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Shelby Cobra inspired Driving Shoe

a2z racer gear sent me my first and only pair of Blue Carroll Shelby Performance Driving Shoes well over a year ago and they're still going strong after a year and travelling through Japan.
Well, it helps when you're a driving instructor for a performance driving school and asked to test performance products as well.

two years and still road worthy!
Tony a2z Adamowicz was called in by a2z racer gear to help design the shoes.

(You can read more aboutperformance driving by checking out: http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16098709/le-mans-racing-history-from-a2z )

Now, the Shelby Cobra Shoes I have are great for Performance Driving (I've even taken them out on the track) but I wanted to see how they stacked up against a pair of regular walking shoes and competition driving shoes.

And this the blue Shelby Cobra Driving Black-jack shoe looks like right out of the box.
The very first reactions were mostly visual. With Shelby's signature, the carbon fiber-look heel and the tire-tread sole with double white stripes, oh, and the little Cobra logo on the heel... with so much detail in the looks, its hard to believe that the shoe actually wears well, too. I seemed like I got comments regardless of what I was wearing with them. The close up inspection only added towards the initial reaction. Even the $50 Dr.Scholl shoe soles won't fit your feet as well as the a2z leather-lined sole.

The Inner Sole of the Shelby Cobra Performance Driving shoe is layered with Leather, so the shoe's sole adjusts to a person's foot after a brief break-in period.

I only used my other driving shoes when I knew I wasn't going to be walking much that day, like on a run through PCH. With the a2z Performance driving shoes, I don't have to plan so much; they're fine to walk in. The sole in these lets me feel the pedal as well as the sidewalk, for as long as I want. You won't find a shoe that gives you such a long life-cycle as well as style comfort and uniqueness. These are like a blast from the past, when you bought a pair of shoes and they lasted. soft leather is used inside the shoe, which also adds to its longevity. I looked at the tight, even stitching as well as the glue areas. No glue was visible on the shoe, as well as no peeling betwen the outer sole and the uppers. The molded heel section holds your heel firm, so you're not wobbling on the pedals or tera firma.

The Tire Tread outer sole of the Shelby Driving shoe is really cool.  They're grippy, too.
The sole is styled after a tire tread with white stripes running the length of the shoe. This unique design provided a nice skid resistant wear which provided excellent contact with the floor and pedals. Don't throw these in the washer! They're suede and you don't want to ruin the Cobra design, let alone the leather. Don't have to dry clean, just use a suede brush and damp rag. After two months, thats all they needed to keep them fresh. for two months I wore the Shelby Driving shoes for three days a week, all day. Check them out for yourself at www.ShelbyGear.com.

Under no circumstances should you get behind the wheel while not wearing shoes. Driving by using flip flops is usually not recommended. In addition, always end up being certain your car's new carpet won't go close to on the particular floor. This could obstruct the particular pedals plus can always be quite harmful.

In the event that ensure possibly be driving a good individuals, make sure you grow your feet, calves, ham strings, and so on to ensure you happen to be at ease through the entire trip. Also, don't forget to quit and use sleep locations.

Testing Driving Shoes

For over a month, I've put a2z Racer's Driving Shoes through their paces by taking them to the one place you're garanteed to have to walk: Tokyo! They kept my feet comfortable and dry in the sometimes wet weather and even worked out well in my self defense classes.
A definite advantage to being director of a performance driving school is really a level of credibility you are able to establish with automotive related item manufacturers.

two years and still road worthy!
Tony a2z Adamowicz was called in by a2z racer gear to help design the shoes.

(You can read more aboutperformance driving by checking out: )

These Shelby shoes I got from a2z racer gear are great for driving; that's what they're made for. But I wanted to compare them with my favorite walking shoes, just to see how they'd hold up.

It's this that the blue Shelby Cobra Performance Shoe appears like right out of the box.
First off, nobody asks me about the grungy 'daily walkers' I have, but when I'm wearing the Shelby Driving Shoes, guys wind up asking me about them. With all the little Shelby Cobra touches going into the design of the shoe (the blue one is actually 'Shelby Blue'), you'd think that the driving shoe' was more flash than performer. However, these shoes fit great and deliver in performance as well. One day I wore my Blue Shelby Driving shoes with my Cobra Team Jacket (its an a2z replica of the original) and I got embarrassed because, with so much Shelby stuff on me, I got asked, 'so, where's your car?'. Meaning, my Cobra. I had to say that I didn't have one. Getting a closer look always garnered more admiration. Even the $50 Dr.Scholl shoe soles won't fit your feet as well as the a2z leather-lined sole.

The Inner Sole of the Shelby Cobra Shoe is layered with Leather, so it adjusts to a person's foot after a short break-in period.

If you've ever walked for a while in driving shoes, you're probably aware that they're not too comfortable for that. You might even keep another pair of shoes in the trunk, just for walking. These Shelby Cobra shoes won't be any trouble, like that. I walk in mine everywhere. walking, driving, its all good in these. These shoes have it all, comfort, style, quality and longevity. Because of the soft leather inside, the tongue and heel are not only comfortable, but long-lasting, as well. Usually, if you're lucky to have a pair of shoes that last a couple of years, the glue has pulled from the upper and sole and the heel. With these a2z shoes, there's no separation, no glue outside; even on the carbon fiber looking heel. The molded heel section holds your heel firm, so you're not wobbling on the pedals or tera firma.

The tyre Tread outer sole of the Shelby Driving shoe is really neat.  It grips well, too.
During my test period, I wore the Shelby shoes for walking and driving for 10 to 12 hours a day, an average of 3 days a week for nearly two months. On the bottom of the shoe, there is a tire-tread design with two stripes. I thought that the design was just for looks, however, it provided an excellent skid resistant experience while driving and walking. Though, I wouldn't suggest playing basketball with them. These a2z shoes are suede leather and can't be put in a washing machine, like your old Converses. Over the 2 month period, they didn't wear much and were easy to clean with a suade cleaning kit. You can easily find a2z's driving shoes at a2z Racer Gear, of course.

Shelby's Cobra

The Peterson Museum has honored Carroll Shelby before. We caught up with him at a recent Trans Am event, there. The Peterson refers to Carroll Shelby as the father of American high-performance automobiles.  Carrol The Shelby collection of legendary automobiles spans over five decades. From Carrol's often imitated, never duplicated, race-winning Shelby Cobras to the first Dodge Viper and Shelby Series I.

You might not be aware that often donning his striped overalls, Shelby would race cars in the 1950's.

Of course, it was the Cobra that turned Carroll shelby from tuner/racer to motorsports celebrity. The 1st one was built in '62, model number CSX2000.  In those days, Carroll built several, now priceless, racing Cobras such as the first of only five 289FIA models, which won their class at 24 heures of Le Mans, as well as his Daytona Coupe, the only American vehicle to catch the flag at the FIA World Manufacturers Championship.  Professional car collectors place the original racing Cobras at a worth of millions of dollars.


Shelby was responsible for the race-winning GT40 Mark 1. Covered in Gulf blue and orange, the team enjoyed winning LeMans.
Only 22 of these awesome big-block 427 Competition Cobra cars were made before the introduction of the only slightly more tractable Street Competition (S/C) version. Shelby even made a drag racer; a formidable small-block powered Dragonsnake, which, back in the day, outran every racer in its class, including the big-block Corvettes.  Carroll painstakingly modded other Ford-powered comp vehicles, like the '65 GT350 Mustang. One of them was used in the Carroll Shelby School of High Performance Driving.

Shelby also made a relationship with Mopar, after a great run with Ford, including the turbocharged GLH (which he said stood for “Goes Like Hell”) and the GLHS (“Goes Like Hell Some More”). 500 of the latter model were ever made. In the 90's Mr. Shelby also developed a Dodge-powered CAN-AM spec racecar. His collaboration with Chrysler resulted in the awesome Dodge Viper.


If a Cobra is a bit out of your reach, but you still want to be part of the 'in' crowd there are several cool Shelby apparel items, even a fully licensed recreation of the Team Shelby Staduim Jacket, an excellent choice for any season.


A crowning achievement in Shelby's life is the design of the Shelby Series I, which is powered by an Oldsmobile V-8. The association with General Motors and Oldsmobile made Shelby the first ever to be involved in the design of performance cars for all of the Big 3 automakers. To this day, Shelby continues to be active, managing the day-to-day activities of Carroll Shelby International, which designs and engineers high-performance cars. Remarkably, among its many interests is the ongoing manufacture of quality Shelby Cobras, the legendary sports car which first made Mr. Shelby famous more than four decades ago.


More Racing History Stuff #randurls1#

1984 Le Mans: A Sore Lesson in Preparation

These Girls wern't the only attraction at the 1984 Le Mans, Jaguar had their own sexy models to show off!
tony drove this Jaguar XJR5 in the 1984 Le Mans 24 Hours for Bob Tullius, who gave him his professional start back in 1966

Convinced to get back in Le Mans, Jaguar would serve up the XJR5, a sleek machine with 12 ponies under the hood ready to scream a crowd-pleasing 222 miles on backstretches. Not as light as the group C vehicles, it was still the right amount of 'wow' to entertain the masses, even sitting still. Yes, after 20 years of sitting in the stands of Le Mans, Jaguar threw its hat back into the ring in style.

Co-drivers were John Watson, Formula 1 racer for McLaren; and Claude Bella Lena, a successful French driver.

They qualified 19th of 53 cars, and had worked up to eighth place by about 6 am. By that time, all three team cars were reporting gearbox shifting problems. After a pit stop & fresh tires, I took my turn in the machine. Tony a2z had fresh tires, so proceeded to warm them up and break them in. As he entered the fast right-hand turn before the Mulsanne straight, the car suddenly started to understeer badly and crashed into the barrier.



The car was bruised and beaten. Tony Adamowicz noticed the oil pressure was low and figured some damage had happened to the oil system. He radioed in, but he couldn't get through. After he gingerly brought the XJR5 to the crew, they informed him that the engine was fine but the oil system had been damaged, but it could be fixed. Even so, the Jaguar officials thought the car should be put on ice, so as to not risk the V12 failing in the public eye.

What had caused the car's handling to suddenly change and crash into a barrier? After inspecting the tire, Goodyear discovered that the tire had been losing air, which resulted in understeer. Normally, understeer is the result of a lack of downforce on the front wheels, however, in this case, the low tire changed the dynamics of the XJR5 enough to make the steering tight.

For the other Jags, the race wound down on them too. Turns out, the Hewland gearboxes we not set up for endurance racing. Where, before, they had performed fine in the other races, a 24-hour run requires more. Had filters been installed in the gearboxes, debris from the strains of shifting could've been kept from mucking up the works. Eventually, the cars couldn't hold their gears due to shot bearings and ground gears. The lighter Lancias had the same problem. Experience won out in this gruelling event, with Porsche taking the victory. Back in Jag-town, the top-shots were fine with a bad gearbox. What they didn't want was engines going up in smoke on the track.

Nowadays, Tony Adamowicz offers the masses of racing buffs the chance to connect with auto racing history through his apparel company, a2z Racer Gear a2zracergear.com whichhas become known for its line of wonderful vintage racing apparel.

You can find other racing stories at www.a2zracer.com

Daytona 24 hours in 1970

Ask Tony 'a2z' Adamowicz what his most fun race was, and he'll anwer 1970 24hours of Daytona.

Tony's path to that '70 race started out with an SCCA driving school on the previous Marlboro course in Maryland. with Bob Tullius Group 44 team in '66. Adamowicz would instantly make his mark and make history at the same time, sharing the more than 2. liter course win with Tullius inside a Dodge Dart in the very initial Trans-Am race ever held at Sebring. Adamowicz says That was a huge break. It marked a major opportunity for him like a beginning driver. When he had gotten a taste of Trans-Am racing, tony 'a2z' adamowicz idea, that he was heading somewhere. Tony a-z Adamowicz Said that SCCA national racing is fantastic, nevertheless it wasn't truly proceeding anywhere for him.

Tullis and Adamowicz would go on to win a second time in Trans-Am that year, taking the 12 hour Marlboro, Maryland win, this time finishing first overall and establishing yet an additional milestone by becoming the very first to get that race in an American car. However Chrysler wasn't committed to Trans-Am racing and Tullius wouldn't otherwise find the funding required to return for the series, leaving a2z stranded. "Then I got this call from Marvin Davidson," states Adamowicz. Marvin was a Wall Street banker and knew Tony and thought he'd be perfect for his Trans-Am project tony a2z was organizing. Davidson was planning on working Alfa Romeros, and wanted to ask Tony his opinion.. Do you want to win? asked Adamowicz, go with Porsche. Tony dominated the sub-2 litre class in Trans Am in a little orange Porsche 911, taking home six trophys in all.

Adamowicz was now eyeing F5000 after his win in Trans-Am. Tony a-z Adamowicz believed the open-wheel series would most likely be his next logical move. Davidson seemed to agree. Marvin looked to capitalize on Adamowicz's achievement in Trans-Am and go the team for the following degree. "I could see that Formula 5000 was also leading into the big time," states Adamowicz, who believed the open wheel series was the next logical step. Tony felt that he could get recognition in open wheel if he could do well... and survive. "Little did I realize that this was a incredibly significant work as far as efficiency compared to what I'm used to using the 2.-liter Porsche."

Indeed, Tony initially struggled to come to grips with the fire breathing Five.-liter engine mounted within the lightweight Eagle MkV chassis. "It was a rude awakening," admits Adamowicz. So, Marvin brought in Carroll Smith to help and lead the team.
Tony and his crew was able to take the 1969 championship by one point! Despite earlier challenges, they had also won two previous races. Adamowicz would have never won this race without Carroll's presence.

Now, Tony was boasting two wins and it seemed like he was flying up the race circuit. But fate would throw a different hand at Adamowicz. With two wins and everything looking great, Davidson was getting out of the racing biz in 1970, just as tony was on a roll. Since Davidson decided to not continue to fund a race team, tony a-z adamowicz leveraged a relationship he got with Ferraris Luigi Chinetti to help Adamowicz in getting a ride for the 1970 Daytona 24 Hour. "Marvin Davidson bought a couple of Ferraris and tony a2z talked to Chinetti, who Chinetti believed it would be great to have a champion behind the wheel at Daytona," explains Adamowicz.

The chance could be significant for Adamowicz on a variety of levels. Being a life-long fan of Ferrari, it was not lost on Adamowicz that he was about to step into the endurance racing world in a car sporting the Ferrari badge and a real chance at winning. to Tony a2z, the amazing Ferrari 312P (for 'Prototype') was like a F1 car with a body on it. You could rev it to 10k rpms and it wouldn't complain. The sound was magnificent. The braking, handling, everything was excellent.

Veteran Porsche and Ferrari racer David Piper was on the team. a2z was very happy to be paired up with him. Sam Pose and Michael Parkes used a bubble top on their 312P because of their height.

Through much of the race, both 312ps performed excellently. Right up until Parks hit a wall and damaged the radiator. He pulled in to get it fixed while the Piper/Adamowicz car made impressive strides, to a formidable lead. Then, the race began to unravel.

The road started to fall apart, the surface below started bleeding through. The Ferrari's coolant system was being struck by these jagged pieces of road-rot, eventually, piercing the radiator, resulting in coolant pouring out. It wasn't long before the coolant temputure rose, making Adamowizc shoot for the pit-area. "I came in saying 'Aqua, aqua!" exclaims Tony. Carroll Smith, whose services had been retained for Adamowicz at the Daylona race, trotted to the car and leaned into the cockpit. He said, 'Parkes has the only spare radiator and they want you to run the car with no water.' Tony told him that that wasn't going to work.

They told Tony a2z not to take the Ferarri over 9500rpm and to watch the oil temp Incredibly, Tony a2z was able to maintain second place without coolant in the Ferrari behind the Posey/Parkes ferrari that had returned to the race.
Later in the race, Running down the backstretch, Adamowicz's engine was starting to blow smoke. Adamowicz coasted into the pits and mechanics quickly started work on the Ferrari; tools were scattered everywhere. This time, it wasn't the water causing trouble, it was a small oil leak; Tony was a bit suprised when, after fixing it, they told him to get back into the race. "I have always been a Ferrari enthusiast, but after that I just thought this was the greatest car in the world."
The Adamowicz/Piper Ferrari ran five and a half hours without water, completing 632 laps and finishing second to their teammates in the Prototype class and a fine fifth overall.
Because of this, a2z gives this feat as the sole reason for this particular race being his favorite. Tony a2z asks, "How can you top five and a half hours?". Driving a 911 is great and winning the championship is great, but it doesn't put you on the same level as the Europeans, racing in a significant car like the Ferrari 312E". Adamowiczs career came full circle recently when he was reunited with his 1969 championship-winning Formula 5000 Eagle on the vintage car racing circuit. Tony a2z won the 2009 F5000 vintage championship with the Eagle, a feat he accomplished in the very same car fourty years earlier. the Eagle is now owned by the Riverside Auto Museum and Doug Magnon..
Adamowicz is busy with his company a2z Racer Gear and a of racing inspired apparel. "We initially started out with the Steve McQueen Le Mans-type jackets." Tony a2z says. "We got hooked up with Carroll Shelby and we're doing Cobra jackets and other apparel. We're also involved with Ford and designing unique driving shoes, depicting some of the late 1960s into the 70s era of world endurance racing."
More articles about racing can be found at Tony a2z's racinghistory site

lawrence timmy

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