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 Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

. From there, the team progressed to Indy cars including the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...

s, and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (the top NASCAR series, known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 and 1970, then the NASCAR ...

. After driver

Paul Goldsmith Paul Edward Goldsmith (October 2, 1925 – September 6, 2024) was an American racing driver. During his career he raced A.M.A. Grand National Championship, motorcycles, Stock car racing, stock cars, and American open-wheel car racing, Indianapol ...

won the 1957

Daytona Beach Road Course The Ormond Beach and Road Course was a motorsport race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set. ...

race, Nichels became the primary car builder for

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

; it took over the role for all of the

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

products in 1963. Nichels-built stock cars won national races in USAC, NASCAR,

Automobile Racing Club of America The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. A subsidiary of NASCAR since 2018, the current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position i ...

(ARCA) and

International Motor Contest Association The International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) was organized in 1915 by J. Alex Sloan, and is the oldest active auto racing sanctioning body in the United States. IMCA is headquartered in Vinton, Iowa, and features several classes and ...

(IMCA). The team won the 1961 and 1962 USAC Stock Car championship with Goldsmith and the 1967 championship with Don White. Nichels cars competed in two FIA World Championship races – the and

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

Awards

Ray Nichels was named to the

National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is an American Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summe ...

in 2010.

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

, taking turns in both cars.

World Championship Indy 500 results

Autobiographies

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

References

External links

Ray Nichels biography
at LaDow Publishing website * Formula One constructors (Indianapolis only) American racecar constructors NASCAR teams {{F1-stub