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Mickey Thompson case delayed

An American murder case involving former stadium racing promoter Michael Goodwin, who has pleaded not guilty of arranging the mob-style execution of his famous business partner Mickey Thompson 15 years ago, might not go to trial after a legal challenge to the jurisdiction of the court in Orange County, CA. Thompson and his wife Trudy, who had won a civil judgement in 1986 against Goodwin for $500,000, were both shot in March 1988 in the driveway of their home near Los Angeles

Goodwin, who had filed for bankruptcy after the judgement, was charged in December 2001 with ordering the killings as revenge, but has denied the charge. The killers have never been identified.

As a multi-champion driver, Thompson competed in over 10,000 events in Midget and Sprint cars, IndyCars, sports cars, stock cars, dragsters and off-road vehicles. He was also the first American to travel at over 400mph on land, in 1960 with his quad-engined 'Challenger'. As an engineer, he designed the first ever 'slingshot' dragster and built IndyCars during the 1960s (driven by Dan Gurney, among others), including the first mid-engined stockblock chassis to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He pioneered several innovations including nitrogen gas dampers, drag racing starting lights and a water safety barrier system.

Thomson was one of the founders of SCORE International, the USA's largest off-road sanctioning body, prior to forming Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, in which Goodwin (a motorcycle stadium racing promoter) was to become a partner. He was aged 59 when he was murdered.

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