December 23, 2008
By Allen Madding
Raymond “Ray” Nichels was born on September 8, 1922, in Chicago, Illinois, the second of four children and the son of an Austrian immigrant.
In 1938, at the age of 15, Nichels began working as a midget car crew chief on a midget car purchased by his father as an advertising campaign for the family businesses. Nichels elected not to return to high school his junior year and instead, he focused on working as a crew chief and midget car builder.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 put racing in the United States on hold, so Nichels enlisted in the Coast Guard as a second grade mechanic. When the war was over, Nichels returned to working as a crew chief with midget car racing, which he continued to do through 1948. In 1949, Nichels moved on to working as car chief and crew chief in the Indy Cars forming Nichels Engineering in Highland, Indiana.
At Nichels Engineering, he would prepare cars for 12 consecutive Indianapolis 500s. The quality of Nichels work became readily apparent and in 1957, he was named Indianapolis 500 Pole Mechanic of the Year. Nichels Engineering entries placed fifth in the 1959 Indianapolis 500 and third in the 1960 Indy 500.
In addition, Nichels Engineering’s Indy cars had set world closed course speed records at both the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Michigan and on the 38-degree banked, 2.6 mile long Autodromo di Monza super speedway in Italy.
It was no surprise when Pontiac’s General Manager “Bunkie” Knudsen contracted with Nichels for Nichels Engineering to manage Pontiac’s involvement in NASCAR from 1956 through 1963. Nichels proved Pontiac’s decision to be a wise move in 1957. Nichels Engineering prepared two cars for the NASCAR Grand National Division Daytona Beach Race, which would prove to be a banner event for Nichels efforts. One of his cars driven by Banjo Matthews won the pole and the other car driven by Cotton Owens won the race.
Paul Goldsmith won the 1961 and 1962 USAC Stock Car National Championship driving cars from Nichels Engineering. Goldsmith and Nichols would later partner to form the G & N Aircraft Company. Joe Weatherly won the NASCAR Grand National Division Championship in 1962 driving a Nichels Engineering-built Pontiac.
In January 1963, General Motors banned all of its divisions from involvement in racing. So, Nichels Engineering signed to build Chrysler’s cars for NASCAR Competition.
In 1967, Don White won the USAC Stock Car National Championship driving a car built by Nichels Engineering.
On April 25, 1996, The International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega inducted Ray Nichels into the Mechanics Hall of Fame. The same day, Evan Bayh, Governor of Indiana, awarded Nichels the “Sagamore of the Wabash”, the state’s highest service honor for a citizen.
In 1973, Nichels closed the doors on Nichels Engineering. Over the course of his career, Nichels prepared cars amassed 223 starts in the NASCAR Grand National Division logging 12 poles, 11 wins, 62 top fives, and 89 top tens.
Ray Nichels died on November 25, 2005 in Merrillville, Indiana at the age of 83.
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