Lookin for JIM NICHOLS

[hemij51]

Lookin for Jim Nichols who used to race Quincy loopers back in the late 1960's. Please contact me as I have one of your old race motors. Thanks Jamie

[bill van steenwyk]

If you are looking for the Jim (Jimmy) Nichols who owned a resturant and who lived in the Kansas City area, he did run Quincy Loopers. He has been deceased for a number of years.


If this is the Nichols you are looking for, you might try information for Melvin Wilcher in the KC area, as he and his family were close friends with him for many years, and they raced also.

[fbref5269]

i think bill is correct

i was looking for jimmy nichols a few years ago when i purchased a quincy c looper the was originally owned by jimmy. i was told had had passed away a few years back.

frank novotny
52-E

[hemij51]

I did not know that he had passed away. Was he old??

[bill van steenwyk]

As I said, If the Jim (Jimmy) Nichols that owned this/your engine was the Nichols from the Kansas Ciity, Missouri area who raced several Quincy Flatheads of different classes and models, he quit racing in the early 1970's and is now deceased. If still living he would now be in his 90's at least, possibly older.

Of course I have no way of knowing if the Nichols I am speaking about and the one whose engine you have are one and the same, but if it was, I am afraid you are out of luck to visit with him about anything. I raced during this time frame and never knew or heard of any other Jim Nichols than the one I reference.

[hemij51]

No, that is the correct person that I was lookin for!! He owned a restaurant in
Missouri. I had no idea how old he was when he was racing. I figured him to be a much younger guy, as most of the people that raced in 50's are still around. I just wanted to talk to him about the looper I own that was his back in 1967.. But I guess that will never happen.. maybe you would know what he ran the 44ci on?? I would love some pics of him running it from back in the day.. Thanks Jamie

[T Chance]

No, that is the correct person that I was lookin for!! He owned a restaurant in
Missouri. I had no idea how old he was when he was racing. I figured him to be a much younger guy, as most of the people that raced in 50's are still around. I just wanted to talk to him about the looper I own that was his back in 1967.. But I guess that will never happen.. maybe you would know what he ran the 44ci on?? I would love some pics of him running it from back in the day.. Thanks Jamie

He may have ran the 44 on a Sidcraft, but I really don't remember. Tom Berry from Kansas City probably has some photos of Jimmy from the days they both ran with Kansas City Speedboat Association. I don't know if he comes on here, but you might be able to track him down on Facebook.

[bill van steenwyk]

You have two ways to try to find more information about Jimmy Nichols and his racing career that I could recommend. Might be others but I am not aware of them.

You can try to contact Melvin Wilcher (try Kansas City information, Facebook, or just Google the name) who as I stated in my first reply, whose father was a close friend of Nichols and who also raced. He would be someone to try to locate and talk to as far as Jimmy's boat racing history if you want to go to that trouble. They raced off the same trailer some times when convenient to getting to a race site.

Another avenue to investigate is the web site Boat Racing Facts. The Tom Berry mentioned in Tim Chance's post put a large number of pictures on BRF a couple of years back. The pictures are in I believe a four part post titled Kansas City Speedboat Association. Jimmy's boat number in that time frame was Y-8 until he sold all his equipment and retired from racing. I seem to remember he also raced at least one Marchetti Hydro. Look for that boat number on the round nose hydro's of the time built by either Sid-Craft or Marchetti. I don't remember Jimmy running any pickle fork Hydro's,but the at the time popular round nose boats.

If you are sincerely interested in finding information about him, this is the best way to go about it. I know of no way to contact any other racers from that time frame that may have known him, as Boat Racing died out in the KC area after the 70's and I moved from there in the early 70's.

Tom put MANY pictures on BRF in the threads mentioned and KCSA was Jimmy's home club so that is your best bet. He is also a member on BRF and I am sure is listed in the KC phone book.

Jimmy was in his 50's in the late 60's time period, so to be alive now would be a stretch by any imagination or a miracle.

Good Luck in your search for more information.



ADD: To find the post on BRF go to the forums page, then scroll down until you find Boat Racing History, click on that and find the thread titled Kansas City Speedboat and St. Louis ODA. There are four parts to this thread. If you cannot find what you are looking for here, it probably does not exist except in someones old scrapbooks that will never see the light of day.

[hemij51]

Bill , Thank you for all the info and also taking time to respond to my post. I will check out all the info to see if anything can be found about his racing history. I would really like to have more history to show people when they look at my looper. Also thanks T Chance..