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SHORT TRACK MODELS by Tom Faletti Dick Trickle's "WHITE KNIGHT" 1976 Ford Grenada

decals by BULLRING GRAPHIX!

"Dick Trickle is the most legendary short track stock car driver in North America. In the upper midwest he is a true icon, and in Wisconsin is second only to the Green Bay Packers in popularity. Dick started racing in 1958 at the age of 16 and amassed 1200 feature wins during the course of his 40+ year career. This number of victories is quite accurate because he started racing professionally in the early 60's and out of necessity, his wife Darlene kept careful records.

Trickle often ran 100-120 events a year, because in Wisconsin, then as now, racing goes on 5-6 nights a week. From Canada to Florida, from New York to California, Trickle was the favorite when he pulled into the pits. And as often as not, he won. He and Tom Reffner (a childhood friend, both from Rudolph, WI) jointly hold the United States single season record of 67 feature victories, Trickle in 1972, and Reffner in an Ed Howe Javelin in 1975. As if that's not enough, Dick raced snowmobiles professionally from the mid 60's through the late 70's with the likes of Jacques Villanueve, Sr. and Yvon Duhamel. He was a Yamaha factory driver in the 70's.

The various Trickle stories are legendary, and can fill a book. His determination was unmatched. Often he and the crew rebuilt a car wrecked in a heat race, and had it ready for the feature, when others would have loaded up and gone home. And there is the the time they changed an engine on the open hauler while on the way to the track! Many, if not most nights, Dick would get to the track late as time trials were wrapping up. He'd show up with driver's suit on, back the car off the hauler, and go straight onto the track for qualifying, frequently setting fast time. And in the midwest, the races were inverted, fast cars started at the back! And most of the feature races were 25-50 laps!

Dick ran Fords from the very beginning of his career. His famous 69-70 Mustangs being the most successful of his cars. MPC issued his Mustang as part of their Super Stocker series kits in the mid 70's. Dick said the big-block Ford engines were the key to his early success, he really knew them inside and out. In about 1973-74 most short tracks started a weight rule. The cars had to weigh 8lbs/cubic inch, which spelled the end of the big blocks. At the same time, others started buying manufactured chassis (Ed Howe, etc.), and engines (Ron Neal of Prototype Racing Engines, etc.), which made them much more competitive. By 1975-76, which Trickle says was the low point of his career, he was going broke trying to stay competitive with his home-built Fords.

Trickle's Ford Granada is very notable and well remembered in the midwest, even though Dick only ran the car for a few months. This car is the first chassis he purchased, rather than home-built. It was built by Glenn Bopp from the St. Louis area. This was also Dick's first white car, all of his earlier cars were purple. With this car he became 'The White Knight' rather than the 'The Purple Knight'. The new car set fast time the first time off the hauler at Capitol Speedway in Madison, WI. Again at Capitol for a Sunday afternoon special show later in 1976, Trickle arrived late as usual. His first qualifying lap was fast time, but on his second lap his throttle stuck going into the third turn. Tha car sailed into the wall, flipped and slid down into the infield. Dick scrambled out of the car, apparently OK, but if I remember correctly, he may have broken a rib or two. That was the end of the Granada, and for the rest of that year he ran one of his old Mustangs. In 1977 Dick went with a Pontiac Firebird with a Bemco chassis, and his career took off again.

I have watched Trickle race since the late 60's, and he is definitely my favorite. I built his Mustang before the MPC kit was introduced. But doing his Granada was a real challenge because I knew of no Granada kit or promo that had ever been done. I finally decided to convert the Revell/Monogram '82 'square' T-Bird Winston Cup car. While the two cars look similar, I had to change every aspect of the body to convert it to the Granada. I also converted both bumpers and the grille.

The rear fender flares are from an old AMT Mercury Capri II kit. The front fender flares are from sheet styrene. For window glass I used the clear acetate from a preformed package that so many items come in these days.

For the chassis I used the cup chassis from the kit. I rebuilt the rear clip with Evergreen styrene to accomodate a leaf spring suspension, quick change rear, and scratch built the fuel cell. I added Evergreen rectangular tubing to the frame rails so they would be exposed as in the real car. I also modified the cage to move the main hoop back to the correct location. And I scratch built the 'vee' shaped dash to match the actual car. The interior sheet metal was made from sheet styrene. The front tires are kit tires, while the rear tires are the front tires from a 1/20 Tamiya F1 kit, as are the Goodyear tire decals. The Weld Wheels are from Norm of Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland.

The engine was moderately detailed with plug wires, oil lines, throttle return spring and throttle rod. Also added overflow tube, radiator hoses, and brake lines.

The body was primed with Tamiya White Primer and then sanded. The paint is Tamiya Pure White with several Tamiya clear coats. The Bullring Graphix decals were generously created by Rod Mcleod and Les Smirle"