Dick Trickle talking with Muskegon's Mike Garvey at Lowes Speedway in 2005
By Steve Kaminski Skaminsk@mlive.com
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Legendary short-track stock car driver Dick Trickle gave Grand Rapids area race fans a big scare one night at the Berlin Raceway in Marne nearly 25 years ago to the date.
Trickle died Thursday after apparently committing suicide, and as soon as word spread of the Wisconsin native’s passing, a number of Grand Rapids fans who attended the Berlin races on the evening of May 28, 1988, took to Facebook to reflect on Trickle’s career, including that near tragic night.
Trickle was competing in a traveling ARTGO race and backed his car into the third-turn retaining wall. Trickle’s car quickly erupted into flames. Trickle, however, escaped injury.
“I was at Berlin Raceway for an ARTGO race in the 80's,” wrote Jamie Hamm of Walker, who is the owner of Bonefied Customs, Inc. “Dick Trickle had a terrifying turn 3 crash, moments after the impact, FIRE broke out from the wreckage!
“I was horrified that Trickle was inside the car. I said to the person next to me that "I hope he got out"... The guy said "I'm fine". It was Trickle standing next to me in the infield just mere seconds after the crash! He stood here trying to light a broken cigarette right after the fire. R.I.P. Dick Trickle you will be missed.”
Greg Raymond was working for a Grand Rapids area radio station that covered the Berlin races every Saturday night back in the late 1980s, and he was roaming the pits with microphone in hand that night.
“I believe he was the greatest short track driver of all time,” wrote Raymond, who now resides in North Port, Fla. “He died today of a self inflicted gun shot wound. I still remember the look on his face when his car erupted in flames at the Berlin Raceway. I was a pit reporter that day. He was literally crawling off the track with his car in flames, and there I was with a live microphone on the air for an interview. He told me he would always remember that moment. I will as well. I pray for his family. He was 71.”
Trickle went on to find success in the NASCAR ranks after that night at Berlin, earning NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1989 at the age of 48.
Trickle returned to Berlin in May of 2003 to attend the track's Johnny Benson Jr. Tribute Night. Trickle met with fans and signed autographs.
