Video: Mickey Thompson at Bonneville 1960

[Guest Magoo]

Here's a little video about Mickey Thompson, one of the great car guys of all time. The film, produced by Goodyear back in the day in gee-whiz newsreel form, is about the 1960 LSR attempt -- only 12 minutes, well worth the time.

Smokey Yunick described him this way: “There ain’t no way I can tell you really what this cat was all about. This was a very, very special human. He had the balls of a dinosaur and the persistence of a hungry tiger. His mode of operation was ’bout like a 95,000-pound, 600hp diesel tractor and trailer coming at you running 80. That man did not know what ‘It can’t be done’ meant.”

M/T worked 20 hours a day and slept the other four with a telephone on his stomach for when ideas woke him up. At the time this film was made, he was working three jobs; Night pressman at the LA Times, running his muffler shop, and managing Lions Dragstrip. And building his four-engine streamliner to run at Bonneville...

Video: Mickey Thompson, Fastest Man on Wheels | Mac's Motor City Garage.com