Cobra Automotive driver Gary Moore is one of the most colorful characters in the HSR paddock, and he has the right car to go along with his outgoing personality and fast and flat-out driving style on track.
A true American classic, Moore’s 1966 No. 98 Shelby GT350 looks the part, sporting its iconic off-white livery with Ford blue racing stripes, and lives up to it with its frequent podium appearances with Moore at the wheel in HSR competition.
“I’m a purist, old-school guy, and I like vintage race cars, and I race the Shelby,” Moore said. “Now, these cars are happy machines! They slide around a lot but driving these cars on the tracks that they raced back in the day, that’s really a bucket-list goal for me.”
Moore’s passion for Shelbys didn’t come from a Ford family. Instead, he grew up surrounded by Chevrolets before eventually finding his love for the Shelby brand.
“I grew up in a Chevy family, and I’m the black sheep of the family,” Moore said. “I migrated over to Fords. I bought my first race car in 2009, and it was a Mustang, and
then I replaced it with a Shelby. I’ve been racing a Shelby for about 15 years, and I just love the cars. They’re super well-prepared.”
Beyond simply driving the car, Moore takes pride in representing the Shelby American marque and its legacy every time he gets behind the wheel.
“I truly enjoy running the Shelby brand. And it’s iconic. It’s about half as old as the country itself. I think Ford’s about 120 years old. So, it’s great. I’m having a blast. I
couldn’t drive anything else that I would want to other than a Shelby. Believe me, I’ve had guys try to sell me Corvettes lots of times over the years, and I own one. I own a 1965 Corvette, but I’m a Shelby guy.
“People love this car. They love the way that it’s driven because it’s loose, fast and on the edge of out of control. But the sound, I think, is the thing that people remember the most about this car because it has a scream that does not sound like a thundering American V8. It sounds completely different. You know when it’s on the racetrack and that’s the thing that people tell me that they remember. ‘Oh, I remember that car from last year or four years ago because of the sound of it.’”
Next up on the HSR calendar is the HSR Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour presented by Mission Foods and the HSR Atlanta Fall Historics, September 17 – 20, at Michelin
Raceway Road Atlanta.
