I'll get some flack for this since it doesn't apply to dirt late models....
Before you guys argue who is the greatest of all time in dirt racing take a peek at this deal... D*ck Trickle's 1972 schedule and the position he finished in each race.
Compare this to what is happening in dirt track racing today. Maybe your idea if who is a great driver will temper just a little when you see what this man accomplished so many years ago.
And I'm not trying to compare Trickle to his contemporaries in the dirt track world back then. There are plenty of names we could all mention that were truly great shoes or even just fan favorites. No disrespect intended.
And don't think Trickle didn't have any competition... he ran against the best weekly racers and traveling drivers of the day. He won 25 lap features and 300 lap main events.... on every size track and any confiuration.
I believe it was 72 feature wins... how many heat races I don't know. Plenty would be my estimate.
Late 70's early 80's I visited with Larry Phillips at his shop in Springfield. I ran thru there hundreds of times headed out west. Always had a nice visit and learned so much...
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I only got to see Trickle race a few times, usually at Craig Road in Las Vegas where his brother lives for the fall open show but his accomplishments were well known. The astonishing totals he put up, to me, were surpassed by the number of shows he ran, nearly every day of the week all season. Few areas of the country offer that opportunity then or now. I spent a few years on the road building factories in the Ohio, PA, Indiana area in the '60s and got to run 3 or 4 times a week, mostly with no help, and it's both exhausting and a lot of fun...for a young guy.
Mr. Trickle ran some dirt races back in the day but unfortunately for me it was before my time. He ran all three Indiana/Illinois one mile dirt tracks (Indiana State Fairgrounds, Springfield & Du Quoin) with the old USAC stock car division at one time or another with limited success. Of the 5 or 6 starts on dirt he had only 1 top 10. Whatever he lacked on dirt he more than made up for it on asphalt!
I did have the honor of seeing Mr. Trickle race at Michigan and Daytona when he was racing with NASCAR. He made the most of the Cup rides he had in those days. We used to run into Mr. Trickle at the bar of the hotel he stayed at on the strip during February Speedweeks in Daytona. Friendliest driver you could ever hope to meet. He never failed to take time to have a beer with race fans!!
I remember drinking beer with Trickle after one of our 'specials' at Capital... I offered to buy him a beer but the beer stand was out of Coors... his sponsor. I told him I coule fix that. I went into the beer stand and poured a Pabst into his Coors can... when he took a sig he said "that tastes's familiar'. Of course he was sponsored by Pabst for years...
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If you take some time and look at the results for a lot of the races in the link that klemmabyna shared, you'll see that Trickle wasn't running against a bunch of nobodies. Most die hard racing fans know that and understand how insanely tough the short tracks in the midwest were and can be.
Then if you make note of a few names it could leave you wondering if Marv Marzofka (or a few others) would've been as highly regarded as Trickle was if Trickle never raced. If Trickle has the most wins in a career then Marzofka might have the most 2nd place finishes in a career.
The great thing about Trickle was that he usually set fast time in qualifying and as a result had to start dead last in the weekly feature races in Wis. In a 25 to 30 lap feature , you have to really hustle to win the feature when you start last. By the way, I have seen Trickle race his asphalt car on dirt where he was required to start last in the feature for promoters who paid him to see what he could do against dirt racers. He passed a lot of dirt late model racers with his asphalt Mustang.
I remember Trickle running some tracks around my area, Mazon, IL and Grundy County [Morris, IL] back in the day. Last time had to be late 70's or early 80's at Grundy. He was in the "White Knight" Super America car and dominated the race. Can't remember who was in the "Black Knight" car at that time, but it was basically a two car race between them.
I remember Trickle running some tracks around my area, Mazon, IL and Grundy County [Morris, IL] back in the day. Last time had to be late 70's or early 80's at Grundy. He was in the "White Knight" Super America car and dominated the race. Can't remember who was in the "Black Knight" car at that time, but it was basically a two car race between them.
Black Knight was Johnny Bogeman (SIC?) and the Blue Knight was Tom Reffner. Jimmy Bach was called the "All Night" since he could usually be found having a beer and cigarette at 4AM after everyone else was in bed....
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Originally Posted by Crash 4
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