[Cglrcng]

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.