Autoweek Magazine

[Bugman]

Those of you that get Autoweek magazine look through this weeks edition for another of ole Shel's business ventures that I never heard about before.

PIT-STOP Deodorant! They have a pic of the old ad there. Is there anything he hasn't tried to sell?? I searched around online but couldn't find a pic to share so you'll have to go buy the magazine..this weeks edition is outstanding! It'll be a worthwhile purchase.

[REAL 1]

For a forum that is dedicated the the Cobra and replicas thereof I think its pretty sad that many on this forum spend much of their time knocking the man, who but for him this site would not even exist and Cobras and your Cobra replicas wouldn't even exist.

Give it a rest.

[Ron61]

This is in no way meant to get me into any arguments and I AM NOT knocking Shelby or any other person. But in the September 2008 issue of Hot Rod Magazine there is a letter written by Lew Holman, President of Holman Moody Inc., that I believe many would find quite interesting. I believe that many of you would find it quite interesting, and this is written by a man that was there and knows what went on, not another person who has studied records and written their version. And it does deal with Shelby and the Cobras and some of the politics that went into the racing.

Ron

[BossCER]

I read nothing derogatory into bugman's comment.
Maybe you need to give it a rest "REAL 1 "

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by Ron61

This is in no way meant to get me into any arguments and I AM NOT knocking Shelby or any other person. But in the September 2008 issue of Hot Rod Magazine there is a letter written by Lew Holman, President of Holman Moody Inc., that I believe many would find quite interesting. I believe that many of you would find it quite interesting, and this is written by a man that was there and knows what went on, not another person who has studied records and written their version. And it does deal with Shelby and the Cobras and some of the politics that went into the racing.

Ron

Ron, I assume you mean this letter.

"holman & moody, inc.
9119 Forsyth Park Drive
Charlotte, NC 28273
704 583 2888

April 22 2008

To: Hot Rod magazine


In response to the story you recently published with a comment from Mr. Shelby about the Holman & Moody team. I would like to make note of a few things Mr. Shelby seems to have overlooked.

The correct name for Mr. Moody is Ralph Moody and he was a master at making a race car handle. Ralph’s talents were best for chassis adjustments on the smaller short tracks but they also applied to the road race tracks of both America & Europe.

John Holman, was a master tool maker and he had been part of the winning Lincoln Mexican road race team, crewed at the Indy 500, and dreamed of being able to make racing faster & safer. When he was hired in 1956 to manage the failing Ford factory race team on the East Coast he quickly changed the cars to reflect his own ideas. His team won so many races that the other car companies talked Ford into pulling the factories out of racing.

Our 1957 Thunder Birds were winning on the sports car tracks beating the Corvettes & Ferraris of their day. In NASCAR, the Holman & Moody built cars won race after race on both road course and oval tracks from 1956 on. In the early 1960s our Falcons sports cars out ran the Cobras at a number of events.

In 1963, the Holman & Moody Galaxies were storming across Europe winning race after race. Fred Lorenzen was winning in America in Holman & Moody Fords and Dan Gurney took on the field at Riverside.

In 1964, while Shelby was having a rough go with his Cobras in Europe, the Holman & Moody Rally Falcons were making history on the Monte Carlo Rally. This point was noted at a Shelby Club dinner some years ago when the guest speaker, Bob Bondurant, noted that he had used the Holman & Moody Falcons as practice cars at a number of events because the Cobras could not hold up for both practice and the race. He also said that the Falcon lap times were hard to beat in a Cobra.

When the new Mustang replaced the Falcon, it was Holman & Moody and Alan Mann Racing in England that built the first Mustang race cars. These Mustangs using the Rally Falcon parts were able to win the 1964 Tour De France.

Mr., Shelby seems also to have forgotten that it was Alan Mann Racing that raced the Cobra Coupes in Europe in 1965 with myself as part of the team that year, and that it was the performance of Alan Mann Racing that won the championship for the Ford Cobras that year.

While on Tom Cotter’s Cobra Tour last summer, I was please to hear a speech made By Mr. Tom Yeager. When asked how he was able to outrun the Shelby Factory team cars at most of his events. He replied that it was a little known fact that his GT 350 was prepared and maintained by Holman & Moody. He would pick the Mustang up and go outrun the Shelby Mustangs.

When you look back at the Le Mans races one should also recall that Mr. Shelby did race GT 40s at Le Mans without the help of Holman & Moody, in 1965 and the outcome was not that note worthy. I was at that race and the Alan Mann Team’s Cobra Coupes finished the race for Ford.

In 1966, Ford asked if Holman & Moody could and would help save the project. Because Ford owned the Shelby American company at that time, Holman & Moody was under team orders not to pass or race the Shelby team cars. Our drivers were able to follow orders and we finished in third place behind the two Shelby team cars. Dan Gurney talked about the team orders on film when he says that the only competition he had at Le Mans in 1967 was the Holman & Moody cars but they had been taken care of politically and were not a problem.

After 50 years of winning, Holman & Moody continues today building vintage race cars and engines. We just sent an engine to Europe for a 1956 Thunder Bird that will run in the Mille Miglia, and a new 427 for the original Holman & Moody Mark II that finished third in 1966. We continue to build race winning cars.

When Holman & Moody was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame, The president of NASCAR said “ Without Holman & Moody there would be no NASCAR. “ Holman & Moody built and sold the quality parts that allowed ten cars to be racing for the win on the last lap. That made the races exciting so that TV wanted to cover that excitement. We sold the same parts that we raced to our competition yet as a team Holman & Moody continued to win.

While one does have to give Shelby credit for placing himself in the right place at the right time, so that he could become a legend of the performance industry, he did not do any of this alone. Other people had put a Ford V8 engine in a AC Ace, other people had won in Mustangs , but Shelby was able to market those products and himself. It took, Ford, Holman & Moody, Alan Mann and all the great drivers and team members of each of those teams and the hard work of the Shelby American Automobile Club to enable Mr. Shelby to be what he is today.

Lee Holman, President

Holman & Moody, Inc.


PS I was not able to include the winning Drag racing, off shore ocean racing, ski boat races, or the off road part of John Holman’s history. If you would like to know more about Holman & Moody fell free to visit our shop in Charlotte, North Carolina."

[REAL 1]

BossCR: Maybe you need to stop trying to "read into" what he said and just read what he said.



If you can't see it then you can't see it. I did.

[Bugman]

BOSS, You are correct there was nothing derogatory in my remarks and it was not in least bit intended to be! A simple statement of fact followed with a question. The question did contain a poor attempt at humor which must have pierced some thin skin. I have seen ads for many of his business ventures but the Deodorant was a new one I had never seen.

[Traveller]

I use a replica of 'ol Shell's deodorant. It actually performs better than the original.

[xlr8or]

Evan have you ever considered actually adding something to this forum other than "mine is real just ask SAAC" or "Quit bashing my hero"?


A-Snake thanks for posting that. Interesting viewpoint and some historical H&M info some probably weren't aware of.

[Ron61]

A-Snake,

That is the one. It was just so long that I didn't want to scan it in and post the whole thing. Thanks for doing so.

I remain non-committal in this argument and just post what I see with no personal comments about it. I feel this will be going on long after I have taken leave of this planet.

Ron

[nikbj68]

Originally Posted by Traveller

I use a replica of 'ol Shell's deodorant. It actually performs better than the original.

Great idea though...to make your 'pits smell like the Pits!

I saw nothing derogatory in the original post either....

[nikbj68]

Originally Posted by Ron61

A-Snake,

That is the one. It was just so long that I didn't want to scan it in and post the whole thing. Thanks for doing so.

I remain non-committal in this argument and just post what I see with no personal comments about it. I feel this will be going on long after I have taken leave of this planet.

Ron

I was amaused by this Lee Holman quote from: Ponysite
"..."Holman Moody had a good working relationship with JW Automotive--selling them complete 1963 Galaxies-- marine engines-- Mustang parts and such. From about 1962 we started shipping parts & engines to John Willment ( owner of JW)....He bought a AC Ace less engine and put a 260 in that as well. My father drove the Ace with our engine. I am not claiming that Willment made a Cobra, only that other people were building these one off sports cars. While Shelby did the marketing that made the AC Ace with a Ford engine into a "COBRA" it was the marketing not the design that Shelby should get credit for."..."

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by Ron61

A-Snake,

That is the one. It was just so long that I didn't want to scan it in and post the whole thing. Thanks for doing so.
Ron

Ron,
Actually I did not scan it. It's been on the SAAC forum since April 23rd.

[Rick Parker]

Yea you could smell like a sweaty, oil soaked, and gasoline bathed pit crewman in an instant! Then at night eat his Texas Chili and sound of in the morning!

[Traveller]

Next time 'ol Shell is at a public event, I'm going to try and get him to sign the cap to my 'ol Spice.

[427sharpe]

I like Holman's letter, and found it spot on as to CS. FWIW, I also found no offnse meant in the original comment. This issue of Autoweek is their 50th Anniversary issue, and is quite good. I especially liked the 'retro' news portion at the end, where they took todays news and printed it as if it were the old Competition Press.....memories of a bygone youth!

[Ron61]

NIKBJ68,

Thanks for posting that link. It seems to verify a lot of what the letter said. I do know that when I was young, if you had a Holman Moody motor in your car up here it was revered over a Shelby engine. One of the fastest cars around here back then had a Holman Moody 390 in it and that car went like mad and handled on the road courses like it was stuck to them. There were two of the AC Aces here with the 260s in them, but I don't know if Shelby or someone else put them in. I do know they also ran like crazy. And on the small tires we had back then, a set of rears would last about one evening of fun.

Ron

[REAL 1]

Xl8or: Nope. Candidly the majority (not all) on this site really don't merit much of my time and neither does this site much of the time.

I just pop in now and then (and will continue to do so much to your disliking I'm sure) just so the Shelby and CSX bashers know I'm here and to make sure I put out the facts here so these boards don't contain only the crapola posted by Shelby/CSX bashers that you need waders for.

Thanks anyway.

[Maurice Johnson]

My high school history teacher (50 years ago) once said that the history books are always written by the victors. It would seem that he should have added " but only after all those you claim to have defeated, have died.
My kids and grandkids all know about CS and the Cobras, I'm not sure I will tell them all the recent stuff.

[427sharpe]

Every book has sad chapters...adds to the drama!