(Photos credit: NHRA/NationalDragster.com) – One of the most colorful characters in drag racing’s brilliant past has died. Jim “Superman” Nicoll who was the 1970 Drag News Top Fuel driver of the year, a tough and well respected nitro pilot, and someone who had the grit and determination that defined the sport’s working man heroes of the 1960s and 1970s passed a day ago. After leaving the sport of drag racing Nicoll had a productive live and most interestingly spent time as a resort operator in Mexico. He  enjoyed reliving his history as a racer at nostalgia events over the last several years.

Long before 1970, Nicoll was a tough young guy that had been living in Southern California since the 1950s. He had ditched out on his native Texas to be in the heart of drag racing country and by the early 1960s he was driving any number of cars for any number of people. Gas burners, nitro burners, coupes, dragsters, it really did not matter. His auto shop was the spot where Len Abbott built the first ever Lenco transmission which Nicoll had in a car and was testing shortly thereafter. The Crowerglide trans was also something that Nicoll had a hand in developing, along with tire testing for M&H’s Marv Rifchin, and lots of other fun and innovative stuff.

Nicoll was also not shy about standing up for himself in either a defensive or proactive manner. Steve Gibbs gave Nicoll the nickname “Superman”. This was not bestowed upon him after surviving one of the most terrifying crashes in top fuel history but rather after Gibbs saw him single-handedly beat the snot out of three guys at a bar. Superman, indeed!

Fast forwarding to 1970 and the US Nationals which was of course near the tail end the season, Nicoll had carved himself out a nice role in the sport. He was a match racer in demand, touring with the Prudhommes and other large names of the era. He was also a force in traditional NHRA national event competition as well having made the finals at the race in Dallas, Texas (broke) and in York, PA at the Summernationals (broke again). Punching his way to the finals at Indy ’70 was not a surprise because of the hot hand he had been playing all year long but when one looks back over the history of his season that year you’d think the guy would have been all kinds of freaked out to make another final. What could possibly go wrong this time, right? The answer was everything.

As you well know and as we document in detail at the link below, Nicoll suffered a clutch explosion that sawed his car in half right at the roll cage and sent the engine and spear-like nose of the dragster down the track and past Prudhomme. Meanwhile he was in the cage bounding into the grass and rolling like a bowling ball. Other than being banged up, suffering a black eye, a swollen foot, and a concussion, he was fine. Legend has it, he actually attended the post-race banquet that was held in those days that same night. Oh, and toughness? He and Les Guillory built a new dragster that week and Nicoll found himself losing to Prudhomme the following Sunday in Texas.

In 1972 Nicoll started driving funny cars and did so until 1976, suffering more major league wreckage along the way but ultimately it was not a physical problem that ended his career, but a financial one. He and his team owner had run out of money and then their entire operation was stolen that year. Sans insurance or the money to replace the equipment that was it.

Along the way, Nicoll had one last innovative connection. After suffering a bad funny car fire in 1973 and losing an entire car, Nicoll remembered from his Navy days that pipes on ships which carried steam or hot water were jacketed to protect people from burning themselves. Applying this same thought he became the first guy to ever run double wall headers on a funny car and they are still the industry standard to this day.

After racing, Nicoll went back into the business of fixing cars and then got involved with a Mexican resort where he eventually became the operatorof the facility and to the best of our knowledge he was doing that job right up until the point where he passed away just a short time ago.

It has been a rough couple of weeks for drag racing with the passings of Roger Gustin, Tim Hyatt, and Henry Gutierrez. Our thoughts are will all of their respective families.

CLICK TO SEE OUR STORY OF THE 1970 US NATIONALS WRECK (W/VIDEO)