Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928 – March 16, 1988) was an American auto racing builder and promoter.

A hot rodder since his youth, Thompson increasingly pursued land speed records in his late 20s and early 30s.

Later, he formed off-road racing sanctioning bodies SCORE International and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG).

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.

[8] Determined to set a new land speed record,[1] Thompson achieved fame when he drove his four-engined Challenger 1 at better than 400 mph (640 km/h) in 1960 at the Bonneville Salt Flats,[11] becoming the first American to break that barrier.

Despite being more than 70 bhp down on the other cars, Dan Gurney qualified eighth and was in ninth place until a leaking oil seal seized the gearbox and ended his race on lap 94.

[14][15] 1962 Formula One World Champion Graham Hill tested one of the roller skate cars at Indianapolis in 1963, but refused to race it, citing its poor handling.

Thompson commented: "The car wouldn't handle", adding, "There was too much body roll due to the high center of gravity.

"[16] In 1963, Thompson traveled to England, where, along with Dante Duce, he demonstrated his Ford-powered Harvey Aluminum Special dragster at the Brighton Speed Trials.

[18] The 1967 attempt used a unique all-wheel drive rear-engined design that steered both front and rear wheels, but Gary Congdon was unable to qualify any of the three cars.

In 1968, he and Danny Ongais took three Ford Mustang Mach 1 to the Bonneville salt flats for a feature in Hot Rod magazine, in the process setting 295 speed and endurance records over a series of 500-mile and 24-hour courses.

[21][22] Together with John Buttera and Pat Foster, developed a Ford Mustang Mach 1 Funny Car with a dragster-like chassis.

Thompson founded SCORE International in 1973, a sanctioning body to oversee off-road racing across North America.

With his wife Trudy he formed the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG), which ran an indoor motocross and off-road vehicle racing show and competition that brought the sport from the back-country to major metropolitan stadiums and arenas.

[4][2] On the morning of the murder, a pair of unknown assailants waited outside the Thompson home for the couple to leave for the day.

Thompson opened the garage door for his wife to pull out in her vehicle and as he headed for his own car, the gunmen attacked.

Expensive jewelry and a large amount of cash were found on the Thompsons' bodies, eliminating robbery as a likely motive.

Goodwin and his wife bought $275,000 worth of gold coins two months before the Thompsons were murdered and wired $400,000 to banks in Grand Turk Island.