My Shelby was delivered from California to Hallett, Oklahoma on a trailer by Steve Hope.  The owner of the Hallett Motor Sports Track, Mike Stephens, paid me a performance fee to drive the first Shelby around a track at a National SCCA event. I was supposed to do 3 laps prior to the National event on Sunday, but Steve was late arriving at the track and we were in such a hurry; we forgot to put fuel in the cell and I ran out of fuel after 2 laps. The wrecker crew was so proud that they were the first crew to "flat tow" a Shelby.  Off to a great start.

When I took delivery of the car, SCCA did not recognize it as a class because only 2 or 3 were available to run that year so 1990 was spent going to various SCCA events and working the bugs out of the car.  We showed the car at the various events and the enthusiasm for the car grew tremendously. In 1991, the Shelby Pro Series was started.  I think we only had 5 races that year.  Leading up to the last race of the season, David Tenney - #032 from Chicago was leading the points race with me in 2nd place.  The last race was at Mosport Park near Toronto.  Neither David nor I did well in the final race with David finishing 4th and me in 6th place. This enabled David to win the points championship by a single point. There was also a SCCA race at the Runoffs that year and Carroll Shelby attended as the Grand Marshall of the race.  I have several photos with Carroll and myself with Chassis #001. By 1992, we had great field for the Shelby Pro Series and we were booked to run as a support race for CART, NASCAR, Trans Am, etc. all over the country.  We ran with CART in Phoenix, the first ovals for the Shelby, and at Road America .  We ran with NASCAR at Atlanta and Charlotte .  We also ran with Trans Am at several venues. 

Gary Tiller - #027 and I formed a team with Mike Atkins at TRP Racing to run the full schedule in 1992. Gary and I were teammates with Mike Atkins running the team during through the 1996 ending season of the Shelby Pro Series.  During the 1994-1995 seasons, we had a great group of guys running in the Shelby Pro Series.  Some of these guys went on to race at Indy. These guys were fast and they all could make the Shelby sing.  I can't remember everyone, but Mike Davies - #055, Scott Harrington - #056), Richie Hearn - #028), Cory Witherall, and Sam Schmidt just to name a few.  We ran ovals, road courses, and street courses.  The 1994-1996 period was the highlight of the series. TRP Racing had a very successful season in 1996.  I won the 1996 points championship by winning the final race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway. My teammate Tiller finished 2nd in that race.  I think Mike Davies finished 2nd in the points that year. By 1997, the series was history and Gary and I moved over the Sports Toyota Series with Mike Atkins at TRP as our team leader.  As the original owner of Chassis #001, I was the only driver to compete in the entire Shelby Pro Series from inception in 1991 to the final race in 1996.  I hope this will help you write some of the Shelby history.  It was a great period in my racing career and I cherish the many friendships that were forged during that period. 

Jerry Gillis
Shelby Can-Am - Chassis #001