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 mos ...

. From there, the team progressed to

Indy cars INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis 5 ...

including the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

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 (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

. After driver

Paul Goldsmith Paul Goldsmith (born October 2, 1925) is a former USAC and NASCAR driver. He is an inductee of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and the USAC Hall of Fame. Later in life Goldsmith became a pilot and, flying ...

won the 1957 Daytona Beach Road Course race, Nichels became the primary car builder for

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

; it took over the role for all of the Chrysler 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. The current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position in 1996 following the death of Bob Log ...

(ARCA) and

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

(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 called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianap ...

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 Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wi ...

in 2010.

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