f there is a story in American motorsports history more compelling than Micke Thompson versus the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I am not sure what it is. The man conquered everything in his path over the course of a titanic career, except Indy.

His ideas were wild, his concepts extreme, his timelines always stretched. In 1967 he would unveil a car so far out there that the media went crazy, the tech inspectors didn't know where to start, and engineers the country over scratched their heads.

Front engine, front wheel drive, four wheel steering, and a driver seated basically between the rear tires, it was incredible. It was also powered by a custom made 3-valve small block Chevy.

It was also doomed to fail. This is the story of the 1967 Wynn's Spitfire of Mickey Thompson.

There's nothing like upping the horsepower of an engine with boost. Multiple methods of supercharging exist today and have been brought to an incredible level of efficiency.

While these methods were not invented in WWII, their use was vastly studied, tweaked, and tested to their limits back then. This video is the next in a series about the history of centrifugal superchargers and their use on piston engines.

Consider this your 101 level course in WWII supercharging. Here we go over the various methods and systems used on aircraft from the USA, Germany, and Great Britain. Which countries did it best? Which country made a mistake in their method? Who ruled the horsepower roost and why?

It was a war of horsepower and boost was a huge factor in making more of it than the other guys