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. Nichels-built stock cars won national races in USAC, NASCAR, Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and International Motor Contest Association (IMCA).

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.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

|-

! Year

! Date

! Participating drivers

! Car

! Distance covered in 24 hours

! Speed

|-

| rowspan="2"|1961

| rowspan="2"|Nov 20-21

| rowspan="2"| Paul Goldsmith<br /> Marvin Panch<br /> Fireball Roberts<br /> Len Sutton<br /> Rodger Ward<br /> Joe Weatherly

| Pontiac Catalina

| 2,576.241 miles

| 107.343&nbsp;mph

|-

| Pontiac Enforcer

| 2,586.878 miles

| 107.787&nbsp;mph

|}

World Championship Indy 500 results

{| class="wikitable"

! Season

! Driver

! Grid

! Classification

! Points

! Note

! Race Report

|-

| 1950

| Paul Russo

| 19

| 9

| &nbsp;

| &nbsp;

| Report

|-

| 1954

| Johnny Thomson

| 4

| Ret

| &nbsp;

| Retirement

| Report

|}

Autobiographies

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

References

  • Ray Nichels biography at LaDow Publishing website