Thompson still chasing Bonneville speed attempt

STOW, Ohio (Aug. 5, 2013) — Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson, has launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to support the continued development of the Challenger 2.5 project — the restoration of Mickey Thompson's Challenger 2 Streamliner with the goal to exceed the existing internal combustion wheel-driven land speed record of 417 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The younger Thompson is reaching out to the motorsports community for financial support starting with the company founded by his father in 1963, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, and he has expanded his efforts to reach the global motorsports community through the Kickstarter fundraising website.

Danny Thompson launched the Challenger 2 project in 2011 at that year's Specialty Equipment Market Association show.

"My dad was the first American to go over 400 miles per hour in a car, but he didn't get the record. We're going to fix that," he said. "My dad came to me in 1988 and told me he wanted me to drive this car, and that he wanted us to restore the Streamliner. We didn't get to do that together as a father-son team. But my team and I have made incredible progress, and we just need a little help from the motorsports community I call my home to take us across that finish line."

Final assembly and testing of the Streamliner is expected to occur this winter, with measured FIA and SCTA record runs to follow next summer.

The Streamliner is 32 feet long, 34 inches wide, and weighs 5,500 pounds, has two engines providing about 4,000 hp and carbon fiber disk brakes supported by dual parachutes. The vehicle will sport custom-made Mickey Thompson prototype tires with nylon weave backed with banded steel and only 1/32 inch of tread rubber—any more would spin off due to heat and expansion, the company said.

To make a donation and view a video, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thompsonlsr/thompsonlsr-resurrecting-mickey-thompsons-streamli

Mickey Thompson Performance Tires is a business unit of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.