Murder In The Fast Lane

Mickey Thompson was a car-racing legend. During his career, he set 395 different speed records. In 1960 in the Utah desert, Thompson drove a car 406 miles an hour, a world record for land speed.

But his career came to an end March 16, 1988, in California's San Gabriel Mountains, where Mickey and his wife Trudy Thompson set out for work, as they always did, together, at 6 a.m. They were accosted by two gunmen, who shot and killed them both. Bill Lagattuta reports on the murders, and the Thompson family's drive to solve them.

Everyone in the racing community expressed their shock and outrage at the deaths, no one more so than Michael Goodwin, Mickey Thompson's business partner. "It was a tragedy and it was apparently an assassination. Somebody shot them, so it wasn't an accidental death," he says.

Police put out sketches of two hooded gunman, but the shooters disappeared.

For 14 years, there were no arrests. The brutal murders, coupled with Mickey Thompson's stature, led to a major investigation. But there were no fingerprints, and no weapon was ever found.

Thompson's family and friends say they knew who was behind the murders from the beginning. "My first thought was Mickey was right, Mike Goodwin did kill him," says Mickey's sister, Collene Campbell.

Goodwin says he can't get away from the murders: "Nothing I do now doesn't have a cloud over it, wondering if it's going to be the last day I have freedom," he says. Goodwin says he had nothing to do with his former partner's murder. He used to have a beautiful wife, Diane. And with the money from a career as a rock promoter, they pursued a life of luxury. He now lives in a trailer with his aging father.

When they first met, Mickey Thompson was a hero, and Goodwin was a fan.

In 1978, Thompson had an idea that would transform the racing world: indoor car racing. Goodwin was already staging the same kind of stadium road show – only with motorcycles. He called it "supercross."

"Michael was highly competitive, an excitable individual," says Bill Wilson, a retired cop who was a stadium manager. "He got it done."

When Goodwin and Thompson went into business together, it was all about the dirt. Each man was paying a fortune hauling tons of dirt to the stadium for his own race. They decided to share a load, racing bikes one day and cars the next.

The partnership did not go smoothly. "It was truly hell from the first day," says Goodwin. Thompson felt the same way, according to his sister: "Mickey called me on the phone and he said 'Goodwin has stolen $50,000 from me' and I said, 'What!' And he said, 'Collene, I think the guy's a crook.'"

Goodwin denies stealing any of the partnership's money and insists the problem was that Mickey Thompson just wouldn't live up to the deal.

Thompson went to court, claiming Goodwin had stolen thousands of dollars from their business. He won a $514,000 judgment against Goodwin. Goodwin declared bankruptcy and appealed the ruling. It dragged through the legal system for two years before Goodwin's appeal was shot down.

Thompson's family and friends say that's when Goodwin got ugly. Collene says that her brother told her he was worried that Goodwin would hurt Trudy. Goodwin denies ever making any death threats against Thompson or his wife.

But Wilson remembers differently. "I said, 'How it was going, Mike?' He said, 'Thompson is killing me, taking everything I got' he says, 'I am going to take him out.'"

"So I thought, let's try some logic, so I said 'C'mon Mike nobody wins that way.' I said, 'He's dead and you're in prison.' And he said, 'No, they won't catch me. I'm too smart for that.'"

Goodwin says, "I did not tell Bill Wilson or anyone else I was going to take out Mickey Thompson. And I didn't."

From the very beginning, Goodwin was the lead suspect. No one suggested he pulled the trigger. Instead authorities suspected that he had hired the hit men, who got away leaving almost no evidence. Under suspicion for 13 years, but never arrested, Goodwin says he's been a convenient target, and it's ruined his life.

"I cannot imagine a more quantum change from what our life was back then to what it's been now. I've lost my wife over this. I've become a pariah in many circles," he says.

Find out what happens, in Part 2, New Witnesses Come Forward