RIP Dick Trickle

[Spirit]

Died Thursday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.  

 

I'm not a NASCAR fan (at all), but thoughts & prayers to his family and friends.  Dude had the greatest name in sports history.

 

 

 

 

[Schildog]

olberman is devastated. 

[HaloCory22]

Heard about this earlier. Terrible news for the racing community. 

[Brandon]

or any community.

[Mile High Dreams]

Rusty Kuntz is now the leader.

[Lou]

Oh, the race car driver.

 

Though Spirit finally got that little problem he was having under control.

[bucbrett]

I know there aren't very many motorsports fans here, but I've followed all forms of racing almost my whole life.  This news saddens me.  He was likely the greatest short track racer in the history of American motorsports, winning over 1,000 feature races.

 

 

I remember Dick Trickle's Winston Cup rookie season in 1989.  I was eight years old and it was the second year I had followed motorsports.  I liked the paint scheme of the Stavola Bros. Miller High Life cars.  I think I liked the look because my favorite drivers were Brett Bodine and the Allisons (1988 Daytona 500 was the first race I had ever watched) and that was Bobby Allison's paint scheme.

 

I remember him finishing third in the '89 Pannill Sweatshirts 500 at Martinsville, VA.  The reason I remember this so vividly is that I had taped that race on my parents' VCR and I'd watch the tape over and over, dozens of times.

 

Just three years ago I started building model race cars for the first time in years and I bought a kit of the Stavola Bros. Miller High Life car.  The decal set that came along with the kit gave the option of putting on Dick Trickle's no. 84, Mike Alexander's no. 12, or Bobby Hillin's no. 8.  The choice was easy- had to go with Dick Trickle.  So now when I look at that model car it will be with a bit of sadness.  The story of him calling 911 and letting the operator know what was going to happen was so, so brutally sad yet somehow congenial and polite.

 

I apologize for the long motorsports rant.  I just wanted to remember the man for the great driver he was.  My dad and stepmother met him once and he was the nicest guy to them, which fits in with pretty much every account of him.  He deserved much more than simply being a punchline.

 

Rest in peace Dick Trickle.

[Brandon]

Tampa Bay, the Angels, and NASCAR.

Shit man.