I believe Shelby was the honorary race marshal for the Runoffs that year.
I'm not an autograph collector, but when it was announced that he would be
signing autographs, I decided to get in line. All I had was a 3x5 sheet of
paper. As he autographed it, I mentioned that my son and I both own Tigers;
but he said nothing and seemed distracted. Perhaps he was tired, but a
response would have been nice.
Jim Burruss
From: Bulpitt, Bill
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2012 10:37 AM
To: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: My Shelby Story
In 1991 I drove my 66 Tiger up to Road Atlanta on a Saturday morning to
watch
the SCCA Runoffs. One of the first people I ran into was Gene Boone who was
a
force in the local SAAC club and a fellow Tiger owner. He told me, You
have
to be here tomorrow, THE MAN (Shelby) will be driving the pace laps before
the
races start, and all vehicles with a Shelby connection are welcome.
Needless
to say, I was back on Sunday morning, and showed up on the false grid at the
Road Atlanta front straightaway for the pace laps.
No sooner had I pulled into position when I spotted a golf cart coming up
behind me. It was Shelby himself, sporting a Viper hat. He pulled up next
to
me almost nose-to-nose and asked, Youre going to be in the pace lap,
arent
you? I quickly replied, Yes, Sir. He then said, Of all the cars I
worked
on, I liked these the best. I cant remember what my befuddled response
was,
but he waved and moved on down the line. Later, after the laps (which
consisted of Shelby driving Gordon Stennis 289 Cobra, 28 Shelby Mustangs,
and
me) we all assembled in the infield and he signed all the cars (mine under
the
trunk lid). Reflecting on what he said later, he probably didnt really
mean
Tigers were his favorites (he was a salesman, after all) but it cost him
nothing and made me feel like a million bucks.
All in all, a memorable and wonderful day
Bill Bulpitt
William S. Bulpitt, P.E.
Principal Mechanical Engineer
URS Corporation
1000 Abernathy Road, NE, Suite 900
Atlanta, GA 30328
Tel: 678-808-8827
Cell: 404-387-6982, 770-329-5263
bill.bulpitt@urs.com
------------------------------
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