Mickey Thompson’s Challenger I

In 1959 Mickey Thompson was already well-known in the Hot Rod world. He had engineered the first ever dragster in the first fifty?s, and he was one in every of the primary to build a twin engined dragster that was successful each in drag racing  and at setting a record at Bonneville.

However his  newest  challenge in 1959, was to  break John Cobb’s long standing Bonneville record of 394.19 MPH plus to break the four hundred MPH barrier.
In order to break this record in early 1959, Mickey began construction of his Streamliner that he nicknamed Challenger I. The primary factor that needed to be done when constructing Challenger was finding tires that might be capable of handling speeds over four hundred MPH. This ended up being a lot of tougher than he had originally thought!  Most of the main tire  manufacturers had no real interest in sponsoring Mickey or producing tires for his Bonneville record try.

However when Mickey visited the Goodyear Tire company, the executives listened to his proposal, figured it would be a great marketing deal and sponsor him and build his tires when they said “Ok, we’ll build them.”

Finding tires wasn’t the last challenge for building he had to face while building Challenger. The following challenge was finding the correct engines that may be capable enough to create enough power to achieve 400 MPH on land.

M/T would realize four Pontiac 415 C.I. engines that were attached to four 1937 Cadillac transmissions. All four of the transmissions were controlled by one lever system. The front engines were faced backwards to power the front wheels, whereas the rear engines were faced traditional to power the rear wheels.

The body was next half of the build that had to be done. To confirm most aerodynamics the body needed to be as streamlined as doable, to make sure this the  Body was given sweeping curves.

Challenger was soon completed and ready to create a pass at Bonneville. However, Mickey did not need to go out to the salt flats along with her untested. In the first days of the Summer of 1959 Goodyear tires was in a position founded a check for M/T at Edwards Air Force Base. During this check Mickey would reach 250 MPH before spinning out on the runway.

However, Goodyear would continue to support him and on October vi, 1959 the long awaited day had finally return. M/T and his team drove Challenger out to Bonneville on an open trailer that was hitched to his 59? Pontiac.

M/T was prepared to make the run of his life and obtain Challenger to push the envelope and break not just the four hundred MPH barrier but John Cobb’s long stand 394 MPH record as well!

Disappointingly, 1959 wouldn’t be Mickey’s year to achieve this feat. Sadly the fastest Challenger was ready to go was 363.forty eight MPH which did set a record within the A/BFS class that would stand till 1990. However, this was not the 400 MPH goal that he wished to succeed in.

He wasn’t prepared to relinquish up on his goal of 400 MPH and his set up was to try once more in 1960. During the next year he would make many changes to the car including dramatically redesigning the nose and tail to cut back drag and build the automotive even more aerodynamic than before.

He additionally realized that he would wish additional horsepower if he was going to reach four hundred MPH. He would add a six-71 GMC supercharger to every of the Pontiac motors which brought the horsepower up to 750 per engine!  Since the engines were currently supercharged hood scopes had to be added to the body, that had to be as aerodynamic as attainable since they might disrupt a number of the aerodynamics within the body.

On September ninth, 1960 it had been time for Mickey Thompson to form his trustworthy run for four hundred MPH on the salt flats. He and Challenger were prepared to travel down within the Hot Rod and Landspeed record books. On his daring run he wouldn’t solely break the four hundred MPH barrier however he would be able to carry Challenger I to a speed of 406.vi miles per hour!

Sadly, mechanical troubles prevented him from making the come run that is required to induce the official record. However, on that September day in Bonneville Utah, Mickey Thompson might have solely set an unofficial record however he did go faster than any hot rodder in the planet and faster than any man on Earth!

His accomplishment would inspire a new generation of American Hot Rods such as Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove to push the envelope even additional and set goals like 5 and 60zero MPH! I bet if you raise any Hot Rod today they well say that Mickey did set the 406 MPH record on that September day.

Mickey Thompson’s Big Red

In honor of  the 2012 Baja five hundred I am going to go a little off topic by doing a commentary about Mickey Thompson’s legendary Baja truck Massive Red! Mickey Thompson Big Red may be a reasonably a special car for Mickey since it absolutely was the truck he had his best finish within the Baja 500 (2nd place) and was the only truck that he raced for additional than one season!

Originally Mickey’s first truck was a 1972 Chevy C10 that he used for Off Road racing.  However, the C10 couldn’t take the punishment that M/T put it through therefore he determined on a larger truck for next season. The truck he chose: a 1973 Chevy C20 Truck which became Huge Red.

Big Red is powered by a 454 Huge Block Chevy which was estimated to have over 60zero horsepower! The 454 was hooked up to a modified Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission that was modified by B&M. The transmission was fitted with 2 transmission coolers, which was done do to the additional weight and therefore the high power to stay the transmission from overheating in the desert.

Massive Red contains a fifty five Gallon fuel cell which is mounted in the bed (One among the first off road trucks to try and do this I believe). The fifty five gallon tank had a fill on both sides to make in-race refilling abundant faster. For extra strength within the desert M/T created the roll cage and also the front bumper of the truck out of titanium. However this did augment the weight of the truck that ended up being 560zero pounds!

Throughout his past few racing Experiences in the desert Mickey encountered several issues. This included ignition not working, alternators breaking, and some alternative problems. With the help of his son Danny, Mickey mounted this issues by creating the positive the truck had 2 of everything! 2 alternators, two separate and freelance brake master cylinders and a dual ignition system that could be switched by the motive force and also the co driver whereas the truck was driving!

The suspension and rear finish of the truck was completely customized and fabricated further. All of the brakes on the truck were converted to disc brakes, there have been conjointly three shocks for each wheel on the truck.  The rear finish had a custom built full-floating rear axle, the rear finish itself was built to carry further fluid and had a replacement innovative system to assist keep the fluid cool during an extended race.

Another idea M/T came up with was to use aircraft hoses for all of the hoses on the truck. This was done to prevent oil from leaking in case of a roll over.

Using its 600 plus horsepower Massive Red had a high speed of around one hundred sixty five MPH whereas Off Road. During the Baja 500 and also the Mexican a thousand Mickey averaged a race speed of 109 MPH!

Mickey’s initial race using Big Red was in November of 1972, he raced within the Mexican a thousand. Throughout the Mexican one thousand Big Red was robust for the first few legs of the race, sadly M/T had a few issues together with losing the hood and Huge Red broke down and had to be towed a way. Mickey ended up with a DNF for the Mexican one thousand. He later went on to race the Baja 500 where Mickey earned his best finish in the 500 with a  Second place! The truck would race Baja yet one more time in 1974 which again would result in a DNF.

I have to say I am really impressed with Huge Red. I actually have forever been a devotee of Mickey Thompson and his innovative hot rods and trucks however I have to mention Huge Red is one amongst the simplest. It really shows off the innovative talent Mickey had. Coming up with some of the systems that I mentioned on top of that are still employed in the Trophy Trucks today! Huge Red is a one in all a kind truck that’s currently sitting in a very search in Eugene, Oregon completely untouched since it’s last race.