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Dr. Dick Thompson was a
Washington D.C. dentist whose
hobby, in the 1950s, was racing sports
cars. Actually, it was more than a
hobby – it was closer to a fixation.
Back then, sports car racing was an
amateur sport. Thompson bought fast
cars and was willing to travel to places
like Sebring and Daytona and other
tracks along the east coast to race
them. And he was good. He was called
“The Flying Dentist” and his talent
and experience got him factory
Corvette rides, a spot on Brigg Cun-
ningham’s team and he went to Le-
Mans with Ford’s 1966 GT40 team
and drove for Shelby American’s 1967
Trans-Am team. After Dr. Thompson
retired, he moved to Florida and
passed away two years ago at 94. A life
well lived.
With the name available, we can
think of no one better to wear it than
SAAC member Dr. Ernie Nagamatsu
of Los Angeles. He purchased his
Cobra, CSX2203 in 1978. Its first
owner was friends with legendary
racer and movie stunt driver Max Bal-
chowsky, famous for his one-off modi-
fied sports car “Old Yeller” which was
the terror of Southern California in
the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had
Balchowsky modify the car and add
some competition features.
After Nagamatsu purchased the
car in 1978 he took it to noted Cobra
expert Dave Dralle to prepare it for
vintage racing. An aluminum hardtop
was added (it came from CSX2138, a
factory team car). He started compet-
ing in vintage races in 1984 at tracks
like Riverside, Willow Springs and
Monterey and found that he enjoyed
it. As he gained experience, he began
to travel to events farther and farther
away. His racing resume expanded to
Coronado, Sears Point, Road America,
and eventually to England where he
drove in the Goodwood Revival Meet-
ing Tourist Trophy, co-driving with
Lyn St. James and Scooter Patrick. He
has also taken the car to Australia and
New Zealand where he and his wife
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 62
– Rick Kopec