The Shelby
by: Dain Gingerelli
September/October 2007 - Iron Works:
Two for Texas Build A Two-Wheel Hot Rod
Texans tend to watch out for each other. It’s been that way since the days of the Alamo when a band of roughneck banded together in defiance of the villainous Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Of course, we all know the outcome of that surly episode in Texas history, but the story of The Shelby, a motorcycle built by two Texans, has a much happier ending, or should we say beginning.
So, let’s start at the beginning when Bill Rucker—the Rucker behind Rucker Performance—first laid plans for a production bike that would cradle S&S Cycle’s new X-Wedge engine. About the time Rucker Performance began development on the project, another Texan entered the picture. His name—Carroll Shelby, and if you aren’t familiar with him then you probably don’t appreciate the joy of horsepower or the thrill of speed.
So, for those of you who have missed out on those life pleasures, Shelby happens to be the man who exploited the genius of the Muscle Car when he shoehorned a Ford 289 V-8 engine into a British sports car known as the AC-Bristol. A car, by the way, originally designed to accommodate a not-so-muscular inline four-cylinder engine. Thus was born the Cobra, later to become officially known as the Shelby Cobra. That, in a nutshell, is how Shelby vaulted himself to Big Man status in the automotive world, and his fledgling car company went on to win the 1964 GT World Championship with the Daytona Cobra Shelby, beating the vaunted factory Ferrari race team in the process. Since that time Shelby has affixed his name to hundreds of licensed products, the most recent being the motorcycle that Bill Rucker and company began mapping out for production this year.
Shelby, in the guise of Shelby Automotive, didn’t jump blindly into the project, though. Throughout a series of events-Rucker is more specific, slating that “fate” played a key role in their partnership—the two Texans drew together. But like any cagey Texan, Shelby studied the project from afar before committing. And soon enough, Carroll Shelby liked what he saw. “What impressed me about him (Rucker) was that he just liked to build motorcycles. He’s not interested in going on TV,” said Shelby. And, believe it, Shelby has had his fill of bike builders eager to include the name of Shelby on their bikes while they chased the bright lights of Hollywood. But Carroll Shelby knew that success was the result of blood, sweat and tears in the shop, rather than showing your best side to the camera, so he stayed clear.
As the Shelby project progressed, something else became evident to the two Texans:this bike needed purpose, and for both men, that meant putting it on the racetrack. “We both decided this bike belongs in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Pro-Stock division,” said Rucker. To be eligible to compete in Pro Stock a bike must meet homologation rules, among them attaining a certain production number of units bought and sold.
Plans for the first batch of Shelby bikes (The Shelby; see sidebar on the nest page for details) are to have 24 built for 2007 The limited number gives The Shelby exclusivity,, and plans are to have No. 24 ready for the auction at the Barrett-Jackson sellfest in Arizona this winter, with proceeds to aid Carroll Shelby’s charity that addresses heart disease.
The second round of Shelbys—the 2008 models---will cap at 100 units—and plans are to make them EPA-legal too. The ‘08’s will have optional paint schemes that customers can select, and supercharging will also be an option. No mention of price at this time, but regardless of the MSRP, you can bet that these bikes will burst with quality and workmanship.
