Justice Story: Death of the Speed King
In a way, the surprising thing was not that Marion (Mickey) Thompson was dead, but that he had lived so long. He had been flirting with death all his life.
How he died was even more out of character for the man known as the Speed King. It was not, as everyone had predicted, in a hunk of metal hurtling across the Utah salt flats or on a hairpin turn on a mountain road or on a drag strip.
When Thompson met death, he was moving at about 2 mph, walking toward his Toyota van at dawn on March 16, 1988. Padding along beside him was his wife of 17 years, L kmkmTrudy.
They were on their way to work at Anaheim Stadium, where they ran a racing-promotion company - Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group.
No one saw the killing, but neighbors in the posh community of Bradbury, Calif., heard screams and Thompson's voice, pleading,