Short-track legend Dick Trickle wouldn't have committed suicide were he not in such severe pain, his brother told ESPN.com on Friday. Trickle, 71, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday in the same cemetery where his granddaughter is buried in Boger City, N.C.
A day earlier, according to Chuck Trickle, the man regarded by many as stock car racing's greatest local short-track racer went to Duke University for more tests to help determine what was causing pain under his left breast.
"Last week he told me, 'I don't know how much longer I can put up with this,'" Chuck Trickle, 68, said by phone from Las Vegas. "They were going to put something in him to help with the pain. It was a five-step process. I don't know how far along he was.
"He must have just decided the pain was too high, because he would have never done it for any other reason."
The Lincoln County sheriff's deparment said the incident occurred at 12:02 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery off Highway 150. The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call, apparently from Trickle himself, that "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Center workers attempted to replace a return call to the number but did not receive an answer.
Emergency units found Trickle's body near his pickup truck when they arrived.
A private ceremony for family members is being planned for Monday, Chuck said. Trickle is survived by his wife, Darlene, and three children - Vicky, Tod and Chad.
Chuck said he hasn't been notified of the content of the note found at the cemetery with his brother. "I'm at a loss for words," he said. "I wish I knew the answer. This is not a thing he would do. I believe the pain was the problem."
Chuck said he didn't realize how bad the pain was until last week when his brother cursed during a phone conversation. "He never cussed in his life," Chuck said. "The type of person he is, he never was sad. There were some words that came out last week that were not very good."
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