Support Dick Trickle Memorial Project at the Iola Old Car Show

Iola Old Car Show & Swap Meet welcomes the Dick Trickle Memorial Project during Iola ’15. They will be located west of the tower near the Teamed to Learn Exhibit. With the theme of the Pace and Race they thought they would be a perfect fit for Iola Old Car Show.

The idea of the Dick Trickle Memorial was born in Rudolph Wisconsin, the same small town where Dick Trickle grew up. Gary Erickson, one of Dick’s classmates, had been kicking the idea around for a few years. Then when Dick’s untimely death occurred Gary presented his idea to Tom Reffner and Marv Marzofka, two of Dick’s former racing cohorts. Both Marv and Tom traded enough paint with Dick over the years to paint a battle ship. After a few brief conversations the idea took shape and plans began to fall into place. After meetings with both the Village Board of Rudolph and the Rudolph Lions Club it was agreed that the Memorial would be located in the Rudolph Community Park.

One of the main reasons that the Memorial is being located in Rudolph is that is where Dick began his illustrious racing career. When Dick was a small child he suffered a severe injury in a fall from a garage that was under construction (apparently he was a bit of a daredevil at a young age). Dick missed a year of school and there was concern that he may never walk again. At some point after that recovery he was taken to a stock car race at Crown’s Speedway just outside of Wisconsin Rapids by a neighbor. That was the day that Dick Trickle set his sights on being a race car driver.

Not only did he become a racer, he became the King of Short Track Racing and is known as the Winningest Stock Car Driver in America logging a reported 1200 wins throughout the Midwest. His racing celebrity status did not end with that accomplishment though. He went on to become the Rookie of the Year in both USAC as well as NASCAR. His racing accomplishments can’t be listed in this short briefing, it would take a book to do that.

Plans, engineering, and fund raising are currently in progress for the Memorial in honor of racing legend Dick Trickle. As mentioned earlier the Memorial will be constructed in the Community Park in Rudolph Wisconsin where Dick was raised and began his illustrious career from very humble beginnings. The Directors are very busy finalizing plans and primarily raising funds. Thus far the fund raising campaign has mainly been grass roots donations from friends, fans, competitors, and other supporters of Dick.

Another source of revenue has been the sale of Dick Trickle memorabilia. This year the primary fund raising task will be raffling a 2015 Ford Mustang GT purchased from Mark Martin Ford in Batesville, Ark. If the winner of the car so chooses they can pick up the car in Batesville and Mark will present the car in person as well as autograph it. If not, the car will be shipped and Mark will autograph a plaque and include it.

The official ground breaking ceremony for the Memorial was held in May 2014 and since then, site preparation and sub surface drainage work has been performed.

The highlights of the Memorial (pictured above) will be a slightly larger than life bronze statue of Dick waving to a crowd like he did so often. Behind the statue of Dick will be two semi circular walls. The wall immediately behind Dick will be a wall with various sized tiles with the names and words of donors. The size of the tile will be will be determined by the dollar amount of the donation. The second semi circular wall will display 70 plus pictures with narrative of some of the race cars that Dick drove throughout his very successful career. These pictures will also be sponsored by donors and the size of a given picture will be determined by the dollar amount of the donation.

The mission or purpose of this Memorial is to exemplify how one man can overcome a serious childhood injury, set very high goals and achieve them by dedicating his life to competing and succeeding in the world of stock car racing. Tax deductible donations can be made through the Incourage Community Foundation of Wisconsin Rapids.

For further details visit Facebook or refer to the project website: www.dicktricklememorialproject.com.