CLASS RACER FORUM - John Nickle

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Learned this morning that long time bracket racer and occasional Stock Eliminator racer John Nickel passed away. He has been at this stuff for as long as anybody. He was a real character, fun to have around, loved to talk, that's for sure. He will be missed.i think he knew nearly everybody.

Sorry to hear about John's passing. Back in my bracket days at LACR John (with his Charger) and I with my Road Runner competed in bracket 1. Those days were quite fun. John always had a good sense of humor. I recall one time when a certain racer (who I won't mention) always stayed in the back to pick off ducks. Well as it turned out John stepped up and got paired with this individual. John put him on the trailer. RIP John.

Chuck Stubeck SS/FA 718 B-1 7228 in the LACR days.

Met John and his bud Vic Hobbs back in the day while racing at Pomona….Prayers are sent for John and his friends/family …GODSPEED.!!!

Haven't seen him in a long time but he was a very eccentric fellow and an all around good dude. HIs wagon was a staple for a long time. Condolences to the family.

One of the favorite if not typical John Nickel escapades was him always finding new ways to win. Back in the OCIR/Palmdale days, he had a well used gold Chevy pickup that probably ran about 17.50 seconds. He had a piece of a broom handle that stuck up from one of the stake pockets and he used it as a visual device to size up where his much faster opponent was in the other lane. He knew how to determine whether to lift or drive it out at the finish line based on where the broom handle was in his line of sight. He did pretty well that way, later when he had his '66 Chevy wagon, he could use the door frame pillars on the right rear door to do the same thing. He was pretty good at going rounds. Some of his winning concoctions were definitely original.

John was a regular fixture at OCIR, was never a mean bone in his body. He greeted me in the tech line during the '11 Bakersfield March Meet when I was racing my late father's '65 Mustang. It was the first time we'd seen each other in over 30 years, And being right after my dad's passing, it was a really uplifting meeting. Dad was pretty tight with the South Bay Racers gang, John included. The last time I saw John was at a Palmdale coffee shop he frequented, I think in '15. We sat & bench raced for at least an hour. John was truly one of a kind, extremely knowledgeable and one of the biggest hearts in the world. He will be sorely missed by many.

I remember him well!
We had some great races.

RIP

Ok this news really saddens me plenty, I met John Nickle at OCIR in the mid 70's, where yes he was a definite friendly fixture and became a good friend and we travelled to every track in SoCal together, and he worked in a Salvage Yard in the early 80's in Wilmington, CA.

In 82 I started towing all the way from SoCal to Florida for what was then a flat month of Winter big dolllar bracket racing (5 days in a row, at each of 5 different tracks, 5K to Win, 2K Runner Up and paid back to like 32nds each night). Miami/Hollywood, Orlando, Moroso M.P., Sarasota, and Bradenton. 25 racing days total over a full month every Winter back then.

And once he found out I had gone (when I returned in late Nov. of 82'), he stated that would be amazing to just attend.

The next year in late January, I told him to save his personal time earned and arrange the time off in advance with his boss really early in the year, and then he worked so hard that year (lots of overtime and many weekends), he was looking forward to that trip almost like I was taking him To Indy (but I have to admit, as another die hard bracket racer, it was almost like going to Indy!

And the boss gave him the time off Oct, into Nov. (a full month), and he and I went back not just in 83', but also in 84' (I remember the Boss threatened to fire him if he went the 2nd year, but he went anyway, and the Boss did, then gave him his job back within 3 days after we returned. He could not operate without John.

He wasn't racing, but was an amazing crew member to say the very least, and we had a blast! (In 84' I had won the Firestone/Centerline Div. Bracket Finals in Heavy, Bracket 3 held at Bakersfield Way back when the Miller Family owned the track), and 2 weeks later after a straight through 3 day and night drive John and I arrived at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, FL, both almost dead to the world as far as being tired, though we both bench raced and talked each other's ears off in the car the entire 3,000 mile plus way there, and flat kept each other both entertained and awake, we unloaded off the trailer at 3:00PM (1 single Bracket like 270 cars entered and we were late arriving and 1st Round of Elims. were to start at 6:00 P.M. and almost raced till sunrise (the Holliday Inn in West Palm Beach was Hotel racing HQ).

I paid the entry fee while he prepared the car (we weighed almost exactly the same weight and had the same body build, and he had driven my car at Big Willy's Brotherhood Raceway on Terminal Island before a few times, I would make a pass after dialing the car, ran dead on w/ a zero, he took my shoe polish, dialed down 1 hundredth, made zero changes, except he stepped in the car ran dead on with a zero (lots to be said for that "what he called my Singer Sewing Machine Push Button Shifting (though Short Shifting an 11:00 flat running car usually at 5200 RPM, if legged out-but, no rollbar though, so anywhere but on T.I. it was a 12.00 Flat dialing Heavy 63' Dodge Polara he called "The Refrigerator" in FL, w/a Big Block 440/ 727B/4.30 geared 8-3/4")... SS/DA Driver Pete Berkuta had prepped that car originally, sold it to Richard Gabaldon, and I bought it from him (we both won with that car the first nights we owned it, and the Night at OCIR Pete drove it to sell it to Richard he won with it...it was a magic car. (One of those once in a lifetime deals).

Back to Moroso...They did give us 1 guaranteed time trial, and I with his help that first night I went all the way to the Finals foot breaking against a whole lot of very fast and very tough company at Moroso (most were running trans brakes, only losing finally on a -.498 red light I think against Randy Folk's brand new digger in the Final (.500 was the perfect in those days of course). I remember it was Johhny LaBoose in his Loose Caboose was against me in the Semi-finals. Those 2 were the only ones I definitely remembered racing that night, but he could literally tell me off the top of his head what my competition ran last round and what their lights were.

He watched every pair, memorized a ton, and had a real friendly conversive and talkative nature, so what he missed, was somehow shoehorned out of someone 1 way or another in the pits, in the lanes, etc.(he got the holes pretty much filled in), and he would wait for me to dial the car as we got back to the front of the staging lanes about 2 pairs back, and he would look at the other guys dial, and proceed to tell me how the next pass was going to play out as I was buckling my helmet! (He certainly knew my racing style and as much about my car as I knew myself & he was beyond knowledgeable when it came to bracket racing. And I do remember his broom stick bit, he used it in that old Gold/Brown Pickup Truck too!)

(He was more right than wrong the entire long night, he said I would lose against Johhny LaBoose, and then the next round Win against Randy Folk (once I took the Semi race, though that was the closest win of my night, as we were only a 2 ten thou package apart)... But he called every single other round almost perfectly, and right down to the stripe like he was riding in the car with me or something (I think in spirit he was), and he was taunting them with friendly digs telling them in advance "Watch out for That Big White Foot Breaking Refrigerator!" I would hear him say as I was checking the air in all 4 tires, just keeping my head down and as usual repeating every single action mechanically the same, while he was bench racing in the lanes, but as we moved to the front, he got serious w/ the car and I (I later found out it was to get their team and crew members to bet with him, while he was pumping me up). I was already in the water box by that time, doing my thing, and he was beyond a character for sure.

And that 2K Runner up check; they (Dick Moroso personally), cashed so our fuel & food for the trip was already paid on the first night in the State.

He actually won almost as much that single night betting on me, as I won racing I found out at about 6:00 AM the next morning, once we returned to the Hotel and checked in.

RIP John Nickle (I miss those long lost days of almost 40 yrs ago brother).

The Good Lord now must build a new drag strip up there, because he just gained a lifetime bracket racer!

Sry, it as usual was book, I'm old but the mind is still sharp, and those were fun times!

I seem to remember an old issue of Super Stock and Drag Illustrated that had a pretty good story on you guys all going back there for all those bracket races. I remember something about having to obtain some 2x12's to make trailer ramps in order to proceed. I couldn't imagine that long of a haul, but everybody does at least one outrageous thing in their life to make the package of living complete. Seemed like he had a lot of those. You're right, he was one of a kind.

Yes Greg, a true character for sure, but a heart as big as a house, a fast thinker, and a true racer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Reimer 7376 (Post 686717)

The 2 X 12's had to do with race day #2 at Moroso Motorsports Park in 84' (after our trip to the Finals and Runner up finish from the night before), the pits were so packed, and since we were late arrivals just made it in the gate the day before, there was room to park the Tow car and trailer only, unload and head to Tech, then the rest of the night was spent in the lanes, and backed all the way down the return road to the far end of the track. There was literally nowhere for us to park the racecar except on the trailer, or in the lanes.

We did not return to the pits again (or the trailer until after the Winners Circle photos), then loaded the car on the trailer, unhooked the tow car and hit the Holiday Inn.

Next afternoon track opened at 1:00 PM, we park and hook back up to the trailer, jack up the tongue, and back the racecar down the ramps into the grass and sandy edge, and it had rained that day, the pit roads were really thick blacktop freshly laid and there was a low rut along the edge of the pavement, so as I backed the car up onto the pit road (and turned the car), the Right side Hooker Header Collector slams right into the blacktop edge (fills the right collector with a huge chunk of blacktop, like a 2# chunk), and shatters the 4 primary tubes right off at the mounting plate as it wrapped the primaries around the RF tire.

Day 1 was almost perfect save a -.003 redlight but day #2 is off to a huge bummer of a start (John is out attempting to locate a great welder onsite with excellent Fab skills, or anyone that has a right side header for a Big Block Mopar we can borrow as I pull off the right bank in a giant hurry!)

He located both a Welder with great skills and Johnny LaBoose (who I was lucky enough to barely trailer in the Semi's the night before, but barely), agrees to loan us (with the of course much willing rental agreement of, If I cash again that night, we share, and I easily agreed to that stipulation of course), the spare right side of a pr. of big block mopar headers hanging in his trailer while mine is being fixed, but it is thrash time bigtime, and he did also borrow some 2 X 12's (someone else's big box trailer ramp extensions who knew by experience about the pit road issues in advance), to put at the edge of the blacktop between the trailer ramps and the pit road as we eventually needed to get up & over the hump eventually, or we would have done the same thing again.

It was ramp extensions on the lower flat ground we needed the 2 X 12's for so we did not repeat the big crunch. My header was fixed and all welded up and detwisted before third round call, but it was a crazy start to day #2, and changing the R bank header before T.T. 1 was ok, changing it back before Rnd. #3 pretty much ended our day on a slight breakout of a hundredth under on a great but matched light! I did not csh day #2, l also returned Johnny's header with huge personal thank you's!

We were still at that point sitting ok in the overall weekly points chase, but dropping as fast as we climbed on day#1 (eventually we finished overall #28th that week), never repeating the performance of day #1, just too many great heavy hitters with all the latest electronics and some really expensive latest fast expensive chassis and drivers for that Cinderella Foot Braker Slow 12 FLAT car story to continue, no matter how hard 1 is hammering the tree, and attempting w/ the spindle crosses marked in shoe polish on the inside of my driver's and passenger side windows (and attempting to lead or follow at the stripe by a single inch leading or following)...

They blew by me usually doing 50 or more MPH faster than my 119-121 MPH. And the Blacked out super fast dragsters were hard as heck to see late at night out in the swampland (all I could see in the rearview mirror on many were fast flashing dots of lights in the rearview or side mirrors, as they would pass under the lights lining the sides of the track as they flew up on me, and the flashing dots got faster and faster as they approached, so I could never really get a bead on all those cars with no headlights until they blew by me like rockets on the big end.

It was a crap shoot of dial hard, leave first, steal and load up the tree (lift only on the line if you can actually see them at all kinda top end moonless night play). But it was a blast!:D

Many nice comments reflected here regarding John,but when starting this post,I neglected somehow to post it in the correct category, the one recognizing racers who have left us. Is there any way to move this collection of thoughts to the correct location on the web site?

Can this be moved to memorial section ?
Thx