In the 1960s Enzo Ferrari emerged as the dominant visionary in the world of sports-car production, creating speed machines that were unbeatable on the race track and moved one writer to say they "felt dangerous just to sit in." In America, the Ford Motor Company was quickly losing ground as the pre-eminent brand. Young Americans wanted speed over comfort, style over safety, and Ford was falling behind. Henry Ford II, proud of his family legacy but desperate to distinguish himself, had a personal axe to grind with Enzo Ferrari over a failed business deal. He decided to put his faith in a young executive named Lee Iacocca who concocted a scheme that would make Fords sexy and most importantly, sell a lot of cars. They hired the best sports-car engineer in the world, Carroll Shelby, a former racing champion who had retired from the cockpit due to a heart condition. They asked him to build a car that would be faster than a Ferrari, to take it to the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, the Le Mans, and win, something no American car had ever done. Shelby had his own axe to grind with Ferrari and was more than ready for the challenge. And a costly challenge, in lives and money, it was to be.

There are many layers to this incredible story. Beyond the larger than life characters of the principals, there are the fearless "pilots" willing to risk their lives to win races. With practically no safety regulations in place in the European Grand Prix races, and public roads used as tracks, horrific accidents were routine, with a multitude of both drivers and spectators killed in many races. Ferrari drivers seemed the most likely to meet a tragic end, maybe because the cars were fastest, maybe because that was the price they were willing to pay, but Ferrari himself refused to attend their funerals. For the high death rate of his drivers and his callousness, he became known as "the Assassin".