Truck weekend trifecta for Trickle

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Chris Trickle will be a man of many helmets at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, thanks to a Las Vegas corporation of many hotel-casinos.

The 24-year-old Las Vegan has cut a deal with Station Casinos Inc., that will enable him to enter all three races on Las Vegas Motor Speedway property this weekend.

* On Friday, Trickle will drive the Boulder Station/Star Nursery Chevrolet in the Star Nursery 150 presented by Miller Genuine Draft sportsman stock car race at the Las Vegas Speedway Park 3/8ths-mile paved oval.

* On Saturday -- provided all goes well in Friday qualifying -- Trickle will be behind the wheel of the spanking-new Texas Station Chevy in the Las Vegas 300K NASCAR Winston West Series season finale on the big LVMS tri-oval.

* And on Sunday, if his dream weekend comes to total fruition, Trickle's Palace Station Chevy will be among the 40 starters in the Carquest Auto Parts 420K NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series showdown at LVMS.

Trickle said his goal is to win Friday's race in the sportsman car, in which he feels most comfortable, and merely qualify for the other two, in vehicles in which he's not very well versed.

"It'll be my first time in the vehicles and first time on the track so it's going to be difficult," conceded Trickle, the nephew of NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Dick Trickle.

"I've got an aggressive and confident mind-set for the sportsman race. But the other two are going to be a real eye-opener, especially against guys who have been doing it for a long time."

Trickle hadn't seen his Winston West ride prior to Wednesday. He was hired by Seattle car owner Larry Pryor, who had hoped to drive the car himself before running out of sponsorship money.

Pryor said the car, which has been raced only once, is capable of running up front.

"It's a Hopkins chassis, which is the way to go at the Winston Cup level, and there's some good ponies in there, too," Pryor said of the engine. "I'm sure Chris will be be able to make the wheels turn on the thing."

Trickle has limited Winston West experience, having started third and finished fourth in a WW event at LVSP in 1994. He has a grand total of 10 laps in the truck, having missed the qualifying standard by .2 at Phoenix last weekend.

Chuck Trickle, Chris' father and team manager, is hoping the association with Station Casinos will continue beyond the weekend. The Trickles have been seeking a major sponsor since mounting a full-time NASCAR Southwest Tour effort in 1994.