Club Cobra - Most influential icon Shelby, Mickey, or Don?

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How can you forget AJ, the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans? Dan Gurney,Le Mans, Indy, F1. NASCAR, Trans Am (not to mention "Gurrney for President" and Mario Andretti., Indy and F1 champ? C/S talented racer and an even better businessman. He's managed to sully his image in later years with lawsuits and endorsements. Garlitts, top drag guy but one dimensional. MT, Bonneville and Off/roading, a true innovator, but not up there with the F1 guys.

Thompson's Allstate Special was mid engined and fast as hell, albeit it handled horribly according to those who drove it - many drivers refused to drive the thing. During the 1964 race the Special passed a few cars early in the race. Driver MacDonald was killed because he was broadsided by Eddie Sachs during the crash. Sachs perished as well so its double sad.
Gasoline was replaced with methanol and fuel cells were developed in 1965 because of this crash. Dubious distinction for Mickey, but Indy instituted more safety technology because of it.

rjbh20 is right, Shirley's nickname was 'cha cha'. I don't know where boom boom came from. Probably from a stripper I know :)

I remember Mickey Thompsons Challenger I when I was a kid. I had a model of it. It had 4 Pontiac 389s in it and ran over 400 mph for the speed record. See URL below:

‪Mickey Thompson Breaks 400 MPH Speed Barrirer‬‏ - YouTube

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rjbh20 (Post 1142706)

What were Mickey Thompson's triumphs at Indianapolis? My recollection is that his cars seldom (ever?) finished and he's best known for the disastrous Allstate Special in 1964 that Dave MacDonald used to kill himself and Eddie Sachs.

From what I've read, there were many contributors to that disaster, including the squirrelly car itself; the use of gasoline instead of methanol; use of older aircraft-style fuel bladders in the tank instead of safety fuel cells; and MacDonald's unfamiliarity with roundy-round racing (he was a talented road racer) and the Indy track and race; and possibly MacDonald's lack of caution. But a number of drivers did refuse to pilot Thompson's car that year, so the car is a known contributor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoBro (Post 1143342)

Surprisingly, gasoline wasn't outlawed following the 1964 disaster -- the STP turbines used it in 1968 and other may have as well. But IMS did institute mandatory pit stops (starting with 2 in 1965) which effectively ended the mileage advantage of gasoline vs. methanol, so there was no longer any reason not to go for the HP advantage of methanol.