The first tipoff that this was not going to be a good read was the small size (6 by 9) and double spaced type. The author wastes a quarter of the book on a court case and then on Thompson's death and its aftermath. These were easy to research but of little interest to most readers. The pictures are all black and white and often unrelated to the text they appear with.

No topic is covered in enough detail to add to a casual fan's knowledge about Mickey's many projects. Example: The Mickey Thompson Equipment Company appears in chapter 4. The only information given is that it produces forged aluminum pistons. 9 years and 70 pages later it appears again when it is sold, complete with many product lines, to Colt Industries. The author provides no information about the products the company developed, the type of customers it served, etc.

Similarly, the author provides no information about what else was happening around Mickey's projects. Example: Mickey built rear engine cars for the 1962 Indy 500 using aluminum Buick V-8's. There is no discussion of the rear engine Cooper driven by Jack Brabham in the 1961 500 or the Lotus Fords driven by Clark and Gurney in 1963.

The minimum standard for books about motorsport is generally low but this book doesn't even meet that standard. If a book about a prominent politician, football player, or actor were written with this lack of depth it would never get published.

Enjoyed this "quick" read as I knew one of the people in the book and I live in the OC/LA area.

In the end it's not Mickey Thompson's death at the hands of a sociopathic former business partner, tragic though it was, that defines this remarkable man's life story -- it's what this diminutive son of a Los Angeles policeman did in the years alloted to him that defines him for posterity and makes him worth of our attention today. Possessed of restless energy, a love of speed, an intuitive engineering sense and a wild streak of creativity, Thompson crammed more into his five plus decades on earth than the vast majority of humans could were they given five times Thompson's life span.

And speaking of earth, for a time during the early '60s this Southern California hot-rodder was the fastest man on earth, covering a measured mile at better than 400 miles per hour behind the wheel of his monstrous four-engined Bonneville streamliner, Challenger I. He also set scores of international speed records aboard a series of smaller but no less innovative racing cars. And during most of the period when he was setting the racing world -- and occasionally himself -- on fire, Thompson was holding down a full-time job at night as a pressman in a newspaper plant. There are thousands of photographs of Mickey Thompson, and many wonderful ones in the book, but I'm not aware of a single one that shows him asleep.

Thompson's imagination turned, perhaps inevitably, to the Indy 500, and the cars he produced for that classic American motorsport spectacle were revolutionary. After helping to successfully introduce the modern rear-engine design to Indy in 1962, last-minute rule changes hobbled his later designs. But Thompson ranks, along with Daytona Beach's mad genius Smokey Yunick, as the most creative thinker at Indianapolis in the last 60 years.

They just don't make them like Mickey Thompson any more, and Erik Arneson's biography, which presents the whole character, warts and all, reminds us that we are poorer today for that fact.

I don't see how any fan of auto racing, murder mysteries, or the American spirit couldn't enjoy this. One of the unsung heroes of motorsports gunned down in cold blood. For too long too few have known the details of behind his genius life and heartbreaking death. Arneson beautifully uncovers both in one of those rare reads where you can tell the subject is truly near and dear to the author's heart. I've read it twice and so has my wife, who could care less about drag racing. Loved it.

I loved how this story works: It's a biography of one of the most interesting figures in racing history bookended with a gripping murder mystery. The story of Mickey Thompson is so wild, it's hard to believe it's true. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always wild, the story moves along just as Mickey himself would've liked it: fast. The book has cool photos and the research is really in depth. The author talked to all of Mickey's family and friends and gets the real inside scoop. In the end, Mickey Thompson comes off like a guy you wish you knew. This book is awesome. After finishing it, I bought another copy for my dad.

I really loved this book! Mickey Thompson was an icon that I was always fastenated by. Erik Arneson does a great job weaving a cohesive story out of his life. I did not want to put the book down until it was finished. Anyone that grew up around cars and racing should read this book.

This is a great book! It pulls together a lot of information I've not come across in one place before. There are a few areas that are shorter than I hoped they would be, but on the whole it's very well done.

This is a great read and I highly recommend it not just to fellow car enthusiasts but to anyone in general.

This was a great book. Mickeys story is very inspirational. It is a good looking book with lots of pictures I hadn't seen before. I would recomend the book "Challenger" as well which was Mickey's ghost written autobiography. Its interesting seeing the difference from the earlier book and this one. It illustrates the differences in the way a man wishes to tell his story and the way the story is.

Sadly in this age there doesn't seem to be opportunity for a man like Mickey to rise by the sweat of his brow, the self taught knowledge and enthusiasm he had in spades. Nor are there the men (or women) with the balls to bet on backing up with sponsorship or help innovators like Mickey. That's our generations loss.

Bought this for father in law for xmas.He picked it up and didnt stop reading till he was finished.He recommends it to any car fanatics

Perfect and well written book for any fan of hot rodding or of American Culture. Highly recommended.

Perfect and well written book for any fan of hot rodding or of American Culture. Highly recommended.

A real page-turner about one of the icons of speed. A self-taught, Southern California hot rodder who engineered and raced land speed record cars and was part of the rear-engine revolution at Indy. I sat in front of the 1964 Indy 500 pileup that killed Thompson's driver, Dave McDonald and veteran Eddie Sachs - Mickey was accused of building a junk car and contributing to the disaster, but the other side of the story was the always conservative USAC officials who forced last-minute changes in his racer without time to retest the car. Well written book that fully explores the investigative work that led to the jailing of Mickey's former partner who ordered the murder of Mickey and his wife 14 years prior.

Like many racing fans, I had been eagerly awaiting this book. I am a few chapters into the book, and I am surprised by the lack of new information and editing errors. Much of the information in this book seems to have come from previously published works, notably Mickey's autobiography, Challenger, written in 1964. The editing and fact checking are sorely lacking. For instance, a story about Mickey's participation in the Mexican road race features the misspelling of another driver's name. The photographs are a nice addition, however.

Another Five Star, can't miss book for racing fans, and everyone, actually. Arneson's style of writing will pull you in to this interesting story of one of racing's true "marathon man" heroes. Mickey could do it all, and until his untimely murder, was heralded as a great racer, builder and promoter. Be it Funny Cars, Indy Cars, Land Speed Records and everything in between, Thompson was on top of his game. Your emotions will be on a roller coaster with this book, so get ready when you start reading. You won't be able to put it down.

Excellent book that captures the essence of the man without getting bogged down in mind-numbing historical details. I thought I had a grasp of who Thompson was...this book really broadened my knowledge base of how much he did for the sport.

I've waited for more then a decade for this book, hopeing it would be well researched and well writen. For the most part I wasn't disapointed, but it's probibly only for the real enthusiast. Worth the wait and money for this one.-Wade FullerMickey Thompson: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of a Racing LegendMickey Thompson: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of a Racing Legend