Have seen photos of Tom Schmidt's #52 silver Fiero called the " Rattler". He is from Wisconsin and shows " velocity stacks" from the top of his trunk and wonder what they are connected to on the V-6. Anyone with many photos of this car????
Why? That has got to be the most ridiculous looking....borderline stupid looking setup on a Fiero. Reminds me of that Fast and Furious car we had on here years ago.
Why? That has got to be the most ridiculous looking....borderline stupid looking setup on a Fiero. Reminds me of that Fast and Furious car we had on here years ago.
I'm not knocking anybodies taste in fieros,really love that IMSA, but I've seen worse calamities than that. Wasn't there one with a Chrysler 300 grille in it? If it keeps them running and out of the junk yard it's a winner in my book.
[This message has been edited by Silvertown (edited 09-16-2015).]
No this is not like the California Kid who as stacks that are real.
This car from what I could see as I seen the car at several shows in the past is pretty much stock from all appearances. He seldom opens the rear deck as it is not easy for one and stock appearing the last time I saw it.
If I recall he stuck a roll bar in side but not one you would be required to use in most race series.
He kept telling me how he raced this and at the time it had some cheap tires on it and no suspension mods. As you note in this photo it appears to still have the stock springs.
The car at one time had a large wing under the nose that had to have slowed the car down on any long straight.
He was a nice enough fellow but appeared to play the racing thing a little too far. Based on the web site it appears he may be in some class in the Vintage racing or may be auto crossing s they will accept mechanically stock cars to run. As for the championships? Anytime I tried to pin him down on specifics he either had no complete answer or he just avoided the question.
I will let you judge for your self. If anyone can figure out just exactly what he is racing in it would be interesting. I just never could get a straight answer. I will have to check this web site out as I have not read it.
All I know is my street car has enough changes to it and much softer tires I could have easily taken him in most events our cars would be qualified to be in. There are not many.
Note I am not trying to be mean here. Just trying to relay some information that just never really added up even over 15 years ago. He has upgraded the tires and wheels from what it was as he had cheap American Racing Cast wheels and the cheap tires that were still 14 inch.
I suspect he has some class in the vintage racing he can run stock in. All the add on's on this car appear to be cosmetic. Even one of my co Workers races Vintage racing and SCCA run offs and his little Lancia Monte Carlo would smoke this thing as it is fully prepped. He has been runner up in the SCCA run offs twice. Note it can also not be street driven.
Things just don't add up.. just saying.
If anyone can make sense of his story please do. I just feel we are missing something or being mislead.
Tom used to be a fuel and lubricant specialist for Shell and worked with the FIA Group 7 CanAm racing series. The velocity stacks are actually from that era. He has the car done up like that as a tribute to the series and also because the children absolutely love them when they are in parades. The car is raced, but the velocity stacks are removed IIRC. Tom and his wife are two of the nicest people you will ever meet, and have been heavily involved in the Fiero community via the Midwest Fiero Clubs, helping with coordinating the 30th Anniversary show among other duties. They do the same with their Fiero as the rest of us do, personalize it and have fun with it.
Tom used to be a fuel and lubricant specialist for Shell and worked with the FIA Group 7 CanAm racing series. The velocity stacks are actually from that era. He has the car done up like that as a tribute to the series and also because the children absolutely love them when they are in parades. The car is raced, but the velocity stacks are removed IIRC. Tom and his wife are two of the nicest people you will ever meet, and have been heavily involved in the Fiero community via the Midwest Fiero Clubs, helping with coordinating the 30th Anniversary show among other duties. They do the same with their Fiero as the rest of us do, personalize it and have fun with it.
It took two issues of Fiero Focus Magazine to tell Tom and Anne's story and that just scratched the surface. He was involved in racing for years and is also a musician who has played with many famous people and thats just the tip of the iceberg. That "Most Interesting Man" meme that goes around should be using Tom's picture .
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