Rich Bickle Short-Track Weekend

NO REST FOR BICKLE ON WINSTON CUP OFF WEEKEND

HARRISBURG, NC (July 12, 1999) While most NASCAR Winston Cup drivers will head to the beach or the mountains when the tour takes a rare sabbatical this weekend, Rich Bickle will settle back in his favorite chair - the seat of a short-track stock car. Bickle, winner of nearly 250 short track main events in his 23-year racing career, will return to his racing roots in a trio of events. On Friday, July 16, Bickle will compete in a 100-lap event at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL. The Edgerton, WI. native will then jet northward to his home state where he will take on all challengers in the Miller Nationals at Slinger Speedway. He'll complete the short-track trifecta with a 250-lap event at Madison (WI) International Speedway Tuesday, July 20. "I've got a boat and I think Ive had it on the lake one time this summer," said Bickle. While I'd like to spend some time on the water this weekend, the truth is I'd rather be racing. The fact itll be at Pensacola, Slinger and Madison makes it that much sweeter." It's easy to see why Pensacola and Slinger rank among Bickles favorite tracks. Bickle has won the prestigious Snowball Derby at the Five Flags half-mile oval a record four times taking the title in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1998. Meanwhile, the high-banked Slinger quarter-mile track was Bickle's personal playground in the 1980s winning track championships there in 1983 and 1989. He also captured Nationals titles at Slinger in 1992 and 1996. "Most guys would kill to win the Snowball Derby once and I've been lucky enough to win it four times," stated Bickle, who will drive the Bickle/Smith Motorsports #45 G&G Family Auto Superstore stocker in the Friday Pensacola event. "For whatever reason, I always seem to run pretty well at Pensacola. This time, theyre running a 100-lapper and if you can win it and the Snowball Derby in December, it'll pay a $100,000 bonus. I hope we can get a win Friday so I can take a shot at winning a fifth Derby title and the big payday that goes with it. "Slinger might be my favorite track," Bickle continued. "It's a quarter-mile Bristol high-banked and very fast. A 2800-pound stock car gets around there in a little over 11 seconds. Put 28 to 30 cars out there at one time and you really have a great show. I grew up racing there against guys like Dick Trickle, Alan Kulwicki, Joe Shear and Ted Musgrave. If you could race and win at Slinger, you could race anywhere and do well." Bickle's big weekend will have also postscript, testing his #45 10-10-345 Tyler Jet Motorsports Winston Cup car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Monday and Tuesday, July 19-20. At the conclusion of the Indy test, Bickle will board a jet for the quick jump to Oregon, WI. where hell compete in a 250-lap short track event at Madison International Speedway Tuesday evening. "The Oregon track is only 20 miles from where I grew up in Edgerton," said Bickle. "Racing that close to home means I'll see a lot of family and old friends. Thats always fun plus Ive got thousands of laps at Madison and won championships there in 1985 and 1986. I guess you could say thats where I learned to race. Yeah, Id like to spend some time on the boat but, man, theres nothing like short-track racing. Im really looking forward to the next couple of weeks."