AUGUST 2020 | ENGINEBUILDERmag.com 29
NIKOLE DURBIN
PRO CAR ASSOCIATES
Y
ou’d be hard-pressed to find someone as passionate about cars,
racing and engine building than Nikole Durbin. You might think
she’s been in this industry her whole life and never knew anything
else, but you’d be wrong in assuming that.Nikole actually went to college to pursue a nursing degree.
Unfortunately, when the school raised its out-of-state
tuition, Nikole had no choice but to return home. At the
age of 17, her dad was worried Nikole would nd trouble
or become unfocused. To keep her occupied, he thought
she might enjoy getting involved in racing.
“My dad knew a guy named DJ Jans, who had a local
race team,” Nikole Durbin says. “I went to one of his track
days and I never left his side. I was DJ’s little helper for
about 15 years. His bucket list was to run the Trans-Am
road racing series, so we did that in 2011.
“From there, I joined a team in Elgin, IL called ECC
Motorsports. I was there for about ve years when I met
Chuck and Chris Wright. ey were our tuner for the TA2
cars.”
As it turned out, ECC was starting to change direction
away from competing, but Nikole was in her prime and
starving for more.
“Chuck [Wright] actually o ered me a job to be his
engine building apprentice,” Durbin says. “I left ECC and
moved to Akron, OH to be with Chuck.”
Unfortunately, Chuck Wright passed away in 2018, but
his son, Chris, stepped up and took Nikole under his wing
to teach her everything about engine building at Pro Car
Associates.
“I want to do everything,” she says. “I want to be the
ultimate Jack of this industry. I know race cars. I know
tube-frame chassis. I know how to x a berglass body in
my sleep, but understanding the ins and outs of all these
street cars has been a learning experience. Pro Car, Chris
and all the guys I work with are just amazing and I feel
unstoppable with them.”
With nearly two years under her belt at Pro Car, Nikole
has set her sights on learning to drag race and is building
an LS-powered Camaro to compete in NMCA. When it
comes to proving herself in the male-dominated world of
engine building and racing, Nikole stays focused on herself
and her abilities.
“ ere’s always the skeptics... but I like proving them
wrong,” Durbin says. “I’m my hardest critic. I know I
got started late. I know I don’t have any formal training.
I know there’s 1,000,001 things that I don’t know. But if
you could see my house, I have stacks of automotive books
that I’m working up the motivation to read, because Iwant to know it all. I want to be able to talk on behalf of
all technicians and mechanics and my fellow shop females
and let everybody know that it doesn’t matter what I’ve got
under my clothes. I still have a brain.
“I enjoy this industry. I love the smell of race gas. I love
the smell of burning rubber. I don’t know how to explain
it. at’s what I love. I will work harder than any man and
that’s because I want to show you that I can do it. I know I
t in this industry.”
Nikole has been more than holding her own at Pro Car
Associates and is ready to get back on the track once racing
resumes.
“Some girls like to eat chocolate, which I do, but going
to the track was always my pick me up,” Durbin says.
“ ere’s a presence there that you can’t get anywhere else. I
couldn’t ask for anything else in this life and I can’t wait for
what’s in front of me.” EB“I’m a Ford nut born and raised. I actually have a ‘69 Mustang
I’m doing a full resto on. My dream car though – the sexiest car
ever built – is a ‘71 Hemi Cuda. I would do anything for one
of those.”
23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 29 8/7/20 8:29 AM
Naresh Jariwala