Mickey Thompson, born December 7, 1928 - died March 16, 1988, was an American racing legend.
Born Marian Lee Thompson 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. As well as 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 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 403mph. In his long career, Thompson raced everything from stock cars to off-road vehicles and engineered numerous competition engines and 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 also 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 motorcross and off-road vehicle racing show and competition that brought the sport from the back-country terrain to the heavily-populated metropolitan areas.
On March 16, 1988 Mickey Thompson and his wife were murdered by two hooded gunmen at their home in Bradbury, California in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. 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. However, that case was overturned on jurisdictional grounds by the California District Court of Appeal but on June 8, 2004, Goodwin was formally charged in Pasadena in Los Angeles County. In October, a Pasadena Superior Court judge ordered Goodwin to stand trial for the murders.
In 1990, Mickey Thompson was elected posthumously to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Mickey and Trudy Thompson are interred in the Rose Hills Memorial Park, in Whittier, California.
News release on documentary of the murder
