D. Thompson snags land speed record on M. Thompson tires

BONNEVILLE, Utah (Aug. 18, 2016) — It may have taken him more than 50 years to finish the task, but Danny Thompson — son of the legendary racer Mickey Thompson — has set the land speed record his father was prepping for before he was murdered.

Danny Thompson drove the Challenger 2 — a 32-foot-long, 5,200-pound, four-wheel-drive streamliner powered by dual 2,500-hp hemi V8 engines — to a two-way average speed of 402.8 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats on Aug. 13 and 14, eclipsing the previous record for a piston-powered vehicle by more than 10 mph.

Appropriately, the Challenger 2 rode on Mickey Thompson tires, designed and engineered by Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels technicians in Stow, Ohio. The eponymous company, now owned by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., was founded by the late Mr. Thompson in the early 1960s during his heyday as a successful oval track, off-road and drag racing pioneer.  

The 24.5x7.50-16 Mickey Thompson Bonneville LSR tires, built in the U.S. at an unnamed factory, were constructed with a woven nylon carcass and a banded steel overlay with just 1/32nd inch of tread rubber. Each tire weighed in at 13 pounds with a tread width of 5.2 inches, a diameter of 24.2 inches and a section width of 7.5 inches, the company said.

“Bonneville put my dad on the map as the ‘Speed King,'” Danny Thompson said, “but he wasn't able to fulfill his dream of setting the new 400mph record on the salt prior to his death. I'm so proud that my team and I were able to achieve what my dad had always wanted.”

The Challenger 2 is essentially the same chassis that Mickey Thompson had designed and started building in the late 1960s in his quest to claim the LSR for a piston-powered vehicle.

Mickey Thompson had exceeded the 400 mph threshhold at Bonneville in 1960 but failed to claim the LSR because he was unable to complete a return run on the same course, a requirement set by the international governing bodies.

In 2010 Danny Thompson retrieved the mothballed Challenger 2 from storage and brought it to his Huntington Beach, Calif., shop to begin the extensive process of restoring, retrofitting, and updating the streamliner — a process that took several years and untold thousands of dollars.

“None of this would have been possible without the unwavering support of Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels,” Danny Thompson said. “The company remains the definitive name in Bonneville race-tire technology. Massive thanks go out to them and to all of our generous sponsors, my crew and my family — the best a guy could ask for.”

The Challenger 2 bore the distinctive winged Mickey Thompson company logo on the vertical tail stabilizing fin.

“On behalf of our team, I extend heartfelt congratulations to Danny, his family and the crew that have helped Danny achieve this incredible milestone,” said Chris Barbara, president of Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels.

“Mickey Thompson's legacy lives on in Danny and this historic land speed record. The years of preparation, including the restoration of Mickey's Challenger 2 is inspirational, and is a reflection of the spirit of innovation and passion that is the heart of our company.”

The Challenger is four-wheel drive but in a distinctive mannger. Each engine drives one set of wheels. The drivetrains mirror each other exactly, so the front engine is actually mounted backwards in the chassis, according to the team's data sheet.

The engines consume up to 50 gallons of nitro/methanol blend per run; as a result, the car's weight drops by 500 pounds over the course of a run.

Danny Thompson's two runs for the record were 411.2 mph on the 13th and 402.3 mph on the 14th, for the two-way average of 406.8 mph.

Danny Thompson started his career in motorsports in motocross, before switching to cars and progressing through the Formula Atlantic Series, Super Vees and CRA Sprint Cars. He first tried running at Bonneville in 2002 and subsequently set world records in multiple classes.