The Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG) was a sanctioning body for an American

short course off-road racing Short course off-road racing is a form of auto racing involving the racing of modified vehicles on a dirt road closed course of a short length (tens of kilometers / miles or less). It is distinct from long course desert racing such as the Baja 100 ...

series that took place inside

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

s. Some events were televised, including on TNN and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

History

Mickey Thompson Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson (December 7, 1928March 16, 1988) was an American auto racing builder and promoter. A hot rodder since his youth, Thompson increasingly pursued land speed records in his late 20s and early 30s.

raced desert trucks in the

SCORE International SCORE International (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) is an off-road racing sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE International was purchased from Sal Fish in late 2012. and is run ...

series. Thompson said that he was seen "by nothing but cactus and jackrabbits." He reasoned that he needed to bring the excitement of desert racing to a wider audience. The body and series were established by Thompson in 1979. The first event was held in the

Los Angeles Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Col ...

. The body also sanctioned motorcycle races called Supercross. The stadium series survived Thompson's 1988 murder. The body went bankrupt in 1996. The concept of stadium off-road racing was revived with the creation of the

Stadium Super Trucks The Stadium Super Trucks (SST), formerly known as Speed Energy Formula Off-Road, also known as the Boost Mobile Super Trucks in Australia, is an American short course off-road racing series created by off-road racer and former IndyCar and NASCAR d ...

in 2013 by former series champion

Robby Gordon Robert Wesley Gordon (born January 2, 1969) is an American semi-retired auto racing driver. He has raced in NASCAR, Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART, the IndyCar Series, the Trans-Am Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA, Inter ...

Vehicle classes

* Grand National Sport Trucks * Super 1600s *

Sport Utility Vehicles A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

(also known as Ultrastock) * Superlites * Ultracross * All Terrain Vehicles

Grand National Sport Trucks champions

* 1983 – Ivan Stewart * 1984 – Ivan Stewart * 1985 – Roger Mears * 1986 – Steve Millen * 1987 – Jeff Huber * 1988 – Steve Millen * 1989 –

* 1990 – Ivan Stewart * 1991 –

Walker Evans Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great ...

* 1992 –

Rod Millen Rodney Kenneth Millen (born 22 March 1951) is a New Zealand racing driver, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rallying, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touring. ...

* 1993 – Rod Millen * 1994 – Rod Millen

Other notable drivers

* Evan Evans – stadium series *

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

– stadium series *

Rob MacCachren Rob MacCachren (born March 24, 1965) is an American off-road racer from Las Vegas, Nevada. MacCachren won over 200 off-road races including seven editions of the Baja 1000. He raced the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series early in his career and ...

– stadium series *

Casey Mears Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978) is an American professional off-road racing, off-road and stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang, Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Garage 66. He ...

– stadium series * Jerry Whelchel – winningest driver in stadium series history

References

External links

History
on Off-Road.com
Thompson Murder Prosecution: Political Sham
''NewsReleaseWire.com'', April 1, 2005 {{Off-road racing Auto racing organizations in the United States Off-road racing series