Ford Is Renaming ‘Carroll Shelby Way’ Campus Streets – The Drive
Ford has been in a multi-year process of renovating its world headquarters campus, actively changing the longstanding architectural landscape in Dearborn. As originally reported by Automotive News, these changes involved renaming Carroll Shelby Way (East and West) and several other streets in favor of something more current to the Blue Oval’s portfolio. Now, however, Ford is claiming that the original plans shown to the media were not “finalized.”
Update 4/13/2026 9:45am ET: Following publication, Ford responded to the original report by Automotive News to deny the name change for Carroll Shelby Way. A spokesperson confirmed that the change was “under consideration but not finalized,” adding that “Carroll Shelby Way is not changing” and apologizing for the “miscommunication.” This headline and the rest of the story have been updated to reflect this new information.
The original report claimed that Carroll Shelby Way West would become Raptor Way, while Carroll Shelby Way East would become Navigator Avenue. The name changes were expected to take effect in May, when Ford reportedly planned to begin converting its Product Development Center into labs, meeting space, Ford Racing offices, and an employee fitness center.
The reason for the confusion was a plan from April 9, shown below.
Ford says the incorrect information was released by its real estate arm, and confirmed the original street names will not be changed.
Carroll Shelby Way dates back to 2012, when Ford received permission from the City of Dearborn to rename the two road segments in honor of Shelby’s death in May of that year. At the time, a Ford statement said the street name would give engineers “a daily reminder of Carroll’s way.”
Shelby’s partnership with Ford has been legendary; though he was always a free agent and kept Ford at arm’s length from the 1970s to the 1990s after a falling out with the Blue Oval. A less memorable partnership with Chrysler followed. Shelby was only welcomed back into the fold in the early 2000s, when his name began appearing on Mustangs again, as well as a couple of concepts.
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