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May 16, 2013

Lincolnton, NC – Retired race car driver Richard “Dick” Trickle, 71, died today from an apparent self inflicted gun shot wound.

The incident occurred at 12:02 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery on Highway 150 East in Boger City.

The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call apparently from the victim that “there would be a dead body and it would be his “. Communications Center workers tried to place a return call to the number but did not get an answer.

The first emergency units arriving on the scene located the body lying near the victim’s pickup truck.

Trickle was a Lincoln County resident and had lived here since the early 1990’s

Sad ending for such a great driver. Heard of estimates of his win total to be over 1000. Once took the motor out of his tow vehicle to put in his car after he blew it up. Won the feature, put the motor back into his truck and left. If he would have made the move to Nascar Winston Cup a decade earlier, who knows what he could have done. Always rooted for underdogs like him, Dave Marcis, Jimmy Means, JD McDuffie and Morgan. Just sad really, I just assumed he was tearing it up somewhere down south on some short track.