So sad, I had many good talks with Rick. Best story he told me how he used his kids swing set to make his first racecar frame. He said it broke in half during the race and flip his arse off. He always had time for his fans. God speed Rick.
Was on a race trip with Tom Corbin somewhere in the late 70s and we hung out with Mr. Ferkel quite a lot on the trip. Didn't cross his path much the rest of his career but he left a strong impressions on a teenager.
As a family we used to go to Atomic Speedway just south of Chillicothe, Ohio on a pretty regular basis back in the 70's. They knew when that number Zero would pull in that they were racing for second, he dominated at that track until the early 80s.
I was 8 years old when Eldora had it's first "Eldora Nationals" in 1978. I remember on the way there that Dad was telling me that the local guys that I was used to would struggle against the cars that would be at this race, but at the end of the night two guys that I knew were first and second- Rick Ferkel and a very young Jac Haudenschild. I figured our locals were the best in the world at that time, neither one was a weekly regular but they both would visit often.
