Montana Cross Country T Assn.
7516 E. Mission, Spokane, WA 99212
2001 Officers and Directors:
President: Sam Nickol
Vice President: Rick Carnegie
Sec.-Treasurer: Janet Cerovski
Directors:
Tom Carnegie
Tony Cerovski
Stan Howe
Doug Langel
George Nickol
Simon Nickol
Secretary: Carla Carnegie
Correspondence: Tom Carnegie
Date of endurance run is June 17th
Membership dues $10.00
Touring class: $25.00
Endurance runner: $35.00
Cover picture: Evan Lingle, winner of the first Endurance Run. Picture taken in 1961. Thanks to David Lingle.
General News
Well, this is the last newsletter before the big event. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to tune up those T’s! Sam’s phone number is (406) 431-5471 if you need to talk to him. You can also call me (Tom) at 509-535-7789. Hopefully everyone knows to meet at the Outlaw Hotel in Kalispell on June 17th. It is the Best Western Inn located at 1701 Highway 93 South. Some alternative accomodations are listed on the web page www.antiqueautoranch.com/montana500
In order to plan better, could you please signal your intentions for the run. There are three easy ways to let us know if you plan to attend.
1. Call (509) 535-7789 (day) or (509) 922-1805 (eve.)
2. E-mail: (montana500@antiqueautoranch.com)
3. Write (7516 E. Mission, Spokane, WA 99212)
would help us out a bunch, and we thank you kindly.
Thanks to Carl Walden for his fine article on touring along with the 500. Thanks to Steve Coniff for information about the Colorado group, and to David Lingle, son of Melvin, for the profile on his uncle, Evan Lingle. I would like to do a profile on every single driver who has run (over 150 of them). If anyone could contribute a little bit about someone whom they know or have driven against, or even about themselves, I would sure be much obliged.
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Here is some driver information from the web page. The top five drivers, based on number of times that they have entered are: Bud Peters, Ray Habel, Doug Langel, Chuck Worthington and Rich Armstrong.
Does anyone have pictures from the 1967 race? I am hoping someone has a shot of Hugo Rintala’s car to show what his hometown is. I also still don’t have complete results for 1971 or 1963. If anyone could dig deep for this information, it would bring me extreme peace of mind.
The route this year will be as follows:
Day one: Kalispell to Eureka to Libby to Kalispell
Day two: Kalispell to Seeley Lake to Kalispell
Day Three: To West Glacier then to East Glacier
This is subject to change due to road construction and such like that.
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Touring Montana 500
By Carl Walden
After years of trying to connect with Rick and Tom Carnegie to attend the Montana 500, last year the right circumstances came together. I had just finished a major rebuild of my 1914 touring engine. A 500 mile run would be a good way to break it in.
Also my son Sean and his family were going to vacation with us from Hawaii. Sean has been in the Navy since 1989 and had not attended any antique car events in that time. He was really looking forward to an old car outting. Sean also loves racing, so the Montana 500 promised to be perfect all around. Sean, Nettie and their two sons, Christopher and Trevor, planned to use our 1931 Model “A” Tudor, which is ideal for a family with two little boys.
We trailered the cars from west of Spokane to Great Falls, the hub of the 500 mile run. We settled into a nearby RV park, then found the hotel where the tour was based to finish registering and visit.
After dinner that evening, we had a drivers’ meeting to go over details of the run.
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Every driver drew a placement number, even the tourers.
The next morning, we drove to the outskirts of Great Falls, where we were sent off one by one under the clock. We who were “tourists” were timed out before the competitors. Since we had never attended a Montana 500 before, we were under the impression we would tour a different route to a viewing area to watch the racers whiz by, then would drive to another place to see them again. We were surprised to learn we were to run the same route as the competitors!
The first leg was to Havre and back, which was almost half of the 500 miles. This run proved to me why Montana is known as Big Sky Country. Here the land is flat and windy and very splendid.
My ’14 with its new motor was pretty slow at first. As the event progressed, we were able to run at a more reasonable rate. Like I said before, we “non-racers” were sent off first. It was fun to have the racers catch and pass us during each leg. To participate in this way was like being in the grandstand and on the speedway at the same time – lots of fun!
When the 500 was over, we had another get-
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together to find out final times and winners. I was particularly proud of Carla Carnegie for driving her dad’s roadster the whole way and placing so high in the standings. No one was even sure the car would finish the race!
After the official 500 Endurance Run was over, we toured Glacier National Park. Patty and I had the pleasure of chauffering Gary and Kathleen Ebbert through the park. Glacier is a national treasure which words cannot describe! After saying our goodbyes to old and new-found friends, we went our separate ways. Our son Sean, still talks of how much fun they had during those few days in June in Montana. I am looking forward to the day when I can fix a “T” for competition. Unfortunately it won’t happen this year. In January I started a new job with a six month trial service time which, of course, includes June. But, like the Jews have said for centuries, “Next year in Jerusalem,” so it is for us: “Next year in Montana.”
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Evan Lingle
By David Lingle
Evan was a born mechanic like his older brother Melvin, so he had a role model from the start. Fords were his favorite, starting with the model T’s.
When Evan was 18, he went off to serve in WWII. When he returned he went to work for the Montana State Highway. Later, he went to work for Berg Ford Motor in Circle, MT. There he had the opportunity to do what he really enjoyed, working on cars.
Berg Motors sponsored him in the first Montana 500 race in 1961. He took first place. Evan with the help of his son John, took a 1922 touring, cut the back off, put on two coats of black paint and called her good. “Pretty doesn’t win races” Evan was heard to say. He was a terrific, but fair competitor. Many of the other drivers teased him (good naturedly) about the T using more oil than gas. It used 23 quarts of oil. At one point in the race, a Montana Highway Patrol officer clocked him at 72 miles per hour (this is according to my mother Ruby Lingle). He was featured on the cover of Hemmings Motor News shortly after the race.
He entered several shorter races around Montana, many of them sponsored by the VFW of Jordan, MT. I remember when he borrowed my dad’s (Melvin Lingle) T for the 1972 Montana 500. Over the years he received many trophies, which his daughter, LaWanna of Billings MT. still cherishes.
He donated the last T he restored to the museum in Circle, MT. Evan passed away November 15, 1993.
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Joe Wilkinson
by Steve Coniff and Tom Carnegie
It was the late 1960’s, and Joe was visiting relatives, who lived in Montana. While he was there, a bunch of T’s came roaring through Livingston. He had run into one of the local T races that were popular all around the state of Montana at that time. Joe was intrigued, so when he got back to his home in Rocky Ford Colorado, he contacted the Livingston Chamber of Commerce to find out about the event. They in turn got him connected with the president of the Montana Cross Country T Association. He talked his friend, Ross Anderson, from Arlington Colorado into letting him use his T to run in the 1972 race out of Miles City. Joe and his racing buddy Ernie Woodring took turns driving Ross’s car to a 15th place overall finish. They were second in the cast iron division that year. By 1974 Joe and Ernie had their own car. They did not finish that year. In 1975 the gas shortage kept Joe home, but he was back in 1976 with his own car painted a bright
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NAPA yellow. He called his car the “Gold Hat Special”. He finished in 11th place that year. I remember in 1977 when he doled out gold hats (which we put to good use) to all the T drivers.
He came back most every year until 1981, which was his last year to race. His best finish was in 1980 when he came in 8th. Joe now lives in the Denver area.
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Through the Grapevine
Simon has sold his car to Josh Billmayer.
Doug Langel is putting his magic touch to a T motor.
Gary Ebbert got a cam that is a little more bumpier than a stock one.
Steve Coniff has designed a cam with nearly infinite lift and almost no duration. “Overlap kills the bottom end” Steve was quoted as saying.
We were saddened to hear the news that Melvin Lingle passed away this last month.
Harold Mann has given up on cast iron pistons.
Tom Carnegie has not. (yet)
Errata: I said last month that I didn’t know Bob Braun. It’s not true. I just didn’t know that the Bob Braun I knew was the Bob Braun.
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