Mickey Thompson’s Monster…

The August 1961 issue of Hot Rod has a heavy dose of competition cars, but one that took the majority of the cover (and the article pages) was Mickey Thompson’s dragster appropriately called, “The Monster”. Featuring twin 6-71 supercharged, stroked Pontiac V-8s putting out 1,500 horsepower via all wheel drive, his creation was nothing short of pioneering at that point in drag racing. Stainless steel tube chassis, torsion bar suspension and a host of chassis features backed the power up, and all of this engineering was mastered for a single purpose: The beat (and defend) the World’s Standing Start Kilometer and Mile Record. It’s hard to fathom how busy Mickey was in the early 60s, competing in the highest levels in motorsport of all kinds, between Indy, NHRA, Land Speed racing, and so forth. Designing, building, and racing the widest variety of race cars you can imagine, he makes everyone else look like an underachiever!