You have to remember that, with the exception of the Daytona 500 in 1969, most if not all of Trickle's ventures out side of weekly racing and ARTGO, ASA and All-PRO were in cars not owned by him. When (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) had a hand in the build or the set-up his cars usually flew.
Here's the 1972 record setting wins... remember these were just feature wins.
I want to thank Krooser for starting this thread. This is a dirt racing forum and some great things were brought up in this post. I knew D!ck on a personal level, not especially well but like so many many others I did know him personally. Many times I got the chance to go to the shop and just hang out for a few minutes and watch and BS. I think the first time was when he brought home the 1976 Bopp Chassis Ford Granada. The car ran very well out of the box but didn't live long as it was destroyed later in the summer at Madison when the throttle stuck. Other visits through the years at the shop and in the pits at different shows and I can tell you - he always took the time to visit one on one and treat you like a friend. This was a great person. This is what a bunch of his fans really understood. D!ck was this total package of being the great race car driver and awesome human being.
When D!ck moved south I lived in Wis Rapids and played in rec league volleyball. D!ck's daughter Vickie was my ref and she would fill me in on everything going on down in NASCAR. She was terrific to me and so many others who just loved her dad and she ran the fan club. As a race car driver he was my hero. Those early days when I was a kid, that guy won everywhere, and against great local competition (Reffner, Miller, Back, Detjens, Marzofka, Watson, Shear, etc.) and often starting in the back like most fast timers did.
There was a racing historian who passed away a few years back in Wisconsin, his name was Bob Bergeron. He tried cataloging the wins and he fell short of the 1200 number. Who cares. Even D!ck probably thought the number might have been a little inflated. What ever it was, it was a very very large number and most were not gimmes. This guy was one of the best racers out there. In the era he came from most guys built their own stuff. It wasn't until later on that he bought off the shelf and even after that he put his own tweaks on cars. When he ventured out and toured he had to run against the very best (Senneker, Eddy, Butch Miller, Larry Phillips, etc).
There is a pedestal for those very best short tracks aces and he is up at the top. Someone mentioned Jeff Purvis, another Joe Shear. Those guys were great. I'd put Larry Phillips, Gary Balough, Junior Hanley, Bob Senneker and few others in that same conversation. We all know guys like Billy Moyer and Scott Bloomquist and some others will never be equaled for what they achieved on the dirt tracks over their careers either. I've seen every one of the mentioned drivers race at one time or another and boy do I feel lucky for it. It was great time to be a race fan in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Throw Richie Evans' name into the mix for GOAT. 9 NASCAR modified championship, over 400 wins (that they can document), and in 1980, won 52 races in 84 starts.
I was at Martinsville when this wreck occurred with Geoff Bodine, coming to the checkered, and was one of the first at the car when he stopped. He took his helmet off and said "Did I win?" His crew chief Billy Nacewicz said "you know darn well you did." Classic Richie!
The last words he heard before bloomer kicked him out of his race shop. Lol
Actually dip (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) I am not a Bloomquist fan. I don't root for him and I don't root against him. It is very plain to see that you have lil Bobby jism all over your face though.
Actually dip (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) I am not a Bloomquist fan. I don't root for him and I don't root against him. It is very plain to see that you have lil Bobby jism all over your face though.
Easy there Bradley thats PAPA BEAR OF 4M your talkn about.😁
I mostly went to see Trickle race on asphalt , but I did get to see trickle run on dirt with his asphalt Mustang. He had to start in last place to earn the money put up by the promoter to win the payout offered by the promoter. Trickle would pass cars quickly by running the outside to get to the front. He could have won a lot of dirt track races if he had a car built for dirt tracks, no doubt.
As far as doing well in Nascar , I remember Trickle putting other top drivers cars in the race by qualifiying the car for them. Trickle had a way of getting more out a race car than any driver I know of.
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