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Original Venice Crew Celebrates 60 Years of Shelby Racing Dominance
Valentine’s Day holds a special place in Shelby’s history. On February 14th, 1965, Ken Miles drove the famous “Flying Mustang” to a class win at Green Valley Raceway in Texas, marking the first competition victory for a GT350 Competition Model as well as a major marketing win for the brand. Sixty years later, Shelby celebrated that win, and many others that came in the 1965 season, with track sessions at Willow Springs and a banquet to honor the team behind the scenes that helped make those wins possible. We joined for the track portion and got to feel firsthand that a vintage GT350 is still a capable tool on the tricky track.
The Original Venice Crew (OVC) was the group that hand-built and problem-solved the early GT350s at Shelby’s Venice, California, facility. Now OVC produces a limited number of OVC Shelby GT350s that are available with innovations that were developed but not implemented in the ’60s, including independent rear suspension. We got to drive and ride in one when they first launched back in 2018 with veteran racer and Shelby hot shoe John Morton showing us how it was really done.
OVC is using the 60th anniversary of the 1965 season to highlight the work behind the scenes that made all of the championships possible. We got to speak to Jim Marietta, CEO of OVC, about this anniversary celebration. “We need to recognize, finally, some 60 years later,” Marietta said, “all the effort these guys put in to make this happen.”
Indeed, 1965 was a special year for Shelby with outright championships in several racing disciplines on the track and on the strip, including the FIA World Manufacturers’ GT Championship, SCCA A Production, SCCA B Production, United States Road Racing Championship GT +2.0, and wins on the drag strip in both the NHRA and AHRA.
The Los Angeles Shelby American Automobile Club had plenty of members in attendance at the Willow Springs event, many of them bringing vintage and modern GT350s along to celebrate the occasion. Some members also brought other cars from their collection, so we saw more variety than we expected.
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Michael Eisenberg gave us a ride for a few laps in his 1966 GT350. Eisenberg has owned the car since 1985. It had raced in hill climbs starting in 1967 and then in SCCA B Production starting in 1969 before it was converted into a GT1 race car. After a two-year restoration brought it back to its original condition, Eisenberg has enjoyed it as a track car with just moderate re-ring and bearing refreshes on the small-block V-8. While it could be registered for the road, Eisenberg drives it only on the track. “The motor’s not really friendly for street use,” Eisenberg said, noting that the engine uses all vintage parts, like an aggressive flat-tappet cam, that will make it eligible for vintage racing. Still, the output for the 289 V-8 is around 480 hp thanks to careful cylinder head porting by the late Tony Oddo Sr. (His son, Tony Oddo Jr., is still in the business if you’re in the market, FYI.) We kept up with some much newer Shelbys with a lot more tire, but credit that to Eisenberg’s familiarity with the car and driving skill. While he has plenty of laps in the car at Willow as a former California resident, Eisenberg said that Lime Rock Park is his go-to track, “because I was born in Connecticut, and when I go back there feels like home.”
The Shelby celebration highlights the importance of every aspect of car building and the impact that team members have on a winning season. “From mechanics to drivers, fabricators, and support staff, we will honor everyone who helped Shelby American win those milestone championships in 1965,” said Marietta. “This may be the last major reunion for the group.”
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Seeing original Shelbys moving on the track is great to see. Love the collection of the newer ones also.