Image Credit: IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com

Late today we started receiving word that former NASCAR driver and motorsports legend Dick Trickle had passed away. Now it seems that the NASCAR star may have taken his own life.

Charlotte CBS affiliate WBTV is reporting that the 71 year-old placed a call in to 911 from the Forest Lawn Cemetery: 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. 

Dick (Richard) Trickle was a throw back to the mid 70’s era NASCAR racers. In the early 90’s while NASCAR was really starting to explode into mainstream media, trickle could still be caught on camera during the live broadcasts smoking a cigarette inside of his car and even had a cigarette lighter installed in his ride.

Even though he never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, he was always so close to breaking through – Trickle finished third on five different occasions.

Dick Trickle NASCAR Stats:

• 303 Cup series starts
• 15 top fives
• 36 top tens
• 1 pole
• Over 83,000 laps turned in competition.

This truly is a sad day for motorsports. From all of us at the Power Automedia family, our thoughts and prayers are with friends and family of this legendary man.