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Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928March 16, 1988) was an American off-road racing celebrity. A hot rodder since his youth, Thompson increasingly pursued land speed records in his late 20s and early 30s.〔("The Hottest Hot Rodder in the World." ) ''Popular Science'', December 1959, pp. 95-98/218.〕 He achieved international fame in 1960 when he become the first American to break the 400 mph barrier, driving his ''Challenger 1'' to a one-way top speed of 406.60 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats and surpassing John Cobb's one-way world record mark of 402 mph. Thompson then turned to racing, winning many track and dragster championships. Later he formed sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG). In 1988 Thompson and his wife Trudy were mysteriously gunned down at their home in Bradbury, California. The crime remained unsolved until 2007, when a former businessman was convicted of having orchestrated the murders.〔http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jan/05/local/me-thompson5〕 ==Early history== Thompson was born in Alhambra, California. In his early twenties, he worked as a pressman〔 for the ''Los Angeles Times'' newspaper while pursuing a lifelong love of Hot rodding. Raising his sights, he became involved in the new sport of drag racing. Tireless and innovative, he found success both as a championship driver and an instinctive automotive technician. Over the course of his career Thompson set more speed and endurance records than any other man in automotive history. He is credited with designing and building the first slingshot dragster, in 1954, moving the seat behind the rear axle to improve traction when existing racing tires proved unable to handle the output of increasingly powerful custom engines.〔''Hot Rod'', 12/86, p.29 sidebar.〕 A change so momentous would not happen again until Don Garlits introduced the rear-engined digger in 1971.〔''Hot Rod'', 12/86, p.28.〕 Thompson also was noted for being the first manager of Lions Drag Strip near Long Beach, California, in 1955. Determined to set a new land speed record〔 Thompson achieved international fame〔http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/01/12/gassing-up-with-mickey-thompson-and-the-challenger-i-streamliner/〕 when he drove his four-engined Challenger 1 past 400 mph in 1960 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, becoming the first American to break that barrier and setting a new one-way mark of 406.60 mph, surpassing John Cobb's one-way high of 402 mph. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mickey Thompson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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