and I lost a lot of respect for the man.
So for the latest development against SAAC, I have lost all respect for him. Quite honestly, I do not think he is corrdinating this effort, but I think others in the organization are helping quite a bit (right Amy?). I find it hard to beleive that she was unaware (as she claimed) that this lawsuit was taking shape some time back. But that is just my opinion.
While never a true believer of how SAAC was run, I appreciate and admire all the work that has gone into this club, their devotion is second to none in my mind.
As we move forward, I see two entities evolving, Team Shelby for the new crew of late models.....
... and SAAC, for those who continue to honor the memories and importance in the automotive field, of not just the cars, but the legend of ALL THE PEOPLE involved in making these great cars so important. |
John, Your right, I knew there were issues the day I came on. I spoke to the SAAC owners at VIR and told them Carroll was upset. He hadn't gone to a convention in years. I told them he wanted changes, One of the owners in front of others said " we don't need Carroll Shelby" Did I know there were big issues yes, did I see the legal letter before it went out, no.
We at SAI, had always thought we would support what we built, there was never an intention for us not to support the new and keep the registry of the new. That was the plan from 2005. I have always said we welcome the old. There is a difference between the registry and the club. The team shelby club is for all enthusiasts, Our registry was started with the intent of supporting the new.
This issue between licensing and Carroll is just that. There are letters posted on the licensing site welcoming them to 2007. Where did it go wrong? A court will now decide.
There is much I can not say due to this legal issue, and my position. I will not have others post it all over the sites either. I will say this, they filed 3 days before CSl last week. They filed to keep his names and marks. That is public and the filing is on the Shelbyforums.com site. They don't say that in the posts above.
My job and this companies job is to build the company and to support the buyers of our products and to support all shelby enthusiasts. It is also to secure and keep Carroll's Legacy. The events we do can be called marketing, but there are different layers of marketing, we spent a lot on this last event to make it the best, for everyone to have a great time, it wasn't meant to replace any club, we support clubs all over this country and elsewhere, it was a way to give back for all those who supported us and waited 3+ years to get their cars and help us through the rebuild. We should as the company give more then a club, we should give back, that is a good company.
I am the company person, I expect I will never be considered the friend , but I am a car girl, I ANSWER EMAILS AND POSTS IN THE NIGHT. REGULAR COMPANY PEOPLE DON'T DO THAT. I have the passion and have had it long before coming to Shelby. I think that trait makes me better to serve the enthusiasts of our products, then a regular company marketing person. Gary Davis who build cars, Gary Patterson who has been a ford guy since High School all have the passion. We can do it better then those at SAI before us as a company.We never intented to replace any fan site or true enthusiats sites.
The SAAC club is a for profit business that has an issue with CSL and CSL has an issue with it. SAAC can continue to make me the bad guy, I am an easier target but Carroll is Carroll Shelby, he will not be ignored. He is mad. He has the history.
Amy