1,000 Attend Rites for Slain Thompsons

Nearly 1,000 people holding miniature checkered racing flags gathered at Rose Hills Memorial Park near Whittier on Monday afternoon to pay their last respects to millionaire racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy, who were gunned down Wednesday morning in front of their Bradbury home.

Speaking in front of a floral arrangement in the shape of the broken wheel--racing drivers’ symbol for a fallen comrade--Rabbi William Gordon said the racing promoter and his wife of 19 years “have crossed the finish line of mortal life.”

Family, friends, business associates and competition auto drivers, who both competed with Thompson in his racing days and helped make his stadium racing business a success, turned out for the memorial, even as authorities set up roadblocks near the Thompsons’ home seeking clues from passing motorists in the continuing search for the killers.

‘Quiet in Personal Life’

“As flamboyant as he was in his racing life, he was as quiet . . . in his personal life,” said Thompson’s brother-in-law, Gary Campbell of San Juan Capistrano, one of three speakers to eulogize the couple. “We didn’t have the same blood in our veins, but we were brothers. He was one of the finest men I have ever known.”

As many in the standing-room-only crowd used the tiny racing flags to wipe away their tears, Campbell concluded: “They leave us with lofty goals to achieve. Their standards were high. . . . We will miss you and we will never forget you.”

Thompson, 59, and his wife, 41, were ambushed in the driveway of their walled estate as they were leaving for work about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators are seeking two men seen leaving the murder scene on bicycles and a third blond-haired man who was spotted “frantically” trying to flag down motorists on Foothill Boulevard in nearby Irwindale shortly after the shootings.

Thompson was the first American to break the 400-m.p.h. land speed record and he went on to become the first driver of top-fuel dragsters to exceed 150 m.p.h. His homemade “slingshot” dragster revolutionized the sport.

Dominant Racing Promoter

In recent years he had become a dominant force in racing promotions in California and nationwide.

“Mickey and Trudy helped make an honorable business of racing,” the Rev. Paul C. Redmond said Monday.

One by one, for a full 30 minutes, mourners passed by the twin solid copper caskets, placing the miniature checkered flags in baskets that were later to be buried with the coffins.

Along with the flags, which in the world of racing mark the end of a race, Thompson was buried with “a chunk of the Baja”--a symbol of the “Baja 1,000” off-road race that inspired Thompson to sponsor similar races in stadiums around the country.

“It’s a real loss as far as a friendship and it’s a loss to the racing industry,” said racing great Roger Mears.

Last week a racing industry trade group established a $30,000 reward fund for information that will help locate and convict the killers. That fund has now grown to about $165,000 with donations from other mostly anonymous donors, according to Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell.