X-11 Yenkos

[Stefano]

I can't wait till the reunion, to get more info, but I know Nickey was heavy into roadracing.
I have seen some Nickey sponsored early Corvette pictures from Road America, in Wisconsin.

[Stefano]

Joe C,
Very cool info. It seems to have evolved around a few Key players, kind of like the 'Big Bang' theory.
Harrell was also hot rodding Chevy IIs with Corvette motors,first small and then Big Blocks.
Which came first,Thomas'relatioship with Nickey or Thomas'relation ship with Harrell?
I still maintain that these relationships are not mutually exclusive. These guys were live'in it and making it happen and their paths had crossed in many ways.
The catalyst for these projects and ultimate Super Cars and disseminator of info may indeed have been General Motors.
Keep the info comming guys I just can't get enough of this stuff.

[JoeC]

Here is some info found on the net,

Bill Thomas was a service manager at C. S. Mead Chevrolet in Pasadena, Ca.. Bill briefly road raced a white 1956 Corvette.

Bill Thomas and sprint car designer Don Edmunds worked together to put a fuel-injected 327 into a modified sprint car tube-frame chassis and enclose it in a stylized coupe body with a 90" wheelbase. Called a Cheetah, it was designed to compete with the Cobras. 1963-64

Jim Jefford drove for Chicago based Nickey Chevrolet in 1958. Jeffords was virtually unbeatable as he easily took the titles in 1958 and 1959 in the Nickey Chevrolet "Purple People Eater" Corvette.

Dick Harrell started racing at the age of 14. After 3 years in the army, Dick got back into racing and by the mid sixties, he was traveling all over the country to race. In 1965 he went to work for Nickey Chevrolet and after a couple years started his own performance shop in St. Louis, Mo. (fromZ/28 web site)

[TimG]

The "Purple People Eater" Corvette (one of them) is alive and well in the hands of Chip Miller. I have seen it twice, it is beautiful. Jeffords is still alive also. I bet you the car and driver will be united at the Vintage Races in Monterey this year. The Corvette will be honored at Monterey and there will be a number of rare road racers present. He may be able to answer some questions about the early days of Nickey.
The trouble is that these guys are just swamped at events like this. There was a four hour wait to visit with Jim Hall last year at Road America.

[sixtiesmuscle]

Those of you interested in Nickey's road racing efforts will be pleased to know that Tom Stephani, whose dad John, with his brother Ed owned Nickey back in the day, will be bringing his collection of Nickey memorabilia to the reunion. Much of this "stuff" is related to their road racing in the late 50s & early 60s. It is terrific!

[JoeC]

I think the Purple People Eater was named after a song from the 1950's?
I have been hearing a lot about the up coming Monterey Corvette event and it sounds like it will be a great show.

[TimG]

I ran into Tom at Road America two summers ago. He had a Nickey hat on and it caught my attention. He said his family owned the dealership and gave me his business card to order a hat.

[TimG]

Stefano,

I was worried someone would ask me that. I had his card for a quite a while, I just do not know where it is any longer. If I uncover this I would be more that happy to post the information. Tom and I were watching the super V event at the vintage races. I think that either he had a super V or he had one as a partner with a friend. He really got into these VW powered open wheel cars. Struck me as unusual for a guy that had access to so many big cube cars. He said the super V cars were very fast and drafting was the best part. They run down the track like they are all stuck together.

[Rat_Pack]

68TopStock, I have not gotten the full story behind the black 65 Chevy II. All I know is that when the 62 was destroyed in a wreck Dick was supposed to be out of a ride. Sometime before Bill Thomas built him the 66 car he ran this stock wheelbase Chevy II and it was painted black with a red and white interior. I will try and dig the only picture I have of it and email it to you. To keep this post short I will get with you by email sometime tomorrow or the next day....................RatPack.................... .....

[68TopStock]

Rat-Pack,

Which car are you referring to as the "black car" in the above post? I am trying to piece together all of the Harrell or Harrell sponsored cars. I know the '64 Chevelle was black, and I am not sure if another car was between the Chevelle and "Retributution II". Does anyone out there have a comprehensive list of the Harrell cars, starting with his '62 409? I have so far counted 14 cars, not including cars like the Garfinkle driven or Gene Rains driven '67 stockers.

JoeC

You are right on regarding Bill Thomas, Hot Rod magazines '67 "TestCar" had a Thomas built big block as a demonstrator, beat Bill Jenkins first time out (maybe he redlighted his Chevy II out of fear), this was the fall of '66.

I went back to my archives after my above post, and found this in the December 9, 1966 DragWorld:

"The Nickey Camaro made it's debut at Lions Drag Strip and was as impressive as the Green Bay Packers' offense. The car displayed an awesome amount of raw horsepower with more to be tapped out of the powerful 427-cubic inch powereplant.

Bill Hielscher, of "Mr. Bardahl" fame and most recently honored as AHRA Driver of the Year, guided the almost all stock Camaro to a fine 11.37 and 126.40 mph. What's more is that the smooth shifting "Mr. Bardahl" thinks the car is a potential 10.50 and 130 mph car-of course that's with a good dose of Barhahl in the engine."

On the same page is an announcement:

"Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago will have Dick Harrell flying their colors on a funny Camaro, but they will also have Don Kriby's (Kirby?) blown 1967 Corvette funny car. The 427 cubic-inch car will be built at Nickey's western representative, Bill Thomas Race Cars."

The Nickey funnycar I have referred to above is all fiberglass, and was located in Anaheim, CA. Maybe Thomas farmed the work out to a local builder for Nickey, and built the drivetrain? I wonder were it ended up? I think Harrell left Nickey in the early spring of 1967, probably February-March, as the Pop HotRodding article in April shows Dick (sure looks like him) in the lead color shot of the article,with a Bill Thomas jacket on, but no name is mentioned. His last name is referred to in a small photo caption regarding traction bars in the article (an edit error if they were deleting his name). Maybe the folks at Nickey didn't want it known he left during the busy pre-season period. I think the lead time for mag articles back then was only 4-6 weeks. (interesting, the Red Nickey Camaro in this article sure looks alot like the Hot Rod "test car"????) Anyone care to comment? The Feb. '67 CarCraft article shows the Nickey facility with Dick named throughout the article.

Maybe this post has gotten off the beaten path, and a new one should be started? On the other hand, how many X-11 Harrell cars are known?