Retired NASCAR Driver Dick Trickle Commits Suicide

Former NASCAR driver Dick Trickle is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 71.

The Communications Center in Lincoln County, North Carolina received a call around noon Thursday (May 16) from someone who said there would be a dead body at the Forest Lawn Cemetary in Boger City, NC, and it would be the caller's body. Crews found Trickle's body near his pickup.

Trickle's call to 911 has been released:

Trickle ran over 300 races in his 24 year career before retiring in 2002. Unfortunately his name was the constant punchline of jokes over the years, but he was a tough competitor who liked to light up a cigarette in his car occasionally during a caution flag as you can see in the video below. That's how we'll remember him.