RIP Dick Trickle

[Garrett Duke]

NASCAR and the entire world of racing has lost a legend as Dick Trickle died yesterday (May 16, 2013) of an apparent suicide as his body was found lying next to his truck at the cemetery where his granddaughter is buried. Trickle is a Wisconsin native where he raced short track (believed to have raced UP to a thousand races!) before moving onto North Carolina and to NASCAR. He was made rookie of the year in NASCAR at the age of 48...raced 303 NASCAR Cup races and yet the best finish he has gotten in NASCAR was third place. Did win two Busch Series races (which is now called Nationwide Series.) Though Tickle didn't have the best success in the Cup series, he did seem to influence a lot of drivers, including Matt Kenseth, who is also from Wisconsin.

Here are a couple of good articles on Dick Trickle that I have read... NASCAR community mourns death of Dick Trickle

Victoria Trickle – NASCAR driver Dick Trickle’s Daughter (Thanks Hoss for the link. )

I personally can't recall watching Dick race, though his last Cup race was in 2002 I had heard somewhere so I probably have seen him...and his name did sound somewhat familiar when I first heard of this tragic news. This is just incredibly sad. Sad that Trickle felt the need to do this, sad for his family and friends for their incredible loss, and sad for all of his fans and other drivers that Trickle had influenced.

Dick was 71 years old.

Rest in peace Dick Trickle. You are greatly missed!