only on the Dave Despain Show, Sunday, November 29, at 8:30pm ET
Racing is deeply imbedded in Danny Thompson’s blood on all sides of his family, going back three generations. This Sunday night, Nov. 29 at 8:30pm ET, he talks emotionally to Dave about the Thompson family’s decades-long quest to break world land speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats and his father, Mickey Thompson’s racing legend and horrific murder. It’s not an easy task, as Danny idolized his father, who was a larger than life figure, holding more than 300 world land speed records. Mickey brought off-road racing out of the deserts and into the arenas of big cities across America, but wanted a better and safer life for his son.
The Mickey Thompson legend was huge and a tall order for Danny to measure up to. In 1960, Mickey was the first American to break the 400 mph barrier driving Challenger 1 – a piston engine driven Streamliner to a one-way top speed of 406.60 mph on the salt at Bonneville, surpassing John Cobb’s one-way world record of 402 mph. Unfortunately recurring mechanical problems on return runs kept this out of the SCTA and FIA record books.
During his racing career, Mickey Thompson incurred tremendous injuries and lost eight close friends in racing accidents. He was so haunted by these tragedies that he did not want his son to die in a race car and would not let him compete as a kid. But racing was all Danny ever wanted to do and he went on to compete successfully in both open wheels formula cars and later a factory ride in his father’s off-road stadium series.
Asked by Dave how he got back into racing when his father did not approve, Thompson answers “It was almost knuckle sandwich time. We fought over it and he forbid me to do it. When I moved out of the house at 18 years old and started racing motocross, of course I didn’t tell him.”
Danny and his father reconciled their racing battles in 1987, when Mickey asked him to drive Challenger 11 in his next assault on the Bonneville land speed records. Sadly the venture failed as bad weather and the departure of sponsors halted the dream. Then, the March 1988 murder of his father and step-mother seemed to finally end the dream for ever.
Now 48 years later the saga continues, as Danny has built and run the second addition of Challenger 11, with the support of a team of volunteers, the encouragement of his mother Judy and son Travis. With heavy investment of his own savings and 7 years in the making, Danny’s dream is a reality. By 2014 he had already surpassed his father’s 404mph one-way record hitting a top speed of 419mph, however, bad weather and salt conditions in 2014 and 2015 have delayed his next attempts until Speed Week in 2016.
According to CNN’s Ann O’Neill, “In his mind, there can be just one outcome: Danny Thompson will hold the land speed record — driving faster than 439 mph, maybe 450, maybe even 500 to hold onto the record for good. He’ll be the master of a tiny universe, one of just a dozen men to top 400 mph in a piston-engine car.”
# # #
For more information visit: mavtv.com & lucasoil.com
Stay connected with us on Facebook & Twitter
MAVTV & Lucas Oil