Mickey Thompson: The Lost Story of the Original Speed King in His Own
Words is a long-lost, first-person biography brought to light and
illustrated with 200 rare and unpublished images. The long-lost
first-person account of the high-speed life of the legendary racer and
motorsport impresario who was murdered in 1988 alongside his wife.
Mickey Thompson offers a now-impossible (Thompson and his wife were
murdered in 1988) first-person telling of the legendary racer and
motorsport impresario’s high-speed life, from his earliest days through
the height of his competition exploits on drag strips, at Bonneville,
the Indy 500, Baja, and more—complemented by some 200 rare images culled
from family archives, the NHRA museum, and the collections of friends
and fellow racers. Four decades after his tragic death, Mickey
Thompson’s name and accomplishments remain legendary among motorsports
and automotive enthusiasts. Thompson did it all on four wheels:
land-speed racing, drag racing, off-road, NASCAR, Indianapolis…anything
involving speed. Armed with a restless mind and a keen business sense,
Thompson moved from success to success. In the early 1970s, motorsports
writer (and former drag racer) Tom Madigan and Thompson embarked on a
project to write the latter’s autobiography. After two years, extensive
interviews, and a near-finished manuscript the whole enterprise fell
apart for a number of reasons. Type-written sheets, neatly stacked, were
boxed, stored, and mostly forgotten.Mickey Thompson: The Untold Story of
the Original Speed King is that never-published work—an amazing
biographical artifact from what many consider the golden age of
automotive racing. Historic racing and the racers that competed
throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s are among the most popular aspects
of motorsports enthusiasm. Though many racers of this period have passed
on, their legends remain significant and key to the ongoing interest in
historic racing events. Thompson set more speed and endurance records
than any man in history.
Dimensions: 8.5 x 10
