Posted by Post Tribune on 2/21/2005, 1:15 pm
Board Administrator

Griffith native Nichels not ready to slow down Feb. 19, 2005 By Tom Wyatt -- Post-Tribune deputy sports editor GRIFFITH — Doctors told him long ago to quit the Cigarettes. Fat chance. Old habits die hard for Ray Nichels. The surgery he underwent last year to repair an aneurysm still hobbles him, and perhaps he should rest more than he does. Not gonna happen. Nichels has spent his entire life trying to go faster. The auto-racing legend is a pioneer in the world of stock cars. His mechanical wizardry took the sport to new levels in the late 1950's and ’60s. From there, NASCAR has grown to a multi-billion-dollar sport, with Sunday’s Daytona 500 now the most popular race in the United States. Still, the 82-year-old Nichels, long since retired from the racecar-making business, finds it difficult to accept the notion of slowing down. “Ah, you sound like my old lady,” Nichels said. So, every day Nichels makes his way to his Griffith office, the former home of Nichels Engineering. He sifts through mail, checks his e-mail and oversees the business he started once he left auto racing, Nichels Automotive Products. With a staff of two — bookkeeper and secretary Kathy Krieter, employed by Nichels for 30 years, and a part-timer who mixes the products — it’s small beans compared to the life Nichels used to lead. That life took him across the country and occasionally overseas, where he managed the pits at America’s greatest racing events and for several of the sport’s greatest drivers. Nevertheless, Nichels’ modest company fuels his need to stay busy. On May 22, Nichels will attend a book signing at Bridge’s Scoreboard in Griffith. And Nichels is doing the signing. A book nearly five years in the making, “Conversations with a Winner — The Ray Nichels Story,” is scheduled to make its debut and will be available for first time anywhere at this signing. Publisher and author Bill LaDow, a Griffith native, wasn't the first to come to Nichels in hopes of writing a book chronicling his years as a mechanic and crew chief in Indy and stock-car racing. But LaDow was the first to actually convince Nichels to go along with the idea. “Everybody wanted to get paid for it,” Nichels said. “Why the hell should I pay somebody to write a book? “This fella came in one day. I asked around to see if he was for real. He was.” For LaDow, the research turned out to be more extensive than he originally bargained for. “Ray is the forgotten hero of racing in the Calumet Region,” LaDow said. “No one has done more for racing that what Ray Nichels has done. “If you wanted a stock-car ride, there was no better one than one from Nichels Engineering.” Humble and quiet regarding accomplishments that have earned him a spot in the Mechanics Hall of Fame, Nichels finally overcame reservations that led him to question how one could fill up a 300-page book solely about him. “I told the guy I hadn't done anything,” Nichels said. “He said, 'Don't give me that.’ ” Indeed, Nichels’ life has been anything but routine. The son of an Austrian immigrant, Nichels began tinkering with cars at the age of 15 when he and his father got involved in midget-car racing. The two rebuilt one car and built another. Meanwhile, Nichels was gaining hands-on knowledge and still tending to his studies as a high school student — first at Griffith, then at Highland and finally at Hammond Tech. “The truant officers would say, 'Where’s he at today?’ ” Nichels said. “I was in Detroit, St. Louis ...” When the United States became involved in World War II, auto racing around the country came to a halt. Nichels figured if he couldn't race he might as well join the war, so he enlisted in the Coast Guard and wound up being stationed in Greenland. While on leave, he met his wife, Eleanor. The two will celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary next month. When the war ended, Nichels returned to auto racing and began his quest to enter the Indianapolis 500. He reached that goal in 1950 when “Basement Bessie” made the field. Nichels and good friend Paul Russo built the lightweight car in the basement of Russo’s Hammond home. To the amazement of many, the car finished ninth and now sits in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Then, in 1957, Nichels’ life changed. In a whirlwind year, Nichels was the mechanic for Pat O'Connor’s Indy 500 pole-winning car, a matter of months after Nichels configured the car that won both the pole and the race at the NASCAR Grand National Beach Race at Daytona. In between, Nichels traveled to Monza, Italy, to test tires for Firestone. “That was a crazy year,” Nichels said. “But we didn't know any better.” The win at Daytona solidified Nichels’ position as Pontiac’s racecar builder. And because of Nichels, Pontiac’s image received what today would be called an extreme makeover. “When we first went to Daytona in ’57, everyone thought, 'Pontiac? What the hell is that?’ ” Nichels said. “It was a grandma’s car. “The average age of an owner of a Pontiac was 58 years old. Within three years, the average owner was 28. The kids were buying it.” Nichels said people still approach him and credit him for reshaping the Pontiac image. “They won't let me forget,” Nichels said. Though he eventually worked exclusively with stock cars, leaving Pontiac to join Chrysler in 1963, Nichels took part in 12 Indy 500 races, where his cars captured two top-five and five top-10 finishes. And Indy, said Nichels, is “still No. 1.” But it’s a place that took the life of close friend O'Connor in 1958. A year after sitting on the pole, O'Connor was killed a crash in the race. “The only thing I remember is somebody walking up to me and giving me a shot in the arm to knock me out,” Nichels said. “I woke up in a hotel. That’s how bad it was. “Pat and I were pretty close — awfully close.” In 14 years with NASCAR, Nichels-built cars were dominant at times. With drivers such as A.J. Foyt, Bobby Isaac, Cotton Owens and Paul Goldsmith behind the wheel, Nichels was a part of seven wins at Daytona between 1957 and ’70. Nichels Engineering closed in 1973, but its — and its owner’s — place in history had already been solidified. Racing and building racecars, Nichels said, was all he knew. But it seemed he knew it better than most. “Oh, yeah, I'm proud of it,” Nichels said. “But it ain't anything (anyone) couldn't have done.”