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Jocko & Mickey
Mickey Thompson was my friend and best customer
for the entire time I operated Jocko's Porting
Service, 1956-1972. I first met him at the Western
Motel in Wendover, Utah, in 1954. There was
a poker game going on. Art Coopman, Mickey Thompson
and several others were playing for money on
the top of one of the beds. Mickey was bluffing,
but didn't have a good hand, and when he lost
the pot, he grabbed the bed cover and yanked
it up, spilling the money all over the place.
We all had a big laugh, then Art brought out
a gallon of Adelanto Zinfandel wine, which was
tossed from one person to another to keep it
away from kids like me. I saw them get drunk
on that stuff and I was glad that I didn't get
any and have to end up acting so weird like
them or their wives. As I stepped out of the
motel room, there were Mickey's wife, Judy,
and Art Coopman's wife - street racing, with
open headers, up and down the middle of Wendover
at four in the morning!
When I opened my porting service, Mickey came
in one day to get some Cadillac heads ported.
That was the beginning of 19 years of porting
hundreds of Pontiac and Ford heads for Mickey.
He always told me about "the project of the
moment." After my 'liner broke the e.t. record
at Riverside [8.35 seconds, in 1958 -Ed.], Mickey
started to ask my opinion on all aerodynamic
and streamlining designs that he was dealing
with. I always gave him the truth. Sometimes
he would use my idea, and sometimes not.
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I remember he called me up and invited me to
his home, where he had just started to build
the Challenger. The frame, with four Pontiac
engines mounted in it, was in the garage. I
climbed in the seat and looked out over the
whole mess. I told him that it would work, but
it was going to be hell trying to keep it all
together at 400 m.p.h. I was right, and without
Fritz Voight, it never would have gone 406 at
all. It experienced clutch slippage and driveline-breakage
problems, but it worked pretty good, considering
it was built by a couple of hot rodders going
after the records held by the wealthy British
LSR racers.
Mickey's attempt taught me that even with the
best of everything and good mechanics working
together, complex mechanicals are always going
to be troublesome and should be avoided if a
simpler way can be devised. Now, 40 years later,
I'm starting to seriously think, What will it
take to beat all who have gone before me? I
am designing and building my own LSR vehicle
to break into the 500-m.p.h. range.
Thanks, Mickey, for the inspiration and determination
to keep on.
-Jocko Johnson
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