Brains Over Bucks: Remembering Mickey Nickos One of Open Wheel Racing’s Greatest Modern Engine Builders


Brains Over Bucks: Remembering Mickey Nickos One of Open Wheel Racing’s Greatest Modern Engine Builders

(Image from Nickos family archive) – It is so rare when we run across people brilliant enough in racing to overcome massive financial shortcomings with the power of their own ability, which is why the open wheel world is mourning the passing of Mickey Nickos, one of the best engine builders of the IRL era and a truly brilliant man. Our pal Scott Liggett of BluePrint Engines and BangShift freelance fame tipped us off to this story and to the man who’s small engine building outfit took on the largest names in the world and ran head to head with them, beating them in one of the most incredible upsets in modern American racing history.

The year was 1997 and the place was Phoenix, Arizona. Unsponsored, low-buck, team owner Jim Guthrie was the talk of the town after a season opening 6th place finish at the IRL race in Disney World, Florida. Taking the $63,000 he collected from that finish, he paid back a loan his own father took against his retirement account and traveled west to Arizona where he, to the astonishment of everyone but himself, won the race, beating the most well financed and massive names in American open wheel racing.

He did it with smooth driving and the beastly engine that Mickey Nickos provided to him. An engine that was as good or better than the likes of anyone else in the field. The win made NAC engines, Nickos’ small shop a household name instantly in the pits and caused the phone to ring and customers to come calling.

This was the last era in open wheel racing across this country where teams owned the engines and were allowed to take them apart and tinker with them during the season. No seals, no corporate deals.

Mickey Nickos’ day in the sun lasted for several years in the IRL world until the 2000s came along and the rules changed, the climate changed, and the Illmor’s and other massive companies of the world came calling.

Long remember as one of the best to ever spin a wrench or twist an engine on the dyno, the legacy of a man who out worked and out smarted everyone else’s wallet will long be remembered by fans of this style of motorized competition.

Story: RIP Mickey Nickos one of the best IRL engine builders ever


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