An engineer by the name of Jerod Shelby, with a history and passion for cars and racing, founded a supercar company with one goal: design and manufacture an American supercar that would stand up against the European dominated industry of high performance production cars. After breaking into the world automotive spotlight, the company was renamed SSC North America to identify as a separate entity from Carroll Shelby International, an unrelated automotive firm, and to distinguish itself as a supercar company based in North America, a unique stature in the supercar industry.