Retired NASCAR driver Richard "Dick" Trickle died on Thursday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Trickle was best known for his career as a short-track driver before transitioning in the 1990s to NASCAR's major events.
A phone call to a North Carolina 911 dispatcher said, "there would be a dead body and it would be his," the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a release. Their attempts to call back went unanswered.
Emergency personnel found a body lying near Trickle's pickup truck in Boger City's Forest Lawn Cemetery. Police believe he shot himself, according to CNN.
Trickle raced the short-track in the 1970s and 1980s. By the time he made his 1989 debut in NASCAR, he was 48-years-old and had more than 1,200 short-track wins under his belt.
He won the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year award, but he never had the kind of success in NASCAR that he had in the short-track. He won two Nationwide Series races and finished in the Sprint Cup series' top-five 15 times. He retired after the 2002 season.
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France released a statement on Thursday, which described the 71-year-old as "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."
Trickle, a Wisconsin native, moved to Lincoln County, North Carolina in the early 1990s. JS Online, based in Milwaukee, cited a report that Trickle never quite got over the loss of his granddaughter in 2001. She was buried in the cemetery where his body was found.
"Sad to hear of Dick Trickle," driver Joey Logano tweeted. "At some point we were all short trackers. He was the best."
