Richard "Dick" Trickle was an American race car driver. He raced for decades
around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the
way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All Pro, IMCA, NASCAR, and USAC.
In more than an estimated 2,200 races, Trickle logged one million laps and is
believed to have won over 1,200 feature races. He was billed as the winningest
short track driver in history. Trickle's career highlights include racing to 67
wins in 1972, winning seven ARTGO Championships in nine years between 1979
to 1987, winning back to back ASA AC-Delco Challenge championships in 1984
and 1985, the 1968 USAC Stock Car rookie of the year, and winning the 1989 NASCAR
Rookie of the Year award in what was then called the Winston Cup. Trickle was
nicknamed the "White Knight" as referenced by his sponsored SuperAmerica
paint scheme, when he raced in Wisconsin.
Early life Eight-year-old Dick Trickle was playing
tag with his cousin Verlon on the rafters in a house under construction
when he fell two floors to the basement and broke his hip. He was transferred
from a local hospital to the University of Wisconsin Hospital with slow
recovery. His recovery was so slow that the doctors gave up and sent him home,
presuming that he would be an invalid for the rest of his life. Trickle later
began to walk, although he walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life. He
spent three years in a cast from his waist to his foot. While he was
recovering as a nine-year-old, a friend took him to his first races at Crown
Speedway in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. "When I got there I
was flabbergasted," Trickle said. "I thought it was the neatest thing. Free
shows were nothing compared to it. That race never left my mind until I was 16.
I knew I was going to drive a race car when I was 16."
Trickle married his wife Darlene in 1961. They originally lived at his
grandmother's house for a while before they bought a trailer on someone else's
property. 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. Trickle spent his summers working for
area farmers, starting as a 13-year-old. He also spent a lot of time at the
Rudolph Blacksmith shop that his father was a partner in. While his father was
ill, his uncle Leonard ran the shop. "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". Trickle started out as the slowest car
in a 100-car field at a Stratford, Wisconsin short track race. He raced
that car at the end of the 1958 season and throughout the 1959 season, after
which time he built a 1956 Ford into race car using all of his knowledge that
he had acquired. In his first time out with the new car, he finished second in
the feature event at Griffith Park at Wisconsin Rapids. His competitors
checked the rules and found out that Trickle was too young to race, even
though he had already raced there for two years. He had to race at other
tracks for a year until he was old enough to race at his hometown track. He
raced for several years before deciding to race full-time. After working at
several jobs after high school, he had worked for two years for a local
telephone company. He had been uncomfortable climbing telephone poles
as he was uncomfortable with heights. He transferred to a different part of the
company. Two or three years later he discussed racing full-time with his wife
for he felt that he could be profitable, and they decided to make the change.
Trickle raced at over 100 events each year for over 15 years. He was racing at
Tomah-Sparta Speedway when Francis Kelly noticed that Trickle was always in
contention for winning the races, but he lost a lot of them because he had junky
motors. One day Kelly approached Trickle and asked him what it would cost for
Trickle to win. Trickle told him a new motor; Kelly asked Trickle to compile a
list of parts that he needed. When Kelly asked who would assemble the motor,
Trickle responded that he could but he was a junkyard mechanic. Trickle
suggested that Alan Kulwicki's father Jerry Kulwicki, who was building motors
for Norm Nelson's USAC stock cars, should build the engine.
A big turning point in Trickle's career happened at the National Short Track
Championship race at Rockford Speedway in 1966. Trickle said, "The cars in that
area were fancier and looked like they were ahead of us. The 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." 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 and Golden Sands Speedway.
He toured on the Central Wisconsin Racing Association tracks in 1971. The
circuit consisted of larger asphalt track racing on most nights of the week.
CWRA regular drivers were able to run over 100 events in a year, and most did
the tour with one car and one engine. Drivers would drive on Wednesday nights
at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway, Thursday nights at State Park Speedway
near Wausau, Friday nights at Capitol Speedway near Madison, La Crosse, or
Adams-Friendship, Saturday nights at Wisconsin Dells Speedway, and Sunday
nights at Griffith Park. Tuesday nights were available for special events.
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. On Friday nights he raced primarily at Capitol Speedway,
winning most nights that rain or his car did not break. Trickle went to
Adams-Friendship on July 23 and won the feature after setting the track record.
He held the track record at six tracks: Adams-Friendship, Capitol, Wausau,
Wisconsin Dells, and La Crosse. 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. Trickle started his 1972 season by
winning at Golden Sands Speedway near Wisconsin Rapids. Wisconsin's short
track racing season starts in April. By May 13, he had twelve wins in thirteen
events. He got this fifteenth win in twenty starts on May 27. Trickle became
the winningest short track driver that year when he won his 67th race.
Trickle won numerous special events outside of Wisconsin in 1973, including
a 200-lap feature at Rolla, Missouri in April, following by winning a 50-lap
feature the following day at I-70 Speedway near Odessa, Missouri. In May
he won a 50-lapper at Springfield, Missouri and two more features at I-70
Speedway. Trickle used his purple 1970 Ford Mustang to win at the Minnesota
Fair and at Rockford Speedway in September. He had a total of 57 wins in
1973. 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." 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.
In 1982, Trickle won track championship at State Park Speedway in Wausau where
he started out the season by winning the first two features and seven total. He
also won the track championship at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway after
winning three events in August. That season he won his first Miller 200
special event at the Milwaukee Mile. Trickle started racing out of state a
lot more in 1983. Of all of Trickle's victories, his best memory was winning
the 1983 World Crown 300 in Georgia. "It took three weeks of preparation and a
lot of determination," he said. "It was the biggest payday of my career up to
that point." He beat Jim Sauter by two car-lengths at the season opener, and
won three straight races in May. After winning on June 1, LaCrosse business
raised a $700 bounty for anyone who could beat him. Trickle skipped the
following week, and returned the week after to lose to Steve Burgess. He did
not win as much at State Park, but he did win the track championship. Trickle
won ASA races at Coeburn, Virginia and Cayuga, Ontario in 1984, as well as the
Red, White, and Blue state championship series at WIR and the Slinger Nationals
at Slinger. = Regional and national touring career=
Trickle raced in United States Automobile Club stock cars in 1968, and
he won the series' rookie of the year award.
NASCAR career In 1989 Trickle made his full schedule
debut driving the #84 Miller High Life Buick for Stavola Brothers Racing. He
had raced an occasional race during the 1970s and 1980s. He was Rookie of the
Year in NASCAR's Winston Cup at age 48, becoming the oldest driver in Winston
Cup history to do so. After being given the Rookie of the Year trophy at the
NASCAR Awards banquet, he quipped "I guess I’d just like to thank everyone
who gave a young guy like me a chance". His best career Winston Cup finish was
third. He started 303 races, with 15 Top 5 and 36 Top 10 finishes.
In 1990, he won the Winston Open in the #66 TropArtic Pontiac. It was a
non-points All-Star event for drivers who did not win in the previous year. He
beat Rob Moroso by 8 inches, the smallest margin of victory at the event.
He also won his only career Cup pole at Dover Downs International Speedway. In
the middle of the 1991 season he went to drive the #24 Team III Racing Pontiac.
His best finish was 6th at Dover International Speedway. In 1992 he
teamed up once again with the Stavola Brothers, driving the #8 Snickers Ford.
In 1993 he drove the #75 Carolina Pottery Ford for Butch Mock Motorsports
and then the #41 Manheim Auctions Chevy for Larry Hedrick Motorsports.
Part of his popularity stemmed from his unusual, double-entendre name. ESPN's
Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann often made it a point to mention where he
finished whenever NASCAR highlights were featured on SportsCenter. He was either
referred as Mr. Trickle or "The Man". He was also widely noted for having drilled
a hole in his safety helmet so that he could smoke while racing, and for
installing cigarette lighters in his race cars. Trickle was allowed by NASCAR
to smoke in the race car during yellow flag periods, and in the 1990 Winston
500, Trickle was seen on live television by the in-car camera lighting up and
smoking a cigarette. Trickle even made fun of his lack of
success in NASCAR's top-level series in a 1997 TV commercial for NAPA Auto
Parts. In it, Trickle announces a contest where fans can win $100,000 if
they pick the winner of that year's NAPA 500 race. "A little tip...it's gonna be
me!" he says, as an on-screen graphic points out "Dick is 0 for 243 in Cup
races". "I think we get champagne," says Trickle.
Dick also raced in the Busch Series, where he won two races. He had 158
career starts, with 24 Top 5 and 42 Top 10 finishes. He made his Busch Series
debut in 1984. Through the 2000s, Trickle continued to
race in occasional events in Wisconsin, including the 2001 and 2007, Slinger
Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway and in the ASA Midwest Tour.
Legacy The La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway
created the Dick Trickle 99 race, a 99 lap Super Late Model event during its
annual Oktoberfest race weekend. Wisconsin International Raceway has
named a building in Turn 2 the "Dick Trickle Pavilion". Trickle served as the
de facto Grand Marshal of the Slinger Nationals after he retired until his
death. His crashes at the Lake Placid
bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track at the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge has
that turn named the Trickle Turn. Death
Trickle died May 16, 2013, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The incident occurred at 12:02 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City,
North Carolina. The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call,
apparently from the victim, 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." Police attempted to call his phone back but
there was no response. Trickle was found dead beside his pickup truck. His
granddaughter, who died in a car accident, was buried in the same
cemetery. 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." 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." 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."
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. 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. The group is collecting money
including securing the title sponsorship of a TUNDRA Super Late Model race at
Golden Sands Speedway. Wins in major series
Although he won no points-paying races in NASCAR Winston Cup, he was very
successful elsewhere: 1 NASCAR Winston Open
2 NASCAR Busch Series wins 32 American Speed Association wins
68 ARTGO Challenge Series wins 2 NASCAR Southwest Tour wins
2 USAC wins Motorsports career results
= NASCAR= (key)
Winston Cup Series Busch Series
Bibliography Notes
References Grubba, Dale. The Golden Age of
Wisconsin Auto Racing. Oregon, Wisconsin: Badger Books. ISBN
1878569678. External links
Dick Trickle driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Dick Trickle elegy at SB Nation