49 Facts About Rich Bickle

The younger Rich Bickle began racing motocross at the age of five.

Rich Bickle went behind his father's barn to pick out one of his father's old racecars and selected a beat-up 1968 Pontiac GTO.

Rich Bickle built a 1972 Ford Torino with a 302 cubic inch motor that year, which he began using at mid-season.

Rich Bickle used the car to win a heat and the semi-feature at Columbus 151 Speedway in the car's first night out, and it ran well at Lake Geneva Raceway and Rockford Speedway.

Rich Bickle was named the Sportsman Rookie of the Year at Lake Geneva and Rockford.

Rich Bickle turned his Rockford car into a late model in 1981 and raced the car to a Top 5 points finish at Lake Geneva and ninth place at Capital.

Rich Bickle raced the car at Slinger Super Speedway and selected ARTGO races.

Rich Bickle won his first late model feature that season at Lake Geneva.

Rich Bickle had won a couple of features and had set fast time at Wisconsin Dells Speedway.

Rich Bickle focused on winning Slinger's track championship that year and he finished in the Top 5 in 17 of 18 features that season to win the track championship.

Rich Bickle won his first half-mile feature at WIR even though he had raced at Capital for several seasons.

Rich Bickle updated his car, hauler, engine, and equipment for 1985 with a new sponsor.

Rich Bickle won the season opener at Capital and several other features later in the season en route to winning the track championship.

Rich Bickle had a good season at WIR and raced well at the ARTGO races that he ran.

Rich Bickle had 17 feature wins that season and he ran well at Slinger, WIR, and Wisconsin Dells.

Rich Bickle won a $15,000-to-win event at Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1987.

Butch Miller, who had led most of the race, went in for a pit stop with 60 laps left, and Rich Bickle and Ted Musgrave gained the lead.

The race was halted for rain and hail with 46 laps left, and it was declared over with Rich Bickle receiving the win.

Rich Bickle had won 230 races at various short tracks, including Lake Geneva Raceway, Wisconsin International Raceway, and late model track championships at Slinger Super Speedway in 1983 and 1989.

Rich Bickle won the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway a record five times: 1990,1991,1996,1998 and 1999.

In 1990, Rich Bickle made his debut in the American Speed Association, a Midwest-based racing organization based primarily in short tracks.

Rich Bickle finished runner up to Johnny Benson in Rookie of the Year standings.

Rich Bickle finished 39th out of 42 cars after his engine expired 37 laps into the race.

Rich Bickle made his first start in the Daytona 500 the next year when, driving his own underfunded Oldsmobile, and finished 28th, five laps down.

Rich Bickle competed in 11 events over the next three years.

Rich Bickle had two top-five qualifying efforts and finished a career-best 4th at Martinsville and delivered an emotional post-race interview.

In 2000, Rich 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.

Rich Bickle found considerably more success in the lower levels of NASCAR than he did in Winston Cup.

Rich Bickle made his Busch Series debut in 1993 at Atlanta, finishing 27th with engine failure.

Rich Bickle has run only one Busch Series race since then.

Rich 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.

Rich Bickle started four races on the pole position, winning three.

Rich Bickle nearly won a fourth race at Sonoma until both a chaotic next-to-last restart occurred as well as rookie Boris Said retaliating against Bickle for contact during that restart; foiling the race for Bickle.

Rich Bickle had owned an auto customization at his racing shop in Mooresville.

Rich Bickle began concentrating more being a businessman and by 2012 he operated three businesses.

Rich Bickle owned a hot rod shop in Janesville, Wisconsin, a bar in Madison, Wisconsin, and a drive-shaft business in Madison.

Rich Bickle is co-owner of a controversial strip club in Bristol, WI.

Rich Bickle built a new chassis that he raced from 2005 until 2010.

Rich Bickle was dissatisfied with the car's performance and acquired one of his early 2000s cars back for the 2011 National Short Track Championship at Rockford Speedway.

Rich Bickle was second fastest in practice and raced in the top five during the feature.

Rich Bickle announced that 2013 would be his final season of racing stock cars; competing for the full season in the ARCA Midwest Tour, he returned to Slinger Super Speedway where he won his fourth Slinger Nationals after the apparent winner, Steve Apel, was disqualified.

Rich Bickle battled for the lead in the middle of the 2013 National Short Track Championship race and ended up finishing fourth.

Rich Bickle ended his career on the following weekend finishing 22nd at the Oktoberfest 100 ARCA Midwest Tour race at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on October 6,2013.

Rich Bickle came out of retirement in 2015 - racing at the Slinger Nationals, Madison, and several races at Wisconsin International Raceway.

Rich Bickle started the 2021 year racing a snowmobile in January at Eagle River, Wisconsin.

Rich Bickle won the Outlaw 600 class feature at the Vintage World Championship Snowmobile Derby.

On May 2,2021, Rich Bickle won the annual Joe Shear Classic ARCA Midwest Tour race at Madison International Speedway.

Rich Bickle was chasing the weekly Super Late Model season track championship at Slinger; on the following Sunday night he won the final race and finished second to Luke Fenhaus for the championship.

Rich Bickle made his final career start at the 2021 Snowball Derby in early December.