Up to the Challenge?

Mickey Thompson and Pontiac head, Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen were almost joined at the hip in the late '50s and early '60s. Knudsen was looking up Pontiac's performance image and for that, he went straight to master gearhead Mickey Thompson. Mickey and his wife, Judy, even ran and won in their respective classes in the 1962 Mobile Economy Run in a Tempest and a Star Chief. He prepped and ran Pontiacs in every single class the different engines could qualify in. For the NHRA Top Fuel, he beat Don Garlit's with his record breaking Pontiac dragster.

Mickey's real passion was Land Speed Record competitions. By 1960, with his "Assault 1" car and 3 different Pontiac engines finally wrested the class A, B and C speed records from the German subsidized Audi set in the late '30s. Now, Mickey had his sights on breaking the 400 mph barrier and with some sponsorship from Goodyear, he went to Pontiac for help. Knudsen sent him 4 used 389 engines and the first check for $1000. After several attempts using various engine configurations and transmissions, the final Challenger 1 had the reworked 389s topped off with 6-71 GM superchargers linked with Cadillac transmissions. Thompson hit his goal at 406.6 mph on the salt flats, but on the required return leg, one of the transmissions stayed in neutral, blowing that one engine. The car is gorgeous in concept and design by a guy who barely graduated high school.