{"id":7014,"date":"2014-07-24T17:20:35","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T00:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=7014"},"modified":"2014-07-24T17:22:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T00:22:01","slug":"gunners-classic-corner-thanks-for-the-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/gunners-classic-corner-thanks-for-the-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"[Gunner’s Classic Corner] – Thanks for the Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the average person retires they say \u201cThanks for the memories,\u201d take their gold watch, go home to nestle into the easy chair and turn on the TV. But Tom Ales didn\u2019t do that. The retired Kimberly-Clark engineer said \u201cLet the memories begin,\u201d then picked up his wrenches and started building hot rods, crewing for a Bonneville race team and putting together a Fiat Topolino dragster.<\/p>\n

The monster-motored Ales & Rymer \u201cItalian Mouse\u201d car was a hit at the Appleton Auto Show in Appleton, Wis., where it sat in a tent next to Lloyd Gauerke\u2019s stock-looking Fiat Topolino. (Gauerke\u2014a retired Miller welding engineer\u2014actually has a motorcycle engine in his car, but don\u2019t tell anybody.) Hundreds of spectators enjoyed comparing the two Fiats side-by-side.<\/p>\n

Tracey Rymer is Tom Ales daughter and she pilots the replica-bodied fiberglass 1948 Topolino altered coupe down the quarter mile in bracket races at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wis. The crew consists of Tom, his wife Darlene and the Rymer family Tim, Morgan and Jensen.<\/p>\n

Powering the dragster is a 421-cid Chevy small block V-8 that flows power through a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. Underneath the fiberglass Fiat body is a Spitzer chassis with a four link suspension and chrome moly tube construction. The car has run the quarter in 8.5 seconds at 153 mph.<\/p>\n

In his spare time, when he is not wrenching on the dragster, Tom crewed for the Fox Valley Technical College Firebird that turned in a 193 mph performance at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the September 2012 Uthah Salt Flats Racing Assoc. \u201cWorld of Speed\u201d event. At home, he spends evenings working on other projects like a \u201957 Chevy Bel Air with a late-model fuelie engine and a late-1920s Chrysler coupe fitted with a hopped up GMC six. Easy chairs and television will not be a big part of Tom\u2019s retirement memories.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom\u2019s daughter Tracey Rymer drives the car.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom\u2019s Chevy powered Fiat altered coupe.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom says he built the car on a budget but it looks professional.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe body is a fiberglass replica of a \u201948 Topolino.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom\u2019s workmanship is reflected in the interior.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe small-block Chevy in the car is built for racing.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAt Bonneville Tom worked with FVTC students.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\u201cAh! That engine noise is music to my ears!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom stays active working on the FVTC Bonneville \u2018Bird.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTom really enjoyed it when Linda Vaughan autographed the FVTC car.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nOne of Tom\u2019s other projects is the GMC-powered Chrysler coupe.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLloyd Gauerke\u2019s stock looking Fiat was next to Tom\u2019s dragster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The retired Kimberly-Clark engineer said \u201cLet the memories begin,\u201d then picked up his wrenches and started building hot rods, crewing for a Bonneville race team and putting together a Fiat Topolino dragster.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470],"tags":[953,304,1113,1112],"class_list":["post-7014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-gunners-classic-corner","tag-john-gunnell","tag-tom-ales","tag-tracy-rymer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/RJ56-Ales-Photo-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-1P8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7027,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions\/7027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}