Memories of Meteors and Murders

14 ❙ February.2007www.good-guys.com ❙ 15

It takes just the right time and placeto get started on a manuscript. Theresearch part is great fun, but the actualwriting can be a daunting step. Little did Irealize that moment would arrive for me asI was sitting in the bomb shelter basementof Marv and Noma Jenkins.

I was thrilled to make contact with theson of Ab Jenkins who proved invaluableduring the early research stage of my book:“Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth”.Marv gave me complete access to moun-tains of historical material, photos andpress clippings that inspired me to write -on the spot - nearly an entire chapter ofthe book.

There was so much salt history thatJenkins had lived and yet so little space forall of it in my book that I was thrilled todiscover land speed racer and author Gor-don Eliot White had set about organizingthe material into his latest book: “Ab &Marvin Jenkins, The Studebaker Connec-tion and the Mormon Meteors.”

White points out that Ab Jenkins didnot start his motor racing career in earnestuntil he was 42 years of age – an age whenmany hot shoes are thinking about retir-ing. Jenkins chucked his constructionbusiness in favor of driving cars fast, forlong distances, up hills and on the salt. Agreat number of his records were set afterage 50 with many still intact today!

He remained active and competitiveuntil age 73, when he died of a massiveheart attack in 1956, a few months aftersetting a pile of records in the PontiacSeries 860 that GM executive’s renamed“Bonneville” in honor of the manyrecords set.

Jenkins went on to set and break moreAmerican and international speed marksthere than any man in history. Of Ab Jenk-ins, Captain George E.T. Eyston

remarked, “He is the man who made com-petition at Bonneville possible.”

Although the first timed event washeld on the salt in 1914, it wasn’t until1933 that Jenkins managed to convince thethen all-powerful AA Contest Board tosanction record runs at Bonneville andwhen he convinced Malcolm Campbell toabandon Daytona…well the salt becamecenter stage.

White also includes Marvin Jenkinsenvious background. Not only did he growup with his father’s zest for speed, butworked alongside Augie Duesenberg, Ed

and Bud Windfield. He met MalcolmCampbell, John Cobb and Captain Eystonwhen he was only 15 and set world recordsdriving the famed Novi Indianapolis racecar out on the salt.

Perhaps more astonishing is Marv’spainstaking restoration of his dad’s mightyMormon Meteor III. Began in 1991 whenhe was 71, Jenkins completed not only acosmetic restoration, but rebuilt the pow-ertrain that included many magnesiumparts destroyed over time by disgracefullypoor maintenance on the part of the stateof Utah. Say what you like, but those Jenk-ins boys are rock solid stock.

The Studebaker and Pierce-Arrowhistories provide insight into how thenation’s auto industry worked to inveigleitself into American daily life and howJenkins astonishing achievements helpedthem do it.

White, who also serves as Auto Rac-ing Advisor at the Smithsonian Institute’sNational Museum of American History,has organized the mostly forgotten racinglife of Bonneville’s greatest patron and byincluding actual newspaper clips, ads andrecord certificates of the respective

eras, the reader is happily absorbedinto yesteryear.

White also authored the definitivebook Offenhauser, the Legendary Ameri-can Racing Engine and the Men WhoBuilt it in 1996. Best of all, he’s a Bon-neville record holder who first got the bugwhen his father took him to see a racein 1939.

The 160 page soft-cover book iscrammed full of black and white photos,cutaway drawings, ads and documents(ISBN: 1583881735) from the Jenkins rac-ing career. Available from most retail

book sellers, the8.50w x 11.00h mayalso be purchaseddirect from theauthor (ask for anautographed copy).Send $32.95 + $4.95s&h to: GordonWhite Box 129,Hardyville, VA23070.

I was verypleased that the pub-lishers used my photoon the cover even if

my credit line wasforgotten. Thecover is from thesame photo ses-sion in 1998 thatyielded the photoon page 135 of myBonneville historybook. As a stop-gap, White ispasting stickerswith the appropri-ate credit line intoeach copy he sells.Thanks Gordon.

The black and white photos printedhere are from the Jenkins Family Collec-tion, most of which you will find inWhite’s new book. The color shotsare mine.

Mickey Thompson Murder Trial

Unlike medicine, or law enforcementwhere it is imperative to keep a “profes-sional distance”, motorsports is populatedwith alluring people who have a penchant

for startling behavior and an abun-dance of great humor. You can’tspend as much time as I do coveringthe beat and not get attached to someof them.

One expects to attend a funeralnow and again, but never a murdertrial. Nevertheless, that is preciselywhat I did on November 6, 2006.Michael Goodwin walked into aPasadena, California courtroomaccused of arranging the murders ofland speed racing legend MickeyThompson and his wife Trudy 18years prior.

By the time you read this, it willbe over, and hopefully, justice will beserved once and for all. I was con-flicted about why I should attend, butin the end, I knew the media would

swarm the courtroom and I figured I’dsupport Mickey’s son, Danny Thompsonand Mickey’s sister, Collene, by having afriendly face among the crush of sensationseekers. I counted five network TV satel-lite trucks outside with their microwavepoles extended way up in the air.

For me, there was nothing sensationalabout the day, only relief. I had workedwith Trudy at Petersen Publishing Com-pany (PPC), when she was at Hot RodMagazine. I was lucky, I got to know thehot rodding kingpin early in my career andrecall fondly the many professional kind-nesses he showed a fumbling greenphotojournalist when he was cranking upthe off-road racing portion of his profes-sion.

Mickey’s events held at the Los Ange-les Coliseum are things of legend today.Here mechanical grasshoppers on steroidsjump 50 feet into the air and land withamazing grace before instantly throttlingup to attack another dirt mogul.

Here is where the sensationalism was,not in some dingy, crowded courtroom.Give me that magic, not the gruesomemurder details any day.

I didn’t get published much back

then, but Mickey and Trudy always gaveme the best press and photo credentialswith a premium parking pass to everyevent. Trust like that inspires one to workharder.

So it was particularly hard for me tosit in that front row as the handsomeyoung prosecutor brimming with quietconfidence laid out the sordid tale withunnerving details of what the DistrictAttorney’s office believed had led to thatsad day of March 16, 1988.

Danny, dressed in natty suit anddesigner eyewear, sat front row center.Impeccably dressed Collene and her hus-band Gary were in the next row back.Repeatedly my eyes closed and fistsclenched listening to the DA and then myheart would ache as I looked over at thosethree. Sitting there had to be silent torturefor them.

Drag racing legend Bob Muravez,alias Floyd Lippencott Jr., also sat in thefront row with his wife. Mickey had spenttime at Muravez’s birthday party 48 hoursbefore he and Trudy were gunned down.Muravez was compelled to be there. Iunderstood completely, it was what neededdoing.

Oddly, just like a wedding, the folkswho supported Goodwin sat on the leftside, behind the defense table and theThompson folks were in the center and on

the right. Most of the witnesses sportedgray hair, a testament to how long this casehas taken to bring to trial.

Both sides did a good job of present-ing their case. Judge Teri Schwartz’sno-baloney presiding demeanor gave meconfidence that a fair trial was off and run-ning. Did I think Goodwin was guilty? Ifthe prosecution could back up its openingstatement with evidence, Goodwin wouldspend the rest of his life in the graybar hotel.

An entire generation has grown up inthe time it took to get this case to trial.Danny and Collene lost the most at6:05AM that fateful March morning. Itwas a day when your life radically changesforever and you have nothing to sayabout it.

I studied the faces, expressions, andmannerisms of each of the 18 jurors (12seated and 6 alternates) wondering whatresonated within them as the two sides laidout their cases.

I heard three witnesses give theiraccounts of Goodwin’s unvarnished hatredfor Thompson, including repeated boastfuldeath threats. That taste of reality mademe think myself hijacked by some horrificmade-for-television movie.

Hollywood producer John Bilecky,who is making “Gearhead, the documen-tary” The legend of Mickey Thompsonwas also there and was visibly troubled bythe proceedings. On one hand, the guy hada duty to his investors to craft a featurefilm that would make money. Some of

them want him to minimize the racing andplay up the murders.

Thankfully, Bilecky is already underthe Mickey Thompson speed spell; heknew the heart of the story had nothing to

do with lawyers. Never mind he had nevermet M/T, Bilecky seemed ready to fight tobring Mickey’s marvelous racing legacy tolife on the silver screen. Let us trust hefinds the fortitude not to waver.

“This is compelling stuff,” he saidafter mentioning I had thoughts of attend-ing daily, “My friends warned me aboutsuccumbing to ‘courtitis’ this can get toyou.” I took heed and didn’t go back.

Note: Photojournalist Louise Ann Noeth is the authoress of the award-winning book, “Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth,” a complete histori-cal review of the first 50 years of land speed racing now in its 6th printing. For more details and to order, go to: www.landspeedproductions.biz.

Photos courtesy of the Jenkins Family Collection & Landspeed Louise