Ray Nichels conducted attempts for one lap, 500 mile and 24 hour speed and endurance records at Indy in 1961, at the time he was heavily involved with Pontiac and their NASCAR effort. Two '62 Catalina's were run and one was a Police Enforcer and I imagine, but don't know for sure if they were 421's. New records were set for one lap at 122.132 by Fireball Roberts in the Enforcer, the 500 lap record fell with a speed of 113.292 in 4 hr., 24 min., 48 seconds and the old 24 hour enduro record was beat with a run of 2,586.878 miles at an average of 107.787 mph. That is Ray Nichels standing on the track in the first photo and he had a stellar crew of both drivers and mechanics with Banjo Matthews, Bud Moore, Cotton Owens, Dale "Tiny" Worley and Smokey Yunick in the pits, and the drivers were L to R, Len Sutton, Roger Ward, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Paul Goldsmith and Marvin Panch.
Here’s an update on this thread, I found a few more photos at a swap yesterday. Looks like Ray Nichols on the far left checking out the banged up front end. USAC Steward applying a lead seal to safety wiring to prevent tampering during the speed runs. Another lead seal on a carb at the steward's thumb. Front suspension details, that spindle and brakes look like they are heavy duty items from NASCAR's Grand National division. There's an extra shock on the a-frame too. Engines, heads and more stockpiled in the Nichols Engineering shop in Highland, IN. Oddly Pontiac also shipped a couple Tempest four cylinder engines to Ray.
They have wheels & tires under both sides of the bumper plus a jack stand under the end of the fork lift legs so although not the safest looking setup it's not near as unsafe as one might think.... ...
The Jalopy Journal
