Suspect in Slaying of Racing Promoter Wants Good Press

As the Orange County Grand Jury meets to hear evidence in the 13-year-old murder of legendary racing promoter Mickey Thompson, the man police have named as the prime suspect is mounting a media campaign to clear his name.

Michael F. Goodwin, speaking publicly for the first time in more than a decade, denied involvement in the death of his former business partner.

“I don’t think they’re looking at anyone else,” said Goodwin, 56. “If all the witnesses were honestly interviewed, I’d never have to worry about this for another second in my life.”

In an unusual move, Goodwin, long suspected by authorities of the 1988 shooting of Thompson and his wife, Trudy, in front of their San Gabriel Valley mansion, has hired a publicist and has scheduled a press conference today.

In fact, Goodwin’s publicist, Michael Nason, was the one who tipped reporters off to the grand-jury investigation.

Nason’s clients have included the Rev. Robert H. Schuller and a high school teacher in Oregon who claimed to have had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. He has also worked for various Republican causes.

Goodwin said he remembers well the day Thompson was killed. He was working out at an Irvine gym, when his lawyer called the club to tell him what had happened. Though no one has ever been charged with the murder, Goodwin’s life was never the same. “It’s been devastating,” he said.

Investigators quickly zeroed in on him because he and Thompson were partners who had parted ways bitterly in 1985. Goodwin filed for bankruptcy and owed Thompson $531,000 after a judge’s ruling that he had misappropriated investments in their projects.

Goodwin said that shortly before Thompson’s death, the two men had reached an agreement that would have settled the debt.

Instead, the murder nixed the deal, Goodwin said, prolonging his financial quagmire and immensely complicating his life.

“The last person who would have wanted Mickey Thompson dead is my client,” said Goodwin’s attorney, Jeffrey S. Benice. “And there’s not one iota of evidence tying the murder to [him].”

Goodwin spent several years in prison for bank fraud in a case he said is indirectly related to the murders. Goodwin’s attorney said his client was convicted of supplying false information on loan documents that never would have been submitted had his bankruptcy ended. He has shelled out a fortune in legal fees and seen the breakup of his marriage. More recently, Goodwin said, he lost a lucrative job as CEO of a high-tech company after investigators questioned an associate.

“I never know what’s going to happen next,” he said.

For the last 10 years, the case seemed forgotten. Then, two weeks ago, a sheriff’s detective served Goodwin with a subpoena to testify before the grand jury on April 25. Today, he said, the grand jury is scheduled to hear the first of 200 witnesses--Goodwin’s former wife, Diane.