( CNN ) -- Richard `` Dick '' Trickle -- who parlayed a legendary reputation as a short-track driver into a full-time career on stock car racing 's biggest stages in the 1990s -- died Thursday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound , a North Carolina sheriff 's office said . He was 71 . A Lincoln County dispatcher received a call -- believed to have been placed by Trickle -- that `` there would be a dead body and it would be his , '' that county 's sheriff 's office said in a news release . There was no answer when authorities tried to call the number back . Emergency units went to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City and found a body lying near Trickle 's pickup truck . The Wisconsin-born Trickle raced during the 1970s and 1980s , then broke through as a full-time and widely recognized NASCAR driver in 1989 . By that time , according to a Sports Illustrated article , the 48-year-old grandfather of two had won some 1,200 stock car competitions in 31 years of racing . He settled in Lincoln County , in central North Carolina , in the early 1990s , according to the sheriff 's office . Though Trickle never managed a victory in NASCAR 's premier Sprint Cup series , he did have 15 top-five finishes and won two Nationwide Series races before his retirement in 2002 . Some got to know him thanks to frequent references on ESPN 's SportsCenter , with then co-anchor Keith Olbermann tweeting Thursday that `` no sports figure Dan ( Patrick and ) I had fun with took it more graciously . In fact , gratefully . '' In a statement Thursday , NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France described Trickle as `` a legend in the short-track racing community , particularly in his home state of Wisconsin , and he was a true fan favorite . '' `` Personalities like Dick Trickle helped shape our sport , '' France said . `` He will be missed . '' Past and present NASCAR drivers , like Mark Martin , similarly reacted with sadness Thursday to the news . `` At some point we were all short trackers , '' tweeted Joey Logano . `` He was the best . # RIPDickTrickle . ''
NEW : Mark Martin , Joey Logano , Keith Olbermann and others salute the late NASCAR driver . Richard `` Dick '' Trickle , a veteran racer , burst on the NASCAR scene in 1989 . He was killed at Daytona International Speedway during practice for the 1990 Daytona 500 race when his car slammed into another vehicle. They find Trickle 's body , dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound .