A single car has played a pivotal role in Nichols’ success over the last eight years.
It was built at Minnesota’s B&B Racing Chassis by Scotty Schoknecht, with Nichols acquiring the car in 2013. Since that time, Nichols has registered more than 300 of his 561 IMCA victories driving that car.
“I think it’s hard not to have a really personal connection with a race car when you have that kind of success in one,” Nichols noted.
The car carries extra meaning not just because of the success Nichols has enjoyed in it, but also as a reminder of Schoknecht, who died in 2017.
“This was a car Scotty had built,” Nichols said. “That has a little bit more meaning, being that it was something Scotty had done when he was still alive and, obviously, now he’s not.”
More recently, Nichols has broadened his racing horizons by dabbling in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod ranks. That is the result of a relationship with engine builder Kenny Swanson.
Swanson has enjoyed success at the top levels of NASCAR, where he won two Daytona 500s. He built the engine that powered Ward Burton to victory at Daytona Int’l Speedway in 2002 and was part of the Richard Childress Racing engine program that helped Kevin Harvick win at Daytona in 2007.
“Kenny is now back in Iowa and he’s wanting to get into engine building,” Nichols explained. “He knows that in order to get involved in racing you need to field a race car. With Swanson’s history in racing around Harlan, Iowa, where I’m from, it was a natural fit when Kenny called me and asked me if I would be interested in driving his sportmod.”
The pair utilized an older car in 2020, but they already have a new chassis ordered and they plan to hit more races together this year as Swanson continues to build his engine business.
However, Nichols says his priority will always be the stock car division.
“I will say the stock car is always … it has a piece of my heart,” he said. “The stock car will always come first. Kenny is very well aware of that.”
It may seem as though Nichols has nothing left to accomplish in IMCA’s stock car division. However, that’s not the case.
The IMCA record books break the history of the sanctioning body down into two distinct categories — the modern era that began in 1979 and everything that took place before 1979. While Nichols’ nine national championships may be the modern era record, he’s still several championships short of equaling the all-time IMCA national championship mark.
That record belongs to Ernie Derr, who secured an astonishing 12 IMCA national championships from the 1950s to the 1970s.
“Years and years ago, a guy by the name of Ernie Derr won several national championships,” Nichols said. “I was thinking if I could ever get rid of that little asterisk, that’d be kind of cool.”
Nichols admits that surpassing Derr would be a significant challenge at this stage in his career, though it isn’t impossible. With that in mind, Nichols says he is more than happy with what he’s accomplished.
“I’ve kind of accomplished the things I set out for,” Nichols said. “It’s truly about having fun at this point. Then, whatever else happens, let the chips fall where they may.
“Literally, all I’m concentrating on is my next race,” he added. “I don’t think about I’ve got to have so many wins in a year or whatever. I’m still having a blast doing what I’m doing and as long as I’m still having fun, the wins will come as they come.”
While he may be the one behind the steering wheel every weekend, Nichols has no problem admitting he wouldn’t have accomplished what he has without those who have supported him.
“The most important thing to me is racing is not an individual sport,” Nichols said. “It is a team sport and that no matter what individual or team accomplishment that I’ve had, it’s been attributed to the great people that I have come in contact with and have become associated with. I’m so blessed and so fortunate to have come across the people that I’ve come across.”