NASCAR is a sport laden with some of the best stories anywhere in the world and former Cup Series champion Kyle Busch shared one on a recent episode of Kenny Conversation. Host Kenny Wallace seemed as attentive as he ever has as Rowdy explained the details of how the Busch family became big names in NASCAR. It turns out that it can be traced back to Dick Trickle and his nephew’s tragic shooting, which opened the doors for them.

How did Dick Trickle’s tragedy prove beneficial for the Busch family?

The conversation began with Kenny Wallace speaking to Kyle Busch about Dick Trickle, acknowledging him with words of appreciation for Rowdy’s dedication to his craft. The incident took place at the Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin, where Trickle saw Busch working on his race car and told Wallace, “That Kyle Busch is a racer.”

Rowdy was visibly pleased with such an honor from one of the greatest motorsports drivers America has ever seen but revealed that the Trickle family tragedy is what allowed the Busch family to prosper through Kurt Busch in the Southwest Tour many years ago.

“I actually knew Dick Trickle a little bit beforehand, obviously just following NASCAR and seeing him race in the Busch Series and the Cup Series and everything else. His brother Chuck lived in Las Vegas and his nephew Chris Trickle was racing out in the Southwest Tour and racing Late Models and stuff like that on the West Coast scene and was probably one of the next West Coast guys to make it big to go into NASCAR.”

“But unfortunately, he was shot in a drive-by shooting and never raced again but that moment was actually the turning point for the Busch family and our stature in Vegas. For Kurt to get into that Southwest Tour car that Chris was driving, to take it over, to run it to multiple wins and a championship and then that was the moment where Kurt got the call from Roush to go run in the Truck Series,” Rowdy revealed.

The rest, as they say, is history. However, for Kyle Busch, Dick Trickle was kind of like a man he took advice from and hung out with as friends. Rowdy spoke about the times he spent with Trickle and said that he always had a cigarette in one hand and either a coffee or a beer in the other, depending upon the situation.

Kyle Busch is an underrated late-model racing legend 

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Trickle was a legend in the world of late-model racing, and while he did not make much of an impact in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Busch has all the respect in the world for the great man. It just goes to show how deeply connected Rowdy is to his roots and that is always the mark of a great athlete.

“So like there’s a whole connection there with respect and everything we’ve had through that family and what they have meant to us and us being able to get to the big leagues. To spend some time with Dick when we were up in Wisconsin and to have him say those kinds of things to me, it was always fun to talk with him. There was always a coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.”

“If it was after the races, it was a Coors Light can in one hand and it was the cigarette in the other. He was tough, he was one of the iron men of the Late Model world, the ASA world and I don’t think he ever really got the stats in NASCAR that he probably would have hoped for but her was one of the best of the early days of all the ASA stuff and was highly respected,” Kyle Busch added.

Dick Trickle said his final farewell to this world 11 years ago but to this day, he is remembered as one of the greatest motorsports athletes in the country. And he deserves every single bit of that respect.

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