Veteran Portland auto racer Monte Shelton died Sunday at age 85 after a career that spanned nearly six decades, more than 600 races and a record seven wins in the Portland Rose Cup – the last of them in 2005, when Shelton was 71.
Inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, Shelton raced a wide variety of cars in many different series, including Can-Am, Trans-Am, IMSA and Formula 5000. He twice won the Six Hours at Watkins Glen and raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Shelton also ran a succession of Portland auto dealerships, beginning with a used car lot in 1959 and subsequently including British Motor Cars, the Monte Shelton Motor Co. and Monte’s Motors, a collectable car dealership that still operates downtown.
Shelton died of complications from pancreatic cancer, according to his family. His eldest son, Neil Shelton, ran Monte’s Motors with his father and occasionally raced with him. Neil Shelton said his father helped write his own obituary before his death and remained a passionate car enthusiast and loving parent even as he grew ill.
“Before he died he summoned all his strength and got into his 1917 Detroit Electric,” Neil Shelton recalled Tuesday. “He took me out and showed me how to drive it. We spent an hour together. It was probably the most special time I ever spent with him.”
Born in Missouri, Monte Shelton moved to Vanport in 1943 when his father went to work in Portland’s shipyards. He later served in the U.S. Coast Guard, on the USS Bluebell, and then studied at what was then Portland State College while pursuing an education degree in anticipation of teaching elementary school.
Instead, Shelton took a detour into auto sales and car racing. He was most successful in the Portland Rose Cup, participating in its inaugural race in 1961 and winning for the first of seven times in 1972.
"I take the race seriously, but also have fun with it," Shelton told The Oregonian in 2004. "I consider myself a gentleman racer."
Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Sue, daughters Darla Krieske and Jamie Martell; sons Tony and Neil Shelton; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699