"Don't Shoot!"

A world-renowned speed racer turned millionaire sports promoter, Mickey Thompson took a daring attitude toward trouble. Last November he remarked to friends in the Los Angeles area that some "nut" had been phoning him with death threats. "Mickey told me that some cuckoos were calling him at home," recalled Ernie Alvarado, who knew Thompson for 30 years. "He thought he knew who it was. I asked if he had called the police, and he just said it was taken care of."

Thompson was wrong. Early one morning last week, as he and his wife Trudy prepared to leave their estate in the private community of Bradbury, Calif., to drive to their office in Anaheim, they were ambushed. Police believe that two men arrived on bicycles and killed Thompson, 59, with shots to the head and torso. A neighbor, stirred by the gunplay, awoke to Trudy Thompson's desperate cries of "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" Moments later Trudy, 41, lay dead.

The double assassination stunned the racing world. Known as the "Speed King," Thompson had established nearly 500 racing and endurance records and had set the standards for three generations of hot rodders. In 1960 he became the first American to travel over 400 m.p.h. on land when his specially designed four-engine Challenger I clocked 406.6 m.p.h. at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. He started Mickey Thompson Enterprises, a custom auto-parts manufacturer, in Long Beach, Calif. Ten years ago Thompson branched into sports promotion and became the leading sponsor of motor-sports events at arenas like the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Rose Bowl and Anaheim Stadium. However, his partnership with Promoter Mike Goodwin dissolved into a bitter series of multimillion-dollar lawsuits. In May 1986, Thompson won a judgment against Goodwin ultimately totaling almost $800,000. Goodwin declared bankruptcy later that year and failed to pay up.

Investigators apparently have not determined a motive for the crime. Just three days before the shootings, Thompson mentioned another death threat to his friend but still did not contact the police. The disregard for danger that marked Thompson's driving career may have led to his death in his own front yard.