RIP: Michael Valentine, Who Saved 1,000s of Drivers from 1,000s of Tickets, Has Died. “We needed a hero, and Mike Valentine was it. No one could drive 55. Tickets were being spat out of police writing pads like winner’s receipts in SkeeBall. So Mike Valentine and wife Peg founded Cincinnati Microwave and started making radar detectors. Cincinnati Microwave became Escort, one of the biggest companies in the industry. The Valentines later left Escort and founded Valentine Research Inc. in 1983, and radar detection has been an industry ever since.”