Rich Bickle
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| Born: | May 13, 1961 | |
| Birthplace: | Edgerton, Wisconsin | |
| Awards: | None | |
| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | Unemployed | |
| 2001 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 56th | |
| Best Cup Position: | 38th - 1999 (Winston Cup) | |
| First Race: | 1989 All Pro Auto Parts (Charlotte) | |
| First Win: | - | |
| Last Win: | - | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 0 | 3 | 0 |
| All stats current as of August 2, 2005. | ||
Rich Bickle (born May 13, 1961 in Edgerton, Wisconsin) is a journeyman NASCAR driver. He is currently unemployed. Bickle, who has never completed a full season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, has a long and prestigious history in short track racing.
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[edit] Early career
Bickle was brought into the sport as a child, when he watched his father, Rich Sr., race throughout Wisconsin. The little Bickle began racing motocross at the tender age of five. After winning the 250cc championship when he was 16, he switched to race stock cars at Jefferson Speedway. He won 230 races over the next few years at various short tracks, such as Slinger Super Speedway, Lake Geneva Raceway, and Wisconsin International Raceway. In 1986 he won 16 times competing against legends such as Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace, and Dick Trickle.
[edit] ASA
In 1990, he made his debut in the American Speed Association, a Midwest-based racing organization based primarily in short tracks. He finished runner up to Johnny Benson in Rookie of the Year standings.(Ironically, Benson would take over Bickle's old Cup ride in 2000.)
[edit] NASCAR Winston Cup
Bickle made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in 1989 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in his self-owned, unsponsored #02 Buick. He finished 39th out of 42 cars after his engine expired 37 laps into the race. He made his first start in the Daytona 500 the next year when, once again driving his own underfunded Oldsmobile, and finished 28th, just five laps down. Bickle competed in 11 events over the next three years(leading one lap at Charlotte in 1993). 1994 marked a then career-high in terms of starts, driving ten races, most of them for Harry Melling. After years of limited starts, Bickle made the full-time jump to Cup in 1998, driving the #98 Thorn Apple Valley Ford Taurus for Cale Yarborough, replacing Greg Sacks who had been critically injured in an accident at Texas. Bickle had two top-five qualifying efforts and finished a career-best 4th at Martinsville. When the sponsorship went away, Bickle signed with Tyler Jet Motorsports to drive the #45 10-10-345 Lucky Dog Pontiac. It was an up-and-down year for Bickle and the team; Bickle posted top-10s at the Pontiac Excitement 400 and the Pocono 500. However he had trouble[qualfiying for races, and after the Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington, he was released from the team. Bickle drove some for Melling Racing that year. In 2000, Bickle did substitute duty for Joe Bessey's team, and drove one race for Morgan-McClure Motorsports the following year, in addition to driving once for Midwest Transit Racing.
[edit] NASCAR Busch Series
Bickle has found considerably more success in the lower levels of NASCAR than he has in Winston Cup. He made his Busch Series debut in 1993 at Atlanta, finishing 27th with engine faliure. Bickle's best season in the Busch Series was 1994, where won one pole and had four top-10 finishes in a limited schedule. In 2001, he made his first full-time run in the Busch Series, driving the #59 Kingsford Chevy, and competed in 27 events before he was released. He has run only one Busch Series race since then.
[edit] NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Bickle began racing in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1996 for Petty Enterprises, winning two poles, having 9 top-10 finishes and wound up a solid 11th in points. For 1997, he switched to the #17 Diehard Chevrolet owned by Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, and the combination was an instant success. Bickle started four races on the pole position(winning three of them), and when the checkered flag fell on the season, he was second in championship points. Since then he has run a limited schedule in the trucks, the most starts he's had in a season since then is twelve in 2003.
[edit] Personal
Bickle is single. However, he is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan and follows them whenever he can. He also likes riding his Harley-Davidson, restoring and building hot rods and adding to his antique beer can collection. He frequently races at special events at his home tracks in Wisconsin.
