July 7, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Born April 22, 1922, Tommy Thompson entered his first NASCAR Grand National Division race at the Daytona Beach course in 1950 driving his No.91 San Juan Motors Chrysler. He made two additional starts with the series finishing 11th at Dayton Speedway in Ohio.

Thompson returned to Grand National competition in 1951 for five events. He finished 12th on the beach course at Daytona. He then qualified fifth in a field of 59 cars for the Motor City 250 on the one-mile dirt oval at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit commemorating the city’s 250th anniversary.

The race finally came down to Thompson battling with Curtis Turner. With 25 laps left in the event, Turner attempted a slide job and the two collided spinning into the track’s wooden retaining wall. Joe Eubanks grabbed the lead while the two struggled to recover from the crash. Eubanks however appeared to be unaware that he was leading and continued driving at a very conservative pace. Thompson recovered and ran down Eubanks. Turner’s Oldsmobile retired from the race with a damaged radiator. Thompson passed Eubanks for the lead with seven laps remaining. He established a 37 second lead in the remaining laps for his first win in the NASCAR Grand National Division and was awarded $5,000 prize money. Thompson qualified eighth for the following race at Fort Miami Speedway in Toledo, Ohio and finished sixth.

In 1952, Thompson qualified third for the season opener at Daytona Beach. In the final lap, Thompson was running seventh and racing back to the line when he lost control of the car and hit flagman Johnny Bruner. The contact sent Bruner flying thru the air, but fortunately was not seriously injured. Thompson managed to finish the event in seventh place. He participated in five Grand National events during the year, but the seventh place finish on the sands at Daytona would prove to be his only top-10.

In 1953, Thompson returned to the Daytona Beach course driving a Lincoln qualifying fourth and finishing third without any contact with the flagman. He competed at Langhorne and Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, but recorded only one top-10 for the season.

Daytona Beach would be the only Grand National event that Thompson would run in 1954. He qualified third but a crash on the 15th lap relegated him to a 56th place finish in the 62 car field.

In 1955, Thompson wheeled the No. 41 Ford of Julian Buesink in the Southern 500 at Darlington. A failed fuel pump on lap 41 dropped him from competition and left him with a 64th place finish.

In 1956, Thompson drove Bob Fish’s No. M1 Fish Carburetor Buick in the Grand National season opener at Daytona Beach. He qualified 33rd in the 76 car field and finished 58th.

Thompson was absent from NASCAR Grand National competition until 1959 when he returned to the series campaigning his own No. 13 Chevrolet in three events. He finished 12th in the Music City 200 at the Nashville Fairground Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee. He finished 20th at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta and 15th at in the Firecracker 250 at the new Daytona International Speedway.

In eight years, Thompson made 22 starts in the NASCAR Grand National Division recording one win, two top-5s, and four top-10s. In the 1960s, Thompson constructed and began operating the Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville, Kentucky. Thompson regularly competed at the speedway with the assistance of crew chief Harry Hyde, who would become a legend in NASCAR. Thompson was responsible for introducing Figure-8 racing to the area where it is still quite active today.

Tommy Thompson died August 4, 1986.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.