By Stacey A. Shannon—
MUNCIE, IN—For nearly 80 years, Tom Cherry Muffler has been a Muncie institution for auto repairs. But, it also has a deep-seated history in racing.
The shop itself came out of Tom Cherry’s racing career. An avid racer himself, Cherry participated in one of the first races on the beach at Daytona and was involved in the early days of NASCAR racing.
When he wasn’t racing, Cherry ran a speed shop out of his garage for a few years before opening the location at 321 W. 8th Street in 1946. In the early days, Cherry custom-built engines which were popular with race car drivers and moonshine runners alike.
Over time, the shop evolved from specializing in racing into a complete auto service center. In 1977, Mike Quirk, who owned a few auto repair shops himself, bought Tom Cherry Muffler when Cherry was ready to retire.
Mike continued in the Cherry tradition of taking care of customers and automobiles in a fair and honest way. His son, Scott, worked alongside his dad and eventually bought Tom Cherry Muffler from him in 1989. Mike remained part of the business until slowing down two years before his death in 2020.
The Quirk family has kept the business all in the family and has other family members employed to this day as well as employees who feel like family after working at Tom Cherry Muffler for 25 years.
“There’s not a long of shops that have employees with the longevity we do,” Scott said.
That history and longevity came together when Scott was driving along Walnut Street and saw Eric Ward painting a mural on the side of a building. Scott had been thinking of a way to create a tribute to both Tom Cherry and his dad. A mural seemed like a great fit.
“I said, ‘I’d like to get an estimate on doing something like this, but I don’t want it to look like a cartoon,’” Scott recalled of his conversation with Ward.
Ward stopped in with his portfolio, Scott showed him some original photographs he wanted the mural to incorporate and the two agreed on a price.
“I just wanted to kind of do it as a tribute to my dad and Tom,” Scott said. “So, that’s what we did.”
Finished last year, the mural takes up most of the building’s west side and has lots of hidden gems and historical accuracy.
The shop window image, for example, includes the cover of a catalog Tom Cherry produced that could likely have been displayed in the shop’s window. It also shows off the original cash register and a true-to-life image of Cherry and one of his racing cars.
The Quirk family is woven into the mural in small touches – like the cat in the shop who is inspired by a cat named Bubbles who belongs to Scott’s daughter. There’s also a glass jar shown in the shop as a hidden gem to represent Scott’s mom and her work.
“The only thing we did in color was the car itself,” Scott said, pointing out the license plate number shown on the car is actually the number from his dad’s first race car.
Though there aren’t too many folks left who remember the original Tom Cherry shop, a few remain and have come by to see the mural. Scott said other people with classic cars also stop by to take photos of their own cars with the mural in the background.
Scott plans to continue in the tradition of Cherry and his father, Mike. He has no plans for retirement any time soon and said the business continues to thrive.
“I’m pretty proud that we’ve never had one year that wasn’t better than the previous year,” he said. “We’ve continued to grow through all the tough times and different changes.”
