Mike Nichols was born in 1977 and grew up in Harlan, IA. He is the youngest of 4 children born to his parents, Stan & Mary Nichols. He began racing go-karts around 1990. Mike's dad, Stan, was a traveling salesman and his mother suggested they find a weekend hobby so they could spend quality time together. Mike and Stan quickly learned that this was something they loved to do in winning several features. His first feature win was his 3rd week ever in a kart.
In 1994, Mike bought his first outlaw hobby stock. A few cars and several feature wins later (including the 1996 Tiny Lund Memorial), led to his first track championship at the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, IA.
1998 presented a new challenge as he purchased an IMCA Stock Car. 2 years bouncing between outlaw and IMCA rules produced some wins and some success but other opportunities came about. In 2000, Charlie Summers asked Mike to race with him in the IMCA Modifed division. A long, successful year produced Mike as the 2000 IMCA North Central Region Rookie of the year.
In 2001 Mike tried his hand at promoting on Friday nights while racing on Saturdays and Wednesdays. By the end of 2001, he decided he was best suited to be behind the wheel and got back into the IMCA Stock Car in 2002 while pulling double duty on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the IMCA Modified. 37 feature wins later Mike found himself as an IMCA National Champion. He later added national and regional titles in '04, '07, '10 '14 '16 and '17, respectively.
To date, Mike has over 500 career feature wins and 36 track titles. He has won races in 8 states and 1 Canadian Province. He is a 5-time winner of the Tiny Lund Memorial ('96, '04, '12 & '13, '15), a 2-time winner of the Southern Challenge in Abilene, TX ('01 & '02), a 2-time winner of the Sandhills Shootout in North Platte, NE ('06 & '10), the 2004 Supernationals Race of Champions winner and 2017 Supernationals Stock Car Champion and a 13-time A-qualifier at Supernationals. He currently sits 2nd (behind David Murray) in all-time wins in the IMCA all-time. Mike was just the 6th driver in modern day IMCA to reach the 200 win mark and the 3rd to reach 300.
Mike prides himself in his clean but aggressive driving style and going out of his way to help his fellow competitors. He maintains an excellent reputation with his sponsors and is very proud to stick with American made products on his car.
In Mike's spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife, friends and his 4 dogs. He also enjoys meeting race fans and encourages them to introduce themselves after the races.