NAMES IN THE NEWS : Cobra Designer Doing ‘Great’

Former racing champ and auto designer Carroll Shelby was in fine tune Monday, less than two weeks after a pit stop for a heart transplant, a hospital spokesman said.

“He’s great,” said Ron Wise, spokesman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “He is making an outstanding recovery from his heart transplant or, as I refer to it, his new engine.

“We’ve changed Carroll Shelby’s engine, and he’s very happy with it.”

Shelby, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure for about a year, got the transplanted heart June 8. Wise said he could be released next week.

Shelby, 67, lives on his ranch in Pittsburg, Tex., about 120 miles northeast of Dallas. He was a three-time U.S. Sports Car Driver of the Year and designed the famed Cobra muscle car.

The American-built Cobras, the first affordable performance cars at $6,000, led to the first and only U.S. victories at LeMans in the mid-1960s.