[A.J._Baime]

I interviewed Shelby at his office in Gardena, CA. (This chat was followed up by numerous phone calls. He used to call me at random hours because he'd remember something he wanted to add to the conversation.) During this interview in his office he'd get so excited he would just start yelling. I have it all on tape, it's hilarious. I remember asking him about Masten Gregory. "Loved Masten!!! Loved Masten!!!" He got so excited that afterward he demanded that he drive me to the airport. His secretary is freaking out and whispering in my ear, "He can't see. He's pretty much blind." She's very nervous. At this point, it's too late to back out so we get in a new Mustang GT-H with way too much hp. We bomb down I-405, he's driving like a mad man, passing cars on left and right. As I put it in the epilogue of the book, "This is a guy who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans wearing chicken farmer overalls." We made it to the airport okay. My flight got delayed for hours and my heart was pumping so hard, I think I probably had 10 beers before I got on the flight. The interview actually got very somber when we talked about Ken Miles. Anyway, I'm rambling...