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TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH

Hot Rod

Winter 2025

2025 SPEED WEEK WAS A DEVASTATING ROLLERCOASTER RIDE OF EMOTIONS

On a week overshadowed by the tragic death of Chris Raschke in the Speed Demon crash, land speed racing fans needed an uplifting moment, something to celebrate at the end of the week. Danny Thompson, at the wheel of the Ferguson Streamliner, delivered that good news. With a calm and stoic demeanor, he smashed two records and posted the highest recorded speed of the event.

The son of Mickey Thompson, Danny is a racer in his own right. He's been chasing the win at Bonneville for years, and it finally paid off. They began by shattering the C Fuel Streamliner record on Monday, running a 370.756-mph average. The previous record was a 335.325, and they beat it with a Hemi engine built and balanced to run on seven cylinders to limit the displacement to fit the C engine class rules.

After securing the C class record, the team got to work switching to the larger 490-cubic-inch Hemi to take on the A Fuel Streamliner record. In the process, they were also in contention for the top speed of the event, just narrowly ahead of the Strasburg Wolfe Lakester, which was a few tenths of a mile per hour behind.

Up and running with the A engine, Danny was knocking on 400 mph but made the run outside of the timing markers by mistake, so the run didn't count. "I had people calling and texting telling me to get a map!" Danny said after that run. Still, he and the team knew the potential was there.