Mickey Thompson Bio

Last month, Investors.com ran a short bio on one of our heroes – Mickey Thompson. A link to the article has been floating around in bulk emails for weeks, but I never really paid attention to it as Investors.com is the last place I would expect to find relevant traditional hot rodding history. This morning I was desperate for content, so I took a look-see. Boy, am I glad I did…

Check it out.

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Otto Crocker: Father Time

When Burt Munro does his climactic run down the salt in ‘Worlds Fastest Indian’, you see those big, circular clock dials spinning, and the name “CROCKER TIMER” is right on the face of the dial, capturing his world speed record. It’s hard to appreciate in today’s world of electronics, but in the early days of auto racing (up till 1949) timing records were calculated by a hand-held stopwatch, and were marginal at best.

J. Otto Crocker, a San Diego watchmaker, made it possible to accurately time these vehicles to within thousandths of a second for the first time, making new records highly accurate and virtually indisputable. The device consisted of 3 master electronic clock units with individual controls for recording speeds over progressive distances. A photocell beam tripped the clocks at the quarter mile (after the 2 mile start), mile mark 3 & 4, and at the finish line. The Crocker Timer went on to prove its worth at Bonneville, dry lakes, boat racing, and later at the drags.

There is very little written about this man behind the scenes, and I find only a few mentions here and there in the hot rod books. I don’t know if its possible to overstate how much Otto Crocker did to help establish organized motorsports racing, but “The Clocker”, as he was known, was dedicated to improving competition practices and give legitimacy to the record books. His timing devices were nothing short of milestone in the annuals of Hot Rod History…

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The Guerilla Renaissance is Now!

“Jocko” Johnson passed away in November of 2008. More than likely, you remember him for his streamline-bodied top-fuel dragster or maybe his porting work from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I remember him for being an absolute lunatic… The good kind. He thought differently than most, worked differently than just about everybody, and defined the very essence of a “maverick.” Put simply, “Jocko” was an eccentric… a very mysterious eccentric.

This morning, I was cleaning out my bookmarks and came across an older article on Jocko written by one of the all time great automotive journalists - Cole Coonce. I got lost in the piece and figured you guys might as well.

Take some time off this morning and sink your teeth into this: The Guerilla Renaissance is Now!

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