Mutual friends all agreed that the two were dynamite businessmen but were both too headstrong and would make lousy partners. That's apparently what happened.

Not surprisingly, their joint venture ran into problems almost immediately, but not necessarily in the way predicted. Their Midwest shows took a dump and the bills started stacking up. Thompson later said that Goodwin asked him to deposit more than $200,000 to cover the bills and Thompson assumed that Goodwin was depositing even more, reflecting his 70-percent ownership.

This is where it got sticky. Thompson soon discovered that Goodwin was not making deposits and that the bills weren't being paid. Goodwin, who then had stopped providing financial details of the business to Thompson, countered that the contract called for Thompson to cover losses at that point related to car events.

They went to court and in 1986 Thompson came out the winner with a judgment of $500,000. Goodwin then filed for bankruptcy. It also indirectly led to a 1995 fraud conviction and a 30-month prison sentence as Goodwin and his wife were nailed for applying for a $400,000 bank loan without disclosing their failure to repay a 1986 loan. The couple was accused of hiding over $500,000 in assets by buying more than 700 gold coins which vanished.

Needless to say, this strained the relationship between the two driven entrepreneurs: Both were pissed righteously. Goodwin claimed Thompson was trying to ruin him in business and Thompson had told friends that Goodwin had threatened to kill him.

It appears they both made good in a weird way.

The sheriffs had received a phone tip at the beginning of the year that two people in the Bradbury area, who lived near the Thompsons, reported seeing a man parked in an old Chevy Malibu station wagon near the crime scene. Investigators originally planned to put Goodwin in a line-up in March to be identified, but Goodwin refused and challenged a trial court order that he participate.

This past August 15, Goodwin was arrested in Dana Point, Calif., and was forced to take part in the line-up. Both witnesses pointed out that Goodwin was the guy seen in the Chevy Malibu; the woman's ID having more credence because she saw the suspect through binoculars. Still, the next day, Goodwin was released without being charged.

L.A. County Sheriff Dan Rosenburg said afterwards, "When we feel we have enough evidence to present to the district attorney's office for filing, a case will be filed."

And for those of you not in La-La land, that's where things stand right now.

As for the two assailants, other witnesses saw two black men on the kill date unloading the bicycles from a Volvo station wagon before the hit, and other witnesses remember seeing two black men hauling ass on the two bikes that same morning. However, their names are unknown at this writing.

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