Nichels Engineering School of Technology in Griffith, Indiana, offers one of the country’s most progressive vocational programs and facilities. Its founder, Ray Nichels, wanted to develop superior automotive racing equipment and craftsmen to service the American automotive dream.
For forty years, Nichels-built cars have taken the checkered flag at tracks ranging from Illiana Speedway to Daytona Beach, Monza, Italy, Rockingham, Darlington, Talladega, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis.
His drivers have been the best in the business – A.J. Foyt, Bobby Unser, Charlie Glotzbach, Fred Lorenzen, Bobby Isaac, Don White, Bobby Allison, Pat O’Connor, Rodger Ward Paul Goldsmith, and others. The Nichels plant, known as the “Go-Fast Factory) with huge overheard doors that can admit huge semi-trailers loaded with parts from the factories of Detroit, was a mass production revolution in the race car building industry.
Nichels built his business carefully over the years, always considering others’ needs. Ray has often said, “What good is it all if I can’t help someone else? Tell me, what good is it?”
Ray Nichels’s drive to help others inspired him to develop a new concept in vocational training. Why not teach school? Nichels Engineering is a development center full of valuable equipment and talented people. The automotive service industry, in turn, has a tremendous lack of skilled mechanics.
In 1972, with four courses and a handful of students, NEST (Nichels Engineering School of Technology) began. NEST is a place where people, regardless of sex, age, or race, can learn to maintain cars with pride, quality, and honesty. Over the last four years, Nichels has opened its doors to people with all types of physical handicaps and developed programs for the out-of-work and underprivileged.
In 1976, the NEST facility now supplies 16 independent programs where a student can spend from 4 weeks to 9 months physically learning and developing his skills.
Automotive Machine Shop — 8 weeks
Basic Machine Shop — 8 weeks
Welding — 8 weeks
Heliarc Welding — 8 weeks
High-Performance Engine Building — 8 weeks
Parts and Counter Training — 8 weeks
Motorcycle – Phase I — 8 weeks
Motorcycle – Phase II — 4 weeks
Engine Rebuilding — 8 weeks
Transmission and Drive Trans — 8 weeks
Automotive Chassis and Systems — 8 weeks
Carburetion and Electrical Systems — 8 weeks
Trouble Shooting and Tune-Up — 4 weeks
Small Engine Repair – Phase I — 8 weeks
Small Engine Repair – Phase II — 4 weeks
Master Automotive (combines five courses) — 9 months
In the four years Nichels School has been in operation, the need for trained personnel has grown by nearly 22,000,000; that is, the automotive population has expanded from 120 million registered vehicles to over 140 million registered vehicles in less than four years, To service the need and to provide training and jobs for an increasing cross-section of the population, equipment must be purchased, books must be developed and printed, educational aids must be purchased, etc. Teaching aids, advertisements, books, and tools require money, as does establishing student housing.
— Nichels Engineering School of Technology (NEST) Expansion Proposal / Costs — 1976 —
— ADVERTISEMENTS —
NEST Display Brochures (4 colors) — 3,000 copies — $5,500.
Newspaper Ads — 6-month program — 5 counties plus Chicago — $8,000.
Display Sign — 8X12 lighted — $3,000.
Promotion Displays and Films — $20,000.
— CLASSROOM AIDS —
Audio-Visual Aids (in-class use)
52 Unit Program Development Books
Course material development, layout display, and printing — $67,000.
— STATIONARY TRAINING EQUIPMENT —
Emission Training Cell (complete) — $80,000.
Tune-Up Dynometer — $24,000.
Wheel Alignment Equipment — $22,000.
Transmission Stands (4) — $1,200.
Welding Units (complete 3) — $9,000
— MISCELLANEOUS —
Miscellaneous Tools — $10,000.
Miscellaneous Parts Inventory — $15,000.
— PROPOSED HOUSING —
Student Housing Construction (10 unit apt. building only) — $100,000.
PROJECTED EXPANSION TOTAL — $369,700.
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