Witness Testifies of Threat Before Death of Auto Racer

A disgruntled former business partner of auto racing legend Mickey Thompson threatened to have him “wasted” not long before Thompson and his wife were killed outside their home in 1988, a prosecution witness testified Monday.

Gregory Keay, a cousin of defendant Michael Goodwin, told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that Goodwin appeared angry when he discussed Thompson and their soured business relationship at a family gathering in late 1987 or early 1988.

Goodwin “said that before Mickey Thompson gets all his money, [Goodwin] would have him wasted,” Keay said.

Keay’s testimony came on the first day of Goodwin’s preliminary hearing, after which Judge Teri Schwartz will decide whether there is enough evidence to order Goodwin to stand trial for the double slayings. The hearing is expected to take about a week.

Goodwin, originally charged in Orange County with the killings, faces two counts of murder with the special circumstances of multiple murder and lying in wait. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Thompson, who was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990, set nearly 500 speed and endurance records.

He was the first person to travel more than 400 mph on land.

He and his wife, Trudy, were leaving for work on March 13, 1988, when they were shot by two men outside their home in the gated San Gabriel Valley community of Bradbury. The gunmen, who fled on bicycles, were never caught.

Goodwin, 59, split with Thompson in 1985 after legal disputes left Goodwin bankrupt.

Goodwin was first arrested in 2001. Orange County prosecutors sought to try him because, they alleged, the killings were planned at his Laguna Beach home, even though the attack took place in Los Angeles County.

A state appellate court dismissed that case, ruling that Orange County lacked jurisdiction to bring charges.

Before Goodwin was released, Los Angeles County prosecutors filed murder charges and he was taken into custody there.