When Mickey Thompson was murdered in 1988, he left a promise unfulfilled. The first American to break 400 mph asked his son to drive his Challenger II streamliner in an attempt to break the current piston-powered land speed record. A few months later, Thompson and his wife were gunned down in their Bradbury, California home, and the father-son effort was mercilessly ended.
On the 50th anniversary of the Challenger II's last run, his son Danny Thompson -- a multiple land speed record holder in his own right -- pulled the mothballed land torpedo out of storage and began a complete overhaul. The goal: 4,000 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, and a shot at 450 MPH.
"My dad's impact [on me] can't be exaggerated," Thompson told WIRED. "Racing is all I ever wanted to do, and he was the reason." And now it's time to make good.
Two years ago, Danny had the Challenger II shipped to his shop in Huntington Beach, and his team got to work.
"Its condition was far from functional," Thompson says. "The chassis was present, as was the majority on the aluminum skin (which was essential, since it was all hand formed), but the engines, transmissions, and driveline were absent or unusable."
In place of the 1,800 hp engines fitted in the 1960s, Thompson is installing two, 500-inch aluminum block V8s, each good for 2,000 hp. The engines are dry blocks, meaning the only cooling comes from the fuel, and a single, mile-long blast will consume around 50 gallons of the special nitro-blended fuel. When the Challenger II finally comes to rest after its run -- thanks to a pair of parachutes and four carbon-ceramic disc brakes -- it will be 500 pounds lighter after sucking down its allocation of high-test fuel.
"Racing is all I ever wanted to do, and he was the reason." -- Danny Thompson"We actually mounted the front engine backwards in the streamliner in order to keep them consistent," Thompson says, noting that one engine is mounted in front and another at the rear. Getting that power to the ground is a three-speed transmission custom-built for Bonneville racing. There's no reverse or neutral, the driver can't shift down while the Challenger is in motion, and amazingly, the team is using the same dual rear ends from the 1968 car, custom made by Henry's Machine Shop with only four in existence (two of which are in the Challenger).
Although the body and shape remain the same as his father (and aerodynamics) intended, the Challenger II.5 is undergoing a massive retrofit beneath the 68 hand-formed aluminum panels to meet current safety requirements. They've also upgraded the tires with a prototype nylon weave banded in steel with only 1/32nd of an inch of rubber (made by Mickey Thompson Tires, natch) and added all-wheel-drive to provide more grip.
"Traction is a real struggle at Bonneville," Thompson says. "It can be a little like driving on snow."
Thompson maintains that the biggest engineering hurdles are already out of the way and the team is wrapping up additional fabrication, electrical and plumbing before a targeted completion date of October. After that, they'll be heading to the 2014 Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats and the FIA-sanctioned Cook's Shootout, where Thompson and his team aim to beat the current record of 439 mph.
But they need help. The team has launched a Kickstarter to secure additional funding, aiming to raise $200,000 by September 10 to have all the resources necessary to complete the build and campaign the Challenger II.5 at next year's land speed events. And Thompson's excitement and dedication to the project is infectious enough that they should meet their goal.
"I've been building and racing cars for most of my life, and this project is by far the most technically challenging thing I've ever done," Thompson says over email. "The hours I spend not working on it tend to involve thinking about it. I've taken to eating my lunch in the cramped cockpit, which scared the hell out of the guys the first time they started welding and heard me critique them through the canopy. There's a lot of history and a lot of passion in this project."
It's that level of passion that's going to get them to 450 mph. And to finally realize a dream that's taken 25 years to accomplish. Consider it backed.
