A Record 48 Years In The Making

Danny Thompson’s Bonneville Milestone.

- Brandan Gillogly

There’s no money to be made in land-speed racing. The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) racing community knows that. It’s part of what makes the racing so pure, and it keeps Speed Week filled with those passionate about the pursuit of speed. All of the studying, the bench racing, and eventually the building of the car and the racing itself never leads to a purse or even a shiny trophy you get to keep forever. It’s all for a record, just a temporary entry into the books. But there is the cap. SCTA 200 MPH Club members get one of the most sought after pieces of embroidery in existence: a red baseball cap stitched with the 200 MPH Club logo. Danny Thompson already had one of those, earned in 2003. In 2008, Danny set his sights for the 400-mph chapter of the club and the spiffy black cap that comes with it. It was an achievement that had eluded his father, motorsports legend Mickey Thompson, time and again.

Mickey Thompson had eclipsed the 400-mph mark once, running the Pontiac-powered “Challenger I” to 406.6 mph in 1960. However, it takes two passes to set an SCTA record, and the Challenger failed to make a return run. In 1968, Mickey set out to get his 400-mph record with a narrow, more streamlined car. The car was known as the “Autolite Special” at the time, after the major sponsorship from Ford. The unpredictable Bonneville weather prevented the car from running initially, and later, when Ford pulled its sponsorship, Mickey moved on to other racing endeavors, eventually selling the car. Twenty years later, retired from driving himself, Mickey bought the car back and planned to campaign it with his son, Danny, behind the wheel. “My dad never decided to redo it until 1988 when he called me and asked me to come do it with him,” Danny told us. Mickey passed away in 1988 and, again, the car was put aside.