Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Warring Promoters End Up Helping Each Other
Mike Goodwin and Mickey Thompson have spent so much time in court warring with one another the last couple of years that it is amusing to see them playing off one another’s successes this year. And apparently with excellent results.
Thompson, the four-wheel promoter, noted the success that Goodwin, the two-wheel promoter, had enjoyed at Anaheim Stadium the last seven years and rented the Orange County showplace for one of his Off-Road Gran Prix championship events.
It was a howling success, attracting an off-road stadium record 64,758 spectators who witnessed what followers called the finest show since Thompson first condensed Baja-type racing into a stadium five years ago at the county fairgrounds in Pomona.
“Mickey will probably be shocked, but what he did at Anaheim, the crowd and especially the show, made me very happy,” Goodwin said. “The way I look at it, if there’s a good house and they see a good show, they’ll be hungry for the next one. The worst thing that could have happened to me was for Mickey to get the people in there and lay an egg. If he does that, then it would have really hurt me.”
Goodwin’s opening 1987 stadium motocross--the Coors Supercross Kickoff--is set for Saturday night, Jan. 31, at Anaheim Stadium and advance sales are at an all-time high. The motorcycles have sold out there the last seven years, averaging more than 70,000.
The Thompson-Goodwin feud is a continuing saga of acrimony, as was predicted by many observers who were in at the start of their partnership in 1984.
After less than a year of working together in stadium promotions, the two ended up in court. The Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group was awarded a $400,000 judgment against Goodwin, a figure that is expected to reach $800,000 with attorney’s fees and interest. It is currently under appeal.
Goodwin, in a move to prevent Thompson from attaching the assets of his Stadium Motorsports Corp. as payment on the judgment, filed Chapter 11 under the federal bankruptcy law.
When the court ordered the sale of Stadium Motorsports Corps. assets, Goodwin took no part in the auction, but he regained control when businessman Charles Clayton--the same name, but not the same person as the publisher of Cycle News--and Diane Goodwin, Mike’s wife, outbid Thompson.
Clayton and Mrs. Goodwin acquired the assets for $625,000 and immediately hired Goodwin to run the newly named Supercross, Inc. with an annual salary reported to be $240,000.
“Nothing’s changed, really,” Goodwin said, laughing. “Only now I’m getting money (the $240,000 salary) from my wife instead of the other way around.”
The Anaheim motocross course will offer a new look to riders and spectators.
Last year, for the Coliseum motocross, Cycle News held a contest for readers for the design of an obstacle that could be incorporated into the stadium course.
Gary Cox, a design engineer and a former motocross rider from Anaheim, was the winner with his Ghastly Gorge, two eight-foot high mounds of dirt separated by a sand trap. National champion Ricky Johnson called it “the roughest obstacle on the track.”
Goodwin, fascinated by some of the other obstacle designs that Cox submitted, called on him to redesign the entire Anaheim layout for next week’s race.
“Gary has some of the most original and innovative ideas I have ever seen,” said Goodwin, who created stadium racing 15 years ago with the first Superbowl of Motocross in the Coliseum. “He has also designed his obstacles with safety in mind, particularly after what happened to David Bailey two weeks ago.”
Bailey, 25, the national 500cc motocross champion and former Supercross champion, crashed Jan. 10 while practicing at Huron Cycle Park, near Fresno, and is paralyzed from the chest down. Doctors at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center had planned to operate on Bailey today to stabilize the area surrounding the fractured vertebrae, but surgery was postponed until Monday when Bailey developed a fever.
“The main concern I have with any of my obstacles is that they be spectacular for the fans but even more important that they be safe for the riders,” Cox said. “Being a professional designer, as well as a former rider, I know this is a very fine line and finding that balance is very important. The last thing I want is to be responsible for a serious injury to any rider.”
Goodwin himself will ride the track Feb. 1, when amateur competitors will have the opportunity to test their talents on the obstacles the pros rode the night before. Goodwin is a former winner of the over-30 class in CRC.
Goodwin and Thompson are in agreement on at least one thing: Both are disappointed that construction of a new press box, luxury suites and other improvements at the Coliseum will prevent either a Supercross or an Off-Road Gran Prix being held there this year.
STOCK CARS--Five Southland drivers from Ascot Park have been invited to drive in the Winston Invitational, a 50-lap dirt track race Feb. 13 for $10,000 at Volusia County Speedway in Barberville Fla. They are Ron Meyer, Lake Elsinore; Don Wright Jr., Simi Valley; Marcus Mallett, Carson; Tom Colgan, Ontario; and Cap Pidgeon, Long Beach.
ROAD RACING--A. J. Foyt has put together a team for the Daytona 24-hour race that includes Al Unser and Danny Sullivan. The three, who will drive a Porsche 962 in the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 race that opens the IMSA season, have won eight Indy 500s among them. . . . The Alfa Romeo Owners of SoCal will hold the first of seven time trials this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway.
NEWSWORTHY--Mario and Michael Andretti have accepted invitations to drive in the 10th Budweiser International Race of Champions, a four-race series in which 12 drivers compete in identically prepared Camaros. The first race will be run Feb. 13 at Daytona International Raceway. . . . Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal will pick up more booty Saturday night when the United States Auto Club holds its annual awards dinner at Indianapolis. Rahal won USAC’s Gold Crown championship. Also honored will be Robbie Flock of Anaheim, champion of the western regional midget crown.
