Day 46: R.I.P. Dick Trickle

I've never been a fan of Nascar. I find watching cars go around and around and around incredibly boring. But every once in a great while I get sucked into a close race, or a spectacular crash, or even some hair pulling between drivers. I guess it's just the sports fan in me. Even though there's no ball involved.

So I feel I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I didn't express my condolences to the family of former Nascar driver, Dick Trickle, who passed away today from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. I had forgotten about the guy whose name makes me snicker every time I hear it until I saw him on a "funniest sports names" list just the other day.

The 71-year-old Trickle won somewhere in the vicinity of 1,200 races and was known as the winningest short track driver in history. In 1989, he was named Nascar Rookie of the Year—at age 48—hardly the normal age of a "rookie!"

A 911 call was received around noon today from a caller reporting that there would "be a dead body at the [local cemetery], and it would be the speaker's." Responders arrived at the scene to find Dick Trickle's lifeless body lying next to his pickup truck.

I'm not sure anyone (or at least anyone that's talking) knows what led to Trickle taking his own life, but it's sad... even if you're not a fan of car racing. R.I.P., Mr. Trickle.