Mickey Thompson
Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928 - March 16, 1988) was an American off-road racing legend. He won many championships as a racer, and later formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG). He also raced in dragsters and land speed record automobiles.
Thompson was born in Alhambra, California. He was known universally as "Mickey." In his early twenties, he worked for the Los Angeles Times newspaper while becoming involved in the new sport of drag racing. He developed a brilliant career as both a driver and an innovative automotive technician; later as a designer, manufacturer and seller of racing and performance equipment. In addition to being a drag racing champion, Mickey Thompson set more speed and endurance records than any other man in automotive history. He is credited with designing and building the first slingshot dragster and for creating the signal starting and foul light systems used in drag racing. In 1968, he redesigned the Funny Car, and his vehicle went on to win the 1969 NHRA Springnationals and Nationals for driver Danny Ongais.
In 1960, at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Thompson achieved international fame when he became the first American to break the 400mph barrier hitting 406.60 mph surpassing John Cobb's one-way Land speed record of 402mph. In his long career, Thompson raced everything from stock cars to off-road vehicles and engineered numerous competition engines. He went into the performance aftermarket business in the early 1960's and then, in 1963 he created "Mickey Thompson Performance Tires" that developed special tires for racing including for Indianapolis 500 competitors. In 1965 he published "Challenger: Mickey Thompson's own story of his life of speed."
Thompson founded SCORE International in 1973, a sanctioning body to oversee off-road racing across North America. He and his wife Trudy formed the "Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group" (MTEG) which ran an indoor motocross and off-road vehicle racing show and competition that brought the sport from the back-country terrain to stadiums in the heavily populated metropolitan areas.
Thompson also was noted for being the first manager of Lions Drag Strip near Long Beach, California in 1955.
Murder, investigation, and associated trials
On March 16, 1988 Mickey Thompson and his wife were killed by two gunmen at their home in Bradbury, California in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. [1]
Mickey and his pets are interred in the Rose Hills Memorial Park, in Whittier, California.
An intense police investigation led nowhere until thirteen years after their deaths when former business partner Michael Frank Goodwin was charged in Orange County, California with the murders. [1] However, that case was overturned on jurisdictional grounds by the California District Court of Appeal. On June 8, 2004, Goodwin was formally charged in Pasadena in Los Angeles County. In October 2006, a Pasadena Superior Court judge ordered Goodwin to stand trial for the murders.
On January 4, 2007 a jury found Michael Goodwin guilty of two counts of murder in the death of Mickey Thompson and his wife. Goodwin was sentenced to two consecutive life-without-parole terms for the murders of Thompson and his wife. The judge also denied Goodwin's motion for a new trial.
The murder investigation was the subject of the April 28, 2007 episode of the CBS television program 48 Hours Mystery.
The murder investigation was also the subject of an episode of the NBC sitcom Unsolved Mysteries.
Awards
- In 1990, Mickey Thompson was elected posthumously to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
- On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, Mickey Thompson was ranked No. 11.