Barnyard To Brickyard – The Rich Bickle Story is set to join the more than 50 titles offered by the Green Bay, Wisconsin, firm when released in July 2019. The book, currently in final edit and layout, chronicles the racing career of Bickle, an Edgerton, Wisconsin, stock car driver who has carved out a successful NASCAR and short-track record over the past forty years.
Bickle recounts his racing career with the assistance of author John Close, a thirty-year Wisconsin and NASCAR motorsports media and public relations specialist.
“This book will give people a much better appreciation of Rich’s career racing accomplishments and some of the things he had to do to achieve them,” Close states. “Best of all, he doesn’t hold back when it comes to describing some of the behind-closed-doors incidents of his NASCAR career or the free-wheeling lifestyle he experienced off the track.”
Barnyard to Brickyard – The Rich Bickle Story recounts the highs and lows of Bickle’s career, including competing against Wisconsin’s greatest short-track drivers including Dick Trickle, Tom Reffner, Joe Shear and many others. It also highlights his five victories in the “Daytona 500 of short-track stock car racing,” the Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Florida. Nobody else has won the event more than twice.
The book features several chapters dedicated to Bickle’s NASCAR career, including purchasing his first superspeedway car from Dale Earnhardt, and driving for Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Darrell Waltrip. It also includes stories about drivers Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Hamilton, Terry Labonte, Bobby Allison, Alan Kulwicki and other competitors from the 1990s heyday of NASCAR.
Finally, Barnyard to Brickyard – The Rich Bickle Story offers the driver’s unfiltered look at his racing career and doesn’t shy away from his reputation as a free spirit. He recounts some of his most memorable off-track parties, dangerous practical jokes, and epic confrontations with race officials, team owners and fellow competitors.
Presented in six-by-nine inch paperback and electronic reader formats, Barnyard to Brickyard – The Rich Bickle Story will feature more than 140 color and black/white photographs. The book is also scheduled to be released in the increasingly popular audio book format.
Bickle and Close will support the book with a national schedule of electronic and print media, as well as an appearance/book signing tour of several Wisconsin raceways, businesses, and media outlets July 16-27, 2019. A full schedule of tour appearances will be released in early June.
Presale dates for hard copy, electronic reader, and audio book format versions of Barnyard to Brickyard – The Rich Bickle Story will be announced soon.