Dick Trickle

Richard Leroy Trickle (October 27, 1941 – May 16, 2013) was an American

In more than an estimated 2,200 races, Trickle logged one million laps and is believed to have won over 1,200 feature races.

Trickle married Darlene in 1961.[6]^[7] They originally lived at his grandmother's house for a while before they bought a trailer on someone else's property.^[6] His nephew, Chris Trickle, was a race car driver before dying in a drive-by shooting.

Racing career

Wisconsin short track career

Trickle's family lived on welfare, so there was no money available for racing.^[6] Trickle spent his summers working for area farmers, starting as a 13-year-old.^[8] He also spent a lot of time at the Rudolph Blacksmith shop that his father was a partner in.^[6] While his father was ill, his uncle Leonard ran the shop.^[6]

"I worked part time at the shop to earn a nickel or dime," Trickle said. "At that age, it was mostly sweeping the shop, but I started to play with the welder and soon I could make an arc and then weld. I started junking machinery. I save some things getting a head start for when I would go racing at 16. I didn't have any money, but I had this pile of stuff to build a race car with. It was a hope chest."

"When I turned 16, I let the farmer I was working for keep most the money I earned until fall. That fall I collected my money and went down Main Street wheeling and dealing. I finally bought a 1950 Ford in good condition for $100. It was going to be my street car, but the urge to race got too strong and I cut up and made a stock car out of it."

"I did run the car a little bit before I cut it up and I ended up drag racing a classmate, Melvin Hunsinger, who had a 1949 Ford. He beat me. It seems kind of dumb when I already knew there was a car that could beat me. Eventually, I bought Hunsinger's 1949 Ford for $32.50 and put the motor in my car".^[6]

Trickle started out as the slowest car in a 100-car field at a

A turning point in Trickle's career happened at the National Short Track Championship race at Rockford Speedway in 1966.^[6] Trickle said, "The cars in that area were fancier and looked like they were ahead of us. They didn't treat us bad, but they sort of giggled at us kids with the rat cars. After two days, they look differently at those rat cars. I won and pocketed $1,645. Before, I questioned spending the money to travel that far. But if you could win, that was a different story."^[6] Trickle started the 1967 season by winning at State Park Speedway and ended the season with 25 feature victories including wins at Wisconsin Dells Speedway (now Dells Raceway Park) and Golden Sands Speedway (near Wisconsin Rapids).^[9]

He toured on the Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) tracks in 1971. The circuit consisted of larger asphalt track racing on most nights of the week.^[10] The CWRA regular drivers were able to run over 100 events in a year, and most did the tour with one car and one engine.^[11] Drivers would drive on Wednesday nights at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, Thursday nights at State Park Speedway near Wausau, Friday nights at Capitol Speedway (now Madison International Speedway) near Madison, La Crosse, or Adams-Friendship, Saturday nights at Wisconsin Dells Speedway, and Sunday nights at Griffith Park.^[11] Tuesday nights were available for special events.^[11]

On Thursday nights at the quarter mile State Park Speedway, he won seven features and lowered his July 1 14.27 second track record to 14.09 seconds on the following week.^[10] On Friday nights he raced primarily at Capitol Speedway, winning most nights that it did not rain and his car did not break.^[12] Trickle went to Adams-Friendship on July 23 and won the feature after setting the track record.^[13] He held the track record at six tracks: Adams-Friendship, Capitol, Wausau, Wisconsin Dells, and La Crosse.^[13] He raced at the newly opened third mile Wisconsin Dells Speedway on Saturday nights. By the end of the year, Trickle had won 58 feature events.^[14]

Trickle started his 1972 season by winning at Golden Sands Speedway near Wisconsin Rapids.

Sanctioning bodies put in a weight-per-cubic-inch rule, and Trickle's career had problems in 1974 and 1975. "Fords almost broke me. I couldn't get any pieces for racing at my level. It took two years of hard labor and depleting my funds to realize I couldn't do this anymore. I told myself either I had to change my program or get out of racing."[6] Therefore, Trickle decided to use a General Motors car and engine. He bought a car for $13,000 on his word that he would pay for it by September. He won 35 or 40 races that year and paid for the car by July.^[6]

In 1982, Trickle won track championship at State Park Speedway in

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Trickle made sporadic appearances in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, including three Daytona 500 starts. Invited by Bill France Sr. himself to join the series in the middle of his prospering short-track career, he quipped that he "didn't want to take the pay cut."

In 1989, Trickle made his full schedule debut driving the No. 84

The

The main character of the 1990 NASCAR feature film Days of Thunder played by Tom Cruise is named Cole Trickle as an homage to Dick.

Death

Trickle died May 16, 2013, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.^[29] The incident occurred at 12:02 pm at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City, North Carolina. The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call, apparently from Trickle, saying that "there's going to be a dead body. Suicide." When the 911 operator asked who was about to commit suicide, Trickle responded: "I'm the one."^[27] Police attempted to call his phone back, but there was no response.^[29] Trickle was found dead beside his pickup truck.^[29] His granddaughter, who died in a 2001 car accident, is buried in the same cemetery.^[30]

Trickle's family later released a statement which in part said: "He had been suffering for some time with severe chronic pain, had seen many doctors, none of which could find the source of his pain. His family as well as all those who knew him find his death very hard to accept, and though we will hurt from losing him for some time, he's no longer suffering and we take comfort knowing he's with his very special angel."^[23]

NASCAR chairman Brian France released a statement saying "Dick was a legend in the short track racing community, particularly in his home state of Wisconsin, and he was a true fan favorite. Personalities like Dick Trickle helped shape our sport. He will be missed."^[29] Former competitor Rusty Wallace battled Trickle for championships at several levels. "I'm in 100 percent shock. Dick Trickle was my mentor," Wallace said. "When I was short track racing, I would call him every Monday morning and he would always help me with race setups and stuff. He and I had such a good time telling little stories, but he was the guy that taught me almost everything in the American Speed Association. And he was the guy that I battled right to the end for my 1983 ASA championship. I barely beat the guy that taught me everything. I'd not seen Dick as much as I'd like to of late. He was a legend. A man that'd won over a thousand short track races, was one of the most winning short trackers in America, was a role model to many short track racers coming up. Could just do magic with the race car and he taught me so much about racing. My success in the ASA and what Trickle taught me is what got me into NASCAR. That's what got me hired by Cliff Stewart back in '84. Between Larry Phillips and Dick Trickle, they taught me everything."^[31]

A moment of silence was observed for Trickle during the start of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 17. A tribute was held for Trickle at the July 2013 Slinger Nationals race with his family telling stories about his career.^[32]

Legacy and memorial

Trickle's Wisconsin friends and competitors, including Tom Reffner and Marv Marzofka, began organizing a Dick Trickle memorial fund to build a memorial statue at Rudolph Community Park.^[33] The group is collecting money including securing the title sponsorship of a super late model race at Golden Sands Speedway.^[34]

Various Midwestern short tracks have Trickle Memorial races, with most being 99 laps for his car number. The most famous of the Dick Trickle Classic races is at

Wins in major series

Although he won no premiership championship races, he was very successful elsewhere:

• 1 Non-championship qualifying race (All-Star Showdown, 1990)
• 2
  NASCAR Second-tier championship series race
  wins
• 32 American Speed Association wins
• 70 wins in NASCAR's now-defunct "Elite" Division (68 Midwest, when known as ARTGO and 2 Southwest)
• 2
  USAC
  wins

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

Winston Cup Series

Daytona 500

Busch Series

Bibliography

Notes

References

• Grubba, Dale (2000). The Golden Age of Wisconsin Auto Racing (2000 ed.).
  ISBN 1878569678
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dick Trickle.

• Dick Trickle driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Dick Trickle elegy at SB Nation

Sporting positions
Preceded by Rusty Wallace	ASA National Tour Champion 1984, 1985	Succeeded by Mark Martin
Preceded by Dave Watson	ARTGO Challenge Series Champion 1977	Succeeded by Tom Reffner
Preceded by Tom Reffner	ARTGO Challenge Series Champion 1979, 1980	Succeeded by Jim Sauter
Preceded by Jim Sauter	ARTGO Challenge Series Champion 1983, 1984, 1985	Succeeded by Joe Shear
Preceded by Joe Shear	ARTGO Challenge Series Champion 1987	Succeeded by Joe Shear
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ken Bouchard	NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year 1989	Succeeded by Rob Moroso