Nickells, who grew up in Princeton, Illinois, began working with harness racing horses as a groom when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, his first start as a harness racing driver, in 1949, when he was 21 years old, was driving a horse named Great Dune at Aurora Downs. Nickells worked two years as a second trainer for Del Cameron before opening his own stable in 1953. Nickells became known as a specialist in training young fillies as Pacers and is considered one of the best trainers of fillies in harness racing history. In 1964, Nickells droveCombat Time to victory in the second division of the Little Brown Jug at the County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio before finishing second in the third and final division to Jug winner Vicar Hanover. At the 1972 Little Brown Jug, Nickells drove Fast Clip to a second place finish, one and one fourth lengths behind the winner Strike Out. Strike Out, who had been trained by Nickells for two months the previous winter, won the Jug with a time of 1:56.3 which set a world record for a three-year-old pacer on a half mile track. He also won the 1989 Hambletonian Oaks with Park Avenue Kathy, and drove six horses to Breeders Crown championships. In 1990, Nickells along with Gene Riegle, were awarded the Glen Garnsey Trophy as the U.S. Trainer of the Year. Although the NTRA did not track statistics early in Nickells' career, he earned at least $6 million in prize money as a driver and more than $7 million as a trainer.
Family
Nickells was a resident of Lighthouse Point, Florida during his racing career. Nickells was married for over 50 years to his wife Joanne, who died in 2007. They had two children, a son named Sep and a daughter named Brooke. Brooke Nickells, who is also a harness training trainer and driver, almost became the first woman to drive a horse in the Hambletonian Stakesin 2001. The owners of her horse, Lavecster, however, who Brooke had driven to five wins, chose to have Mike Lachance drive the horse instead. Bruce had a brother, Wayne, who also drove and trained harness horses. Wayne died in 2009.
