Langhorne Speedway circle. He clipped Jerry Hoyt's car while in the lead; he broke five ribs, bruised his vertebrae, broke his shoulder in eight places. In 1957, Thomson won at Langhorne; he also earned two pole positions. In October, he crashed at the California State Fairgrounds Race Track suffering internal injuries. In 1958, he finished third with wins at the Springfield Mile, DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, California Fairgrounds, and Syracuse Mile. He earned two pole positions in 13 starts. In 1959, he raced primarily in champ cars and finished third in national points after a win at Milwaukee plus three fast times. He had a wreck in a sprint car race at Williams Grove in September and missed the rest of the season. He was the first driver to win a dirt track race in less than an hour at Langhorne Speedway. His champ car's average speed was 100.174 miles per hour. Sprint cars Thomson made his first "Big Car" (now sprint car) start in September 1952 at the Vermont State Fairgrounds. He primarily raced on the AAA Eastern circuit in 1953; he finished ninth after winning at Altamont, New York. Thomson won the Eastern AAA Big Car championship in 1954 after winning eight events. AAA ended sanctioning after the 1955 season and it was replaced by the United States Automobile Club (USAC) in 1956. He continued in the Eastern Division in 1956 and had wins at Williams Grove, Trenton Speedway, and Reading Fairgrounds Speedway; he finished second in points behind Tommy Hinnershitz. Thomson's sprint car races in 1957 were primarily in the USAC Eastern division; he won twice at Reading and once at the Allentown fairgrounds to finish third in points. Thomas returned from injury to win the first 1958 USAC Sprint Car Series Eastern race at Williams Grove; he followed up with two wins at Reading and one at Allentown to win the Eastern championship. Death Thomson was racing in a USAC Sprint Car at the Great Allentown Fair on September 24, 1960. On a rutty and dry track, his car flipped and crashed through the backstretch fence and flipped into the infield. He was thrown out of the car and he was pinned underneath the car after it stopped rolling. His leg was broken and he died several hours later at Allentown General Hospital. His friend Tommy Hinnershitz announced his retirement from racing shortly after Thomson's death. Thomson