Plan was to rip off racing legend

Michael Goodwin gloated about how he would “screw” racing legend Mickey Thompson out of his part of the joint business deal they had signed just hours before, his chauffeur testified Tuesday.

The driver, Charles Linkletter, said Goodwin planned to take advantage of Thompson from the beginning of their joint venture into racing promotion. After the 1984 deal was signed, Goodwin launched on a “45-minute diatribe about screwing him, ripping him off.”

Instead, Thompson turned the tables on Goodwin and beat him in court, winning a $514,000 judgment that prosecutors contend was Goodwin’s motive to kill Thompson and his wife, Trudy, at their Los Angeles County estate in 1988.

Linkletter told jurors in Pasadena that Goodwin, on trial for the murders 18 years ago, threatened him if he didn’t keep quiet.

“If you ever say a word about this conversation to anybody else, I’ll ... kill you,” Linkletter recalled Goodwin saying.

Thompson, the first American to exceed 400 mph at the Bonneville salt flats and a motor sports pioneer and prominent promoter, joined with Goodwin, who invented the sport of motorcycle supercross, to promote dirt races in arenas in Southern California, including the Los Angeles Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium. But the deal quickly fell apart, and Goodwin was bankrupted when Thompson sued and won.

Goodwin, also a race promoter, was “loud, obnoxious and brash” during the year Linkletter worked for him out of his Laguna Beach office, the chauffeur said.

On the second full day of Goodwin’s trial, all the witnesses were gray-haired and balding, reflecting the age of the case.

Penn Weldon, a former police officer and private detective, testified that Goodwin tried to hire him in 1987 to bug the car and offices of Thompson’s lawyer. Goodwin said Thompson had ruined him financially and he wanted “to get even,” Weldon testified.

The cutthroat nature of the competition for races was highlighted by David Jacobs, a former Pasadena police lieutenant and general manager of the Rose Bowl. He said Goodwin promoted all racing events there until 1987, when Thompson beat him out for the promotion rights.

Jacobs said Goodwin staged an international race at the Rose Bowl before the 1984 Olympics that tore up the turf, but failed to repair the damage.

“He’d rather cheat you out of $1,000 rather than make $10,000 with you legally,” Jacobs told jurors.

Goodwin’s cousin, Gregory Keay, said he attended a family gathering at Goodwin’s house several months before the killings.

“He said Mickey was out to get all of his money, and before that would happen, he would have him wasted,” Keay testified.

The Thompson murders fascinated the media. At least 10 national television shows highlighted the investigation, including “America’s Most Wanted” and “48 Hours,” which is now preparing its third one-hour show on the case.

As the television shows aired, new witnesses came forward, firming up the case enough for prosecutors to file charges. The defense has suggested the pervasive and continuing media coverage of the case and a $1-million reward produced many witnesses with fake or faulty memories.

Half a dozen witnesses are prepared to testify they heard Goodwin threaten Thompson. The defense contends that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department initially botched the investigation, and failed to follow up aggressively on leads that pointed away from Goodwin.

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