Nov 13, 2006

Racing Promoter Trial Finally Moves Forward

What happens when one motor racing promoter gets pissed off at another motor racing promoter? Well, if you believe Los Angeles County prosecuting attorney Alan Jackson, murder is the result. That is what is alleged in the nearly 20-year-old killing of Michael Thompson, legendary racer and racing promoter. According to the prosecution, Michael Goodwin, another racing promoter who had entered an ill-starred partnership with Thompson, was so enraged over a court judgment against him that he hired two men to gun down Thompson and his wife, Trudy, in the driveway of their fashionable Southern California home.

Thompson was the creator of the popular truck and off-road vehicle series bearing his name that was contested in giant football and baseball stadiums around the country, while Goodwin was the creator of the SuperCross motorcycle series that presented its races in the same venues. Seeing opportunities to save stadium preparation fees by combining their operations, the two men entered in a partnership, but, since they were both hard-headed Type A's, the partnership was doomed from the start.

Thompson quickly began to sense that Goodwin had his hand in the till, and he ended up suing him and winning a judgment of almost $800,000. And the accomplished track and off-road racer didn't stop there either. He continued to engage Goodwin in suits, finally forcing his former partner to declare bankruptcy. Soon after that two men on bicycles rode into the gated community where Thompson lived and shot him and his wife as they prepared to get into their car to drive to work.

The two gunmen were never captured, and the case against Goodwin languished for more than a decade, largely because prosecutors thought it was unwinnable. But now the case is underway, and several witnesses have already testified about Goodwin's threats to kill Thompson. Goodwin's lawyer, public defender Elena Saris, contends there is no forensic evidence nor evidence of a payout to hitmen that can connect her client to the crime.