Nichels

Template:Short description Nichels Engineering was an American racing car builder and team owner. It was run by crew chief / mechanic Ray Nichels.

History

It competed in many genres of racing starting in Midget car racing.<ref name="LaDow Publishing Website" /> From there, the team progressed to Indy cars including the Indianapolis 500, land speed records, and NASCAR Grand National Series. After driver Paul Goldsmith won the 1957 Daytona Beach Road Course race, Nichels became the primary car builder for Pontiac; it took over the role for all of the Chrysler products in 1963.<ref name="LaDow Publishing Website">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nichels-built stock cars won national races in USAC, NASCAR, Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and International Motor Contest Association (IMCA).<ref name="LaDow Publishing Website" /> The team won the 1961 and 1962 USAC Stock Car championship with Goldsmith and the 1967 championship with Don White.<ref name="LaDow Publishing Website" /> Nichels cars competed in two FIA World Championship races – the Template:F1 and Template:F1 Indy 500.

Awards

Ray Nichels was named to the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Nichels Engineering Endurance Run (1961)

In 1961, Nichels, then a successful builder of race cars, prepared two production-based Pontiacs for a 24-hour endurance run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He assembled six drivers, three from USAC and three from NASCAR, taking turns in both cars.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Year	Date	Participating drivers	Car	Distance covered in 24 hours	Speed
1961	Nov 20-21	Template:Flagicon Paul Goldsmith Template:Flagicon Marvin Panch Template:Flagicon Fireball Roberts Template:Flagicon Len Sutton Template:Flagicon Rodger Ward Template:Flagicon Joe Weatherly	Pontiac Catalina	2,576.241 miles	107.343 mph
			Pontiac Enforcer	2,586.878 miles	107.787 mph

World Championship Indy 500 results

Season	Driver	Grid	Classification	Points	Note	Race Report
1950	Paul Russo	19	9			Report
1954	Johnny Thomson	4	Ret		Retirement	Report

Autobiographies

• Conversations with a Winner - The Ray Nichels Story, William LaDow. LaDow Publishing, July 2014 (scheduled)

External links

• Ray Nichels biography at LaDow Publishing website
• Template:Racing-Reference owner