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BarryBobPosthole
05-21-2015, 08:24 PM
I'm watching a program you would like. Its about challenger II and Danny
Thompson's quest to break the land speed record. His Dad was a big Bonneville flats guy too. You might have heard of him.....Micky Thompson? When I was a kid I was in hog heaven any time I could get my hands on anything about Carl Breedlove or Micky Thompson or anything about flats racing for that matter.

BKB
Thumper
05-21-2015, 08:41 PM
Knew 'em both. Mickey Thompson could be a bit of an ass. I was in L.A. when he and his wife (Trudy) were murdered. Some business deal gone bad, I think.

I don't know Carl ... I assume you mean Craig Breedlove (?). I was at the flats with my dad when he was working for AMC and setting records with the Javelin and AMX. That was the same year Mickey and Judy were murdered.

Yep, that was my era ... Art Arfons with his Green Monster was another biggie in those days. I loved when he and Craig battled it out with their "jet cars"! Heck, come to think of it, Art's brother, Walt was also in that mix.

Man, lots of memories there.
DeputyDog
05-22-2015, 07:59 AM
Mickey Thompson also was big into Indycars in the '60's. He was the owner of the car that Dave MacDonald got killed in in the '64 race. He was a great innovator but he didn't have the patience to see any idea through. He came up with some things that had serious potential, but always had a new idea and did take the time to work out the bugs on his previous project before abandoning it and moving onto the new one.
Thumper
05-22-2015, 08:23 AM
I remember Mickey had a son about my age, but I never saw him around. I believe there was some talk about Mickey never wanting Danny to have anything to do with racing ... or something like that. I don't really remember. I've been away from that stuff so long I wasn't even aware Danny was racing. (so call me a dinosaur) ;)

BTW, Mickey still has his name on many performance products ... I assume the royalties go to Danny (?). You can still go down to your local tire dealer and get a set of M/T wheels and/or tires for your truck.

http://carphotos2.cardomain.com/images/0015/51/26/15951562_large.jpg