Ken Miles: The Shelby American Years: The Shelby American Years

By David Friedman

Ken Miles is one of the most famous sports car racers in history, and his time at Shelby American was the pinnacle of his career.

Ride shotgun with Ken Miles through the twists and turns of Sebring, Laguna Seca, Riverside, and Le Mans as seen through the lens of Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman!

The hiring of Ken Miles by Carroll Shelby in February 1963 initiated arguably the greatest pairing of driver/owner partnerships in the history of motorsports. Not only did Shelby hire Competition Manager Ken Miles as an accomplished road racer but also Miles brought professionalism, innovation, and a keen attribute of being able to surround himself with budding, talented individuals.

The list of race cars that Ken piloted at Shelby American is nearly unrivaled: the Shelby 289 Cobra, 390 Cobra, 427 Cobra, King Cobra, Shelby Daytona, Mustang GT350R, and Ford GT. Ken dominated the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) racing season by winning 8 of 10 races to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship. However, it was at Le Mans where Ken Miles became a worldwide household name.

The robbery that was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans is laid out in excruciatingly accurate detail as Ford royalty Carroll Shelby, Carroll Smith, Homer Perry, Leo Beebe, Charlie Agapiou, Bob Negstad, Carroll Smith, and Peter Miles recall the race and the tragedy that followed two months later.

Recapture Ken Miles’s career as told by esteemed Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman in this firsthand account titled Ken Miles: The Shelby American Years!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Car Tech
• Release date: Jul 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781613257432

David Friedman

Dave Friedman was Shelby American's official photographer in the 1960s, accompanying the team to races all around the world. He is a longtime motorsports and film-still photographer and the author of several motor racing books, as well as a photography contributor to dozens more. Friedman lives in Newport Beach, California.

Book preview

PREFACE

When Carroll Shelby asked me to record the memories of as many of the former Venice employees as I could contact, I took him up on his challenge. That was 25 years ago, and Carroll’s suggestion resulted in many great firstperson interviews with many old friends, many of whom are sadly gone now. Their interviews and great memories resulted in my very popular book Remembering the Shelby Years: 1962–1969.

During our weekly homemade chili lunch meetings, Carroll also asked me to write a book for him about his good friend Ken Miles. I told him that I would love to do so but the time wasn’t right and the book would not sell. Well, Carroll, the time is finally right, so here we go, and I hope this is what you wanted.

Dave Friedman

Shelby American Photographer 1962–1965

1963 THE BEGINNING

One of my earliest images of Ken Miles was taken at the Los Angeles Examiner Grand Prix in April 1959. Driving the Precision Motor Cars Porsche 550RS at Pomona Fairgrounds, Ken won this race overall against stellar competition.

I first met Ken Miles in 1958 when he was driving a Porsche 550RS for Otto Zipper’s Precision Motor Cars in Beverly Hills, California. Ken always made time to talk to everyone, including a young upstart photographer named Dave. As time went by, Ken introduced me to his longtime sponsor, Otto Zipper, which became one of my first and best longtime clients.

Carroll Shelby Enterprises (later known as Shelby American) moved into Lance Reventlow’s old shop at 1042 Princeton Dr. in Venice (a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California) around June 1962. In the beginning, the production and race shops were both in one location, and everyone worked on everything.

The first race car was built there, and it was scheduled to debut at the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix support race, the three-hour enduro for GT cars in October 1962. Bill Krause was signed as the first factory driver and debuted the car in spectacular fashion. He led the race by a half mile until a wheel hub broke, but the handwriting was on the wall.

In the fall of 1962, the small shop in Venice (a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California) was a one-building operation that housed the racing and production operations. Our first team car is under construction in the foreground. Legendary Shelby American crewmembers George Boskoff and Phil Remington appear in the foreground. These guys could do anything.

Original Shelby American team driver Bill Krause receives last-minute instruction from Carroll Shelby before practicing at Riverside in October 1962.

Bill Krause approaches Riverside’s famed Turn 6 during the team’s first race. The XP on the car door stood for experimental production. The organizers formed this special class so that the Cobra and new Corvette Z06 could run in the three-hour production enduro race. The Cobra did not finish due to a broken wheel hub, but it certainly foreshadowed things to come while it ran.

February 1963

Ken came to Shelby American along with Dave MacDonald in February 1963. Shelby American was a young upstart company, and many people, including the motoring press, laughed at the company and many of its ideas. However, they didn’t laugh for long because Ken helped put the company on the map in a short period of time.

Ken quickly inherited a few nicknames and became known to those around him as Teddy Tea Bagger, the Hawk, or Sammy Side Bite. Somewhat later, he added a new name to the list, Teddy Tree Bagger, after his famous encounter with the only tree on the Sebring circuit in 1964.

At that time, both Ken and MacDonald had made huge impact on the West Coast’s very competitive and popular Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and Cal Club sports car racing series. Both men had been involved in some of the most exciting, no-holds-barred racing during the 1962 season. By the time they came to Shelby American, both were crowd favorites wherever they appeared.

Ken brought his longtime mechanic Charlie Agapiou with him when he came to work for Shelby American.

Dave MacDonald was the other top driver to join the team in February 1963.

When Ken went to work for Shelby in February 1963, he asked me to go with him, Charlie said. I started there as a general mechanic, and I was kind of a donkey in the beginning, doing whatever needed to be done.

Ken Miles was one of two top West Coast drivers who joined the Shelby American team in February 1963 after Bill Krause left to pursue other opportunities.

In 1962, Miles and MacDonald were responsible for some of the most exciting racing that was ever seen on the West Coast. Here, Miles, driving the Precision Motor Cars Ferrari 250 SWB (50) leads MacDonald’s Don Steves Corvette (00) at Riverside International Raceway in June 1962.

It was always this close between these two great drivers, and the crowds loved it and came by the thousands to see it. This photo was taken at the Pomona Fairgrounds in July 1962.

Ken Miles was never beaten while driving this beautiful Ferrari 250 SWB for Otto Zipper. This photo was taken at Laguna Seca Raceway in October 1962.

Competition Manager

When Ken arrived at Shelby American’s Venice shop in February 1963, he brought an air of professionalism, and it quickly rubbed off on the younger members of the crew—which was most of them. One of Ken’s first ideas was to assign a crew chief and two mechanics to each the team’s cars, and it stayed that way all season for the most part.

In addition to Charlie, Ken hired John Collins, who was another great addition, to the Venice shop. John always said that Ken hired him because they were both British. They became good friends and stayed so until the end, when Ken died in August 1966.

Ken was bloody quick and fiercely competitive in those Cobras (as he was in everything he drove), and he, MacDonald, and Bob Holbert became our first group of factory drivers in 1963, Charlie Agapiou said. Ken did so well with Shelby’s company that he became the company’s real competition manager in 1963. We had a lot of great cars in our shop in 1963, and I worked on them all.

The first race for our first two-team cars was scheduled for February 2, 1963, at Riverside International Raceway. As was the custom in SCCA racing at that time, most drivers participated in multiple races, and Ken also drove Otto Zipper’s Porsche RS61.

During this era of sports car racing, drivers often raced in several classes during the weekend. Here, MacDonald’s Shelby Cobra (198) leads Ken’s Porsche RS61 (50) during early-morning practice.

At Riverside International Raceway in early 1963, this was the program for the first race that featured both Ken and MacDonald in Shelby Cobras.

The Cobras ran away with their class, posting first- (MacDonald) and second-place (Miles) finishes in the production A&B race, which was heavily populated with Sting Rays. Ken also pulled down second in his Modified class with the Porsche RS61.

Paul Reinhart, the driver of a top Corvette, was asked by Hugh Randolph of the Oakland Tribune if the Cobras were that much faster.

Fast? he responded. Man, that’s the quickest thing I’ve ever seen on wheels. It’s fast enough to win any Modified race. In the first lap, I could just barely keep MacDonald in sight. After that it was, ‘Bye Bye Baby.’ If Fangio had been in my Sting Ray, he wouldn’t have come any closer.

As a side note, this was the last race for the 260-ci-powered Cobra.

Ken (98) leads Paul Reinhart’s Z06 Corvette (6) and MacDonald (198) early in the A, B Production race.

Ken was always standing on the gas. This was the last race for the 260-ci-powered Shelby Cobra.